S.M.A.R.T. 199 SATA_CRC_Error_Count number

Question 1

I have a SFF PC ( Shuttle XS35v2 ) where SATA disks are connected to the machine directly, and without SATA / power cabling.

I have bought a brand new KINGSTON SA400S37960G SDD and connected it to the machine via a laptop to SATA caddy (the direct slot has been occupied by the OS SSD). My intention is to turn this machine into a Samba file server (it runs Linux). This caddy has been used in the past flawlessly.

Upon powering on, and checking the SMART attributes of the new disk, following SMART attribute caught my attention : 199 SATA_CRC_Error_Count had value 524546

With very light usage so far, this attribute has been increased by 1 thus now has the value of 524547

Should I trust this disk to store my data? Should I try to switch slots, meaning install the big new SSD to the direct slot and the OS old SSD to the caddy adaptor? Or should I return the disk?

Full output of smartctl -a /dev/sda follows.

smartctl 7.4 2023-08-01 r5530 [x86_64-linux-6.12.95+deb13-amd64] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-23, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     Phison Driven SSDs
Device Model:     KINGSTON SA400S37960G
Serial Number:    50026B73843BB1A1
LU WWN Device Id: 5 0026b7 3843bb1a1
Firmware Version: SBFKZ1.3
User Capacity:    960,197,124,096 bytes [960 GB]
Sector Size:      512 bytes logical/physical
Rotation Rate:    Solid State Device
TRIM Command:     Available
Device is:        In smartctl database 7.3/5528
ATA Version is:   ACS-3 T13/2161-D revision 4
SATA Version is:  SATA 3.2, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 3.0 Gb/s)
Local Time is:    Thu Jul 16 11:53:54 2026 EEST
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status:  (0x00) Offline data collection activity
                    was never started.
                    Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.
Self-test execution status:      (   0) The previous self-test routine completed
                    without error or no self-test has ever 
                    been run.
Total time to complete Offline 
data collection:        (65535) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities:            (0x11) SMART execute Offline immediate.
                    No Auto Offline data collection support.
                    Suspend Offline collection upon new
                    command.
                    No Offline surface scan supported.
                    Self-test supported.
                    No Conveyance Self-test supported.
                    No Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities:            (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
                    power-saving mode.
                    Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability:        (0x01) Error logging supported.
                    General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine 
recommended polling time:    (   1) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time:    (   2) minutes.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       223
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       6
148 Unknown_Attribute       0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
149 Unknown_Attribute       0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
167 Write_Protect_Mode      0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
168 SATA_Phy_Error_Count    0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
169 Bad_Block_Rate          0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       9
170 Bad_Blk_Ct_Lat/Erl      0x0000   100   100   010    Old_age   Offline      -       0/8
172 Erase_Fail_Count        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
173 MaxAvgErase_Ct          0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       1
181 Program_Fail_Count      0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
182 Erase_Fail_Count        0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
187 Reported_Uncorrect      0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
192 Unsafe_Shutdown_Count   0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       3
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   029   037   000    Old_age   Always       -       29 (Min/Max 20/37)
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
199 SATA_CRC_Error_Count    0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       524547
218 CRC_Error_Count         0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
231 SSD_Life_Left           0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       100
233 Flash_Writes_GiB        0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
241 Lifetime_Writes_GiB     0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       15
242 Lifetime_Reads_GiB      0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
244 Average_Erase_Count     0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
245 Max_Erase_Count         0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       1
246 Total_Erase_Count       0x0000   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       48

SMART Error Log not supported

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Short offline       Completed without error       00%         0         -
# 2  Extended offline    Completed without error       00%         0         -

Selective Self-tests/Logging not supported

The above only provides legacy SMART information - try 'smartctl -x' for more

Question 2

Should I trust this disk to store my data?

The disk is probably fine, but the data isn't properly reaching the disk in the first place.

As long as the disk is able to detect SATA packets with incorrect checksum, it will discard them and the host will retransmit, until hopefully they make through – at which point the disk will store the data as it should.

But high error rate will likely reduce performance (since it takes multiple tries to write or read the same sector), and it might be that a packet can't get through and the host controller will try to fully reinitialize the link (additional noticeable delays and dmesg logs) or even give up and decide the disk unresponsive.

Should I try to switch slots, meaning install the big new SSD to the direct slot and the OS old SSD to the caddy adaptor?

Yes to determine whether the problem is with the adapter or the disk. (I might even try installing the disk without the adapter, as the ports are usually the same anyway and the adapter just holds it in place.)

But keep in mind that SATA ports dedicated to an optical drive are often lower speed (and your smartctl output suggests this might be the case here), so plan accordingly.

For example, it used to be common for a typical older laptop (or an SFF/µFF PC) to have one 6 Gbps SATA port for the HDD and one 3 Gbps SATA port for the CD/DVD drive. So while SATA SSDs are already limited to ~550 MB/s throughput, connecting one to an "optical drive" port might only give you half of that.

On the other hand, it could also be that smartctl is saying (current: 3.0 Gb/s) specifically because of your connection issues, not because of the port itself (the SATA controller will negotiate a lower speed if it has issues keeping the link up).

So move the disks around, check dmesg to see what speed they negotiate and whether the disk on the 2nd port gives you any SATA or AHCI errors. (If it turns out that the 2nd port is actually only 3Gbit, since it's going to be a NAS, I would probably use the fast one for data and the slow one for the OS.)

Or should I return the disk?

Not until you have ruled out physical connection issues.