smartctl-exit-status · shipping · also smartctl return code

smartctl exit status

The smartctl exit status is a process result whose normal ATA interpretation combines independent command, health-threshold and log-history flags in an eight-bit mask.

It is not a binary diagnosis of drive health. The -n option can assign custom return values, including zero when a low-power check is skipped. Decode bits only under a known normal-exit policy, retain warnings and preserve missing health as unknown. A reported passed boolean can come from attribute fallback rather than a successful SMART RETURN STATUS command.

Relations

related

ata-smart, smart, smart-normalized-value, smart-raw-value

Citations

1. smartmontools 7.5: smartctl exit status and -n policy (accessed 2026-10-15)
2. smartmontools 7.5: ATA health-result fallback (accessed 2026-10-15)
3. Hesela: smartctl monitoring and tested collector examples (accessed 2026-10-15)

JSON: /data/terms/smartctl-exit-status.json