-bash: /bin/su: Input/output error
That's today's message from bash. Fortunately seem's it's able to spawn it, su command and a bunch of others had not been so lucky.
The ps command is another of the lucky ones, an excerpt (hey! less also works) is highly insightful:
20292 ? S 0:00 sh -c $SMARTD_MAILER -s 'SMART error (FailedReadSmartSelfTestLog) detected on host: busgosu' root 2>&1 << "ENDMAIL"?This email was generated by the smartd daemon running on:?? host name: busgosu? DNS domain: [Unknown]? NIS domain: (none)??The following warning/error was logged by the smartd daemon:??Device: /dev/sda, Read SMART Self-Test Log Failed??For details see host's SYSLOG (default: /var/log/syslog).??You can also use the smartctl utility for further investigation.?No additional email messages about this problem will be sent.?ENDMAIL? 20293 ? S 0:00 /bin/bash -e /usr/share/smartmontools/smartd-runner -s SMART error (FailedReadSmartSelfTestLog) detected on host: busgosu root 20301 ? S 0:00 run-parts --report --lsbsysinit --arg=/tmp/fileCJFXti --arg=-s --arg=SMART error (FailedReadSmartSelfTestLog) detected on host: busgosu --arg=root -- /etc/smartmontools/run.d 20302 ? S 0:00 /bin/bash -e /etc/smartmontools/run.d/10mail /tmp/fileCJFXti -s SMART error (FailedReadSmartSelfTestLog) detected on host: busgosu root 20303 ? S 0:00 /usr/bin/mail -s SMART error (FailedReadSmartSelfTestLog) detected on host: busgosu root
So /dev/sda is dying, now for real. It gave me some warnings two or three weeks ago, so last week I made a complete backup on its twin disk, using ddrescue, because dd wasn't able to do it without failing.
It's time, again, to seek for a couple of disks which last for almost five years... if possible.