I have some S.M.A.R.T and other hardware related questions

[asaf]

hello, I'm new here (on the nas4free OS forum and on unix in general)
sorry for my english in advanced.

i just built an personal home NAS server with 5x4TB WD Red HD. (24 GB of RAM, i3-4130)
i configured raidz2 ZFS with one pool. (i can't afford lose data, the double parity is really important for me)

i don't know many about hard disks and S.M.A.R.T, but i read about the subject and i have some questions that coulden't been answered easily from the information accross the internet.
im little bit confused, then I have many questions, sorry for that.

1) the S.M.A.R.T information stored on the hard disk itself? i mean, the log of the recent S.M.A.R.T errors of the disk, and other stuff. (if there are any "other stuff")

2) I did as the people say here, before i'm starting to actually put data on my pool, i should do 2 tests:
a. S.M.A.R.T Conveyance test.
b. S.M.A.R.T Long/extended test. (im actually running it right now on all the 5 HDs simultaneously, it's will take about 540 minuets)
after the long test, is it enough to check the result in the "smartctl -l /dev/<dev_name>" and see the "PASSED" under the tests? or should i look in more extend log of the smart test.
if so how do i see the "extended" log? is this necessary?

(people say something about the command "dd" to copy a big files from one disk to another, but i find it complicated and unnecessary for me ,because im a noob on unix. )

3) can i put my files now? (after the extended test will done) or that i should make more tests before?

sorry about my detailed questions.

thanks for the help.

p.s
1) i use non-ECC kingstone 3x8GB 1333MHz for now, but i will change it to ECC memories in a month from now, i did for now a memtest86 and all fine.
is that ok?

2) I'm planning to configure a remote backup computer that will be build from scraps: in short - old computer, with many different old disks with different sizes. i will backup just 10%-20% of the pool, with rsync.
how should i configure the hard disks there, that i will have one big logical volume for the rsync? (i will backup from the internet once a week)

thanks.

[kenZ71]

I would think SMART info is stored on the disk.

Overall you should be ready to start loading data.

I would reconsider the backup plan. If your data is important enough for any raid setup it should be backed up and offsite, in my opinion. It comes down to what is the bigger risk - hardware failure, fire, flood, storm damage ? Any of these can wipe out your data. Some could even kill your backups if it is local or close to home.

[asaf]

I would think SMART info is stored on the disk.

Overall you should be ready to start loading data.

I would reconsider the backup plan. If your data is important enough for any raid setup it should be backed up and offsite, in my opinion. It comes down to what is the bigger risk - hardware failure, fire, flood, storm damage ? Any of these can wipe out your data. Some could even kill your backups if it is local or close to home.

My backup machine going to reside in a remote house, 200 kilometers from the site, than i shouldn't be worry about that


Anyway, i read that it's recommended to configure a schedule S.M.A.R.T tests once in a while:

1) What is the best practice for schedule S.M.A.R.T tests, and which test should i pick? (i don't want the hard disks to do unnecessary S.M.A.R.T test)
(in consideration that my drivers are WD Red drivers)


2) about the S.M.A.R.T tab on the disk management:

A. can i trust him on doing the schedule tests and send an email only if i have a problem?
(i checked and unchecked the "test mail", and it was working)

B. i read, but i still don't understand what is the check interval, is it for checking the log of the recent S.M.A.R.T tests?

C. then if i use the S.M.A.R.T schedule (and mail report) and temperature monitor feature that's all i need to do? (not any manual log reading every week or something?)

Thank you in advanced

[b0ssman]

if the data is that important to you then you will need ecc memory.

if your memory goes bad even reading the data will corrupt it.

in most cases you will only realise this later and by then your backup will have corrupted all your data.

[raulfg3]

What is the best practice for schedule S.M.A.R.T tests, and which test should i pick?

for enterprise a week test is common, for my NAS in home use I do 4 a year ( every 3 months)

2) about the S.M.A.R.T tab on the disk management:

program test hourly and test and understand how works , once understand, you can use desired intervall for your needs.