<pre>> The following warning/error was logged by the smartd daemon: > Device: /dev/hdb, 2 Currently unreadable (pending) sectors > For details see host's SYSLOG (default: /var/log/messages). > You can also use the smartctl utility for further investigation. > No additional email messages about this problem will be sent.</pre> Unfortunately, these errors are for real. They mean that you have two sectors (512 bytes each) that cannot be read anymore. In the next attempt to write them, they will be reallocated to another area on the disk, and the error will disappear. This is done by the disk hardware, and have nothing to do with the BIOS. I have one Seagate IDE disk that started to give me these messages. The first time I checked, there were 23 reallocated sectors. Today, more than 350. It is a thing that can stop, after reallocating a few sectors, or not, as in my case. As a consequence, the disk becomes considerably slower. If you use smartctl on a health disk, the number of reallocated sectors must be ZERO. If you see more than a few, do not trust the disk anymore. The makers say that more than one bad sector per year of use is a bad sign. On the other hand, I also have other disks with 5 or 6 bad sectors and they have been working 24/7 for years. Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds: ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE 1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000f 115 094 006 Pre-fail Always - 92645708 3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0003 096 096 000 Pre-fail Always - 0 4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0032 100 100 020 Old_age Always - 43 5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 100 100 036 Pre-fail Always - 0 <--------------------------------------------------- 7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000f 070 060 030 Pre-fail Always - 10622981 9 Power_On_Hours 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 472 -- Paulo Roma Cavalcanti LCG - UFRJ