Are few UDMA_CRC_Error_Count errors in an SSD an issue?

Question

Some SMART stats:

Device Model:     Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500GB
Firmware Version: EMT01B6Q
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   099   099   000    Old_age   Always       -       252
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   099   099   000    Old_age   Always       -       75
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x003e   099   099   000    Old_age   Always       -       3
241 Total_LBAs_Written      0x0032   099   099   000    Old_age   Always       -       543780004

Host is a Thinkpad T420. Are UDMA_CRC_Error_Count = 3 at this time a problem?

Has anybody else this combination in use and sees similar behavior?

What exactly does this mean?

Answer 1

The good news is that the CRC errors you see are automatically and silently recovered from by the SATA controller.

Most often the issue is caused by a faulty, kinked, or poorly seated SATA cable/connection.

Don't worry about the count as it stands now (3 is a very low number), but do worry if the count increases over time. At that point you might try to re-seat the SATA cable/connection or replace the cable (if there even is a cable). In the worst case it could well be a faulty SATA controller on laptop or hard drive itself; in that case, well, you could try a replacement hard drive and failing that, a new lappy.

When (if) I find proper references for all this I'll update the answer. For now, you're going on my own personal experience ;-)

Answer 2

Reconecting/cleaning the connection solved the problem.