I'm using Bazzite and want to check the health of my SSD from the terminal. I understand that smartctl can report SMART data, but I'm not sure how to identify the correct device path or run the command. I'd also like to know whether SSD health can be represented as a percentage. I may use the same process later on a Steam Deck or Steam Machine.
3 Answers
I ran the report successfully. My NVMe drive showed an overall health result of `PASSED`, `Available Spare: 100%`, `Percentage Used: 2%`, a temperature of 37°C, and zero media or data-integrity errors. For NVMe drives, `Percentage Used` estimates the portion of the drive’s rated endurance that has been consumed; it isn’t a general remaining-health score. Those readings look normal, though regular backups are still important.
SMART health isn’t usually one universal percentage. It reports several metrics, and the meaning depends on whether the drive is SATA or NVMe. First, list your drives and partitions with `lsblk`. Then run a full report using the matching device path, for example `sudo smartctl -a /dev/nvme0` for an NVMe drive or `sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda` for a SATA drive. You may need to install the smartmontools package if `smartctl` isn’t already available.
`lsblk` is the easiest way to find the device name. Avoid choosing a partition such as `/dev/nvme0n1p1`; SMART information is normally queried from the whole drive, such as `/dev/nvme0` or `/dev/nvme0n1`, depending on the device and smartctl version. GNOME Disks can also display SMART data graphically if it is installed.
That looks healthy. The 2% value refers to estimated endurance consumed, not the percentage of storage space used. The drive’s temperature, error counts, spare capacity, and overall SMART result are also worth checking.