smartctl.8.in: Minor rework of '-a' and '-x' sections.

Merge duplicate info about TapeAlert.
Note that admin rights are not needed for Windows NVMe driver.
Note that the NVMe error log is not persistent.

git-svn-id: https://svn.code.sf.net/p/smartmontools/code/trunk/smartmontools@5510 4ea69e1a-61f1-4043-bf83-b5c94c648137

ChangeLog

@@ -2,6 +2,11 @@ $Id$
 
 2023-07-24  Christian Franke  <[email protected]>
 
+	smartctl.8.in: Minor rework of '-a' and '-x' sections.
+	Merge duplicate info about TapeAlert.
+	Note that admin rights are not needed for Windows NVMe driver.
+	Note that the NVMe error log is not persistent.
+
 	smartctl.8.in, smartd.conf.5.in: Update sections '-d usbasm1352r'
 	and '-d usbjmicron'.
 

smartctl.8.in

@@ -178,6 +178,10 @@ Both forms require a NVMe driver which supports NVME_PASS_THROUGH_IOCTL.
 .Sp
 Use the forms \fB"/dev/sd[...]"\fP or \fB"/dev/pd[...]"\fP (see above)
 for NVMe devices behind Windows 10 NVMe driver (stornvme.sys).
+The pass-through functionality of this driver does not require admin rights
+to retrieve device information (\*(Aq\-x\*(Aq option).
+Admin rights are required if the device state is changed
+(\*(Aq\-t TEST\*(Aq option).
 .Sp
 The prefix \fB"/dev/"\fP is optional.
 .\" %ENDIF OS Windows Cygwin
@@ -248,43 +252,45 @@ shortest output and \*(Aq\-\-identify=wb\*(Aq (all words, all bits) produces
 the longest output.
 .TP
 .B \-a, \-\-all
-Prints all SMART information about the disk.
-For ATA devices this is equivalent
-to
+Prints all SMART information about the device.
+.Sp
+For ATA, this is equivalent to
 .br
-\*(Aq\-H \-i \-c \-A \-l error \-l selftest \-l selective\*(Aq
+\*(Aq\-H \-i \-c \-A \-l error \-l selftest \-l selective\*(Aq.
 .br
-and for SCSI, this is equivalent to
+This option is no longer recommended for ATA disks because it does not enable
+the SMART options which require support for 48-bit ATA commands
+(see \*(Aq-x\*(Aq below).
+.Sp
+For SCSI, this is equivalent to
 .br
 \*(Aq\-H \-i \-A \-l error \-l selftest\*(Aq.
-.br
 .\" %IF OS Darwin FreeBSD Linux NetBSD Windows Cygwin
+.Sp
 For NVMe, this is equivalent to
 .br
 \*(Aq\-H \-i \-c \-A \-l error \-l selftest\*(Aq.
-.br
 .\" %ENDIF OS Darwin FreeBSD Linux NetBSD Windows Cygwin
-Note that for ATA disks this does \fBnot\fP enable the non-SMART options
-and the SMART options which require support for 48-bit ATA commands.
 .TP
 .B \-x, \-\-xall
 Prints all SMART and non-SMART information about the device.
-For ATA devices this is equivalent to
+.Sp
+For ATA, this is equivalent to
 .br
 \*(Aq\-H \-i \-g all \-g wcreorder \-c \-A \-f brief \-l xerror,error
 \-l xselftest,selftest \-l selective \-l directory \-l scttemp \-l scterc
 \-l devstat \-l defects \-l sataphy\*(Aq.
 .br
-and for SCSI disks, this is equivalent to
+If \*(Aq\-a\*(Aq is also specified, add \*(Aq\-l error \-l selftest\*(Aq.
+.Sp
+For SCSI disks, this is equivalent to
 .br
 \*(Aq\-H \-i \-g all \-A \-l error \-l selftest \-l background \-l sasphy
-\-l defects \-l envrep \-l genstats \-l ssd \-l zdevstat\*(Aq.
-.br
-and for SCSI zoned disks, add \-l zdevstat
-.br
-and for SCSI tape drivers and changers, add \-l tapedevstat
+\-l defects \-l envrep \-l genstats \-l ssd \-l zdevstat\*(Aq
 .br
+and for SCSI tape drives and changers, add \*(Aq\-l tapedevstat\*(Aq.
 .\" %IF OS Darwin FreeBSD Linux NetBSD Windows Cygwin
+.Sp
 For NVMe, this is equivalent to
 .br
 \*(Aq\-H \-i \-c \-A \-l error \-l selftest\*(Aq.
@@ -1153,16 +1159,12 @@ The dsn is usually disabled by default.
 .B \-H, \-\-health
 Prints the health status of the device.
 .Sp
-[SCSI tape drive or changer] For SCSI tape drives the TapeAlert log page is
-not checked for pending alerts unless this option is given twice (see
-\fBTAPE DRIVES\fP for the rationale).
-.Sp
 If the device reports failing health status, this means
 .B either
 that the device has already failed,
 .B or
-that it is predicting its own failure within the next 24 hours.  If
-this happens, use the \*(Aq\-a\*(Aq option to get more information, and
+that it is predicting its own failure within the next 24 hours.
+If this happens, use the \*(Aq\-x\*(Aq option to get more information, and
 .B get your data off the disk and to someplace safe as soon as you can.
 .Sp
 [ATA] Health status is obtained by checking the (boolean) result returned
@@ -1178,8 +1180,9 @@ Prefailure SMART Attribute value is less than or equal to its threshold
 (ASC) and Additional Sense Code Qualifier (ASCQ) from Informal Exceptions
 (IE) log page (if supported) and/or from SCSI sense data.
 .Sp
-[SCSI tape drive or changer] TapeAlert status is obtained by reading the
-TapeAlert log page only when this option is given twice.
+[SCSI tape drive or changer] The TapeAlert status is obtained by reading the
+TapeAlert log page, but only if this option is given twice (see
+\fBTAPE DRIVES\fP for the rationale).
 .\" %IF OS Darwin FreeBSD Linux NetBSD Windows Cygwin
 .Sp
 [NVMe] NVMe status is obtained by reading the "Critical Warning" byte from
@@ -1411,6 +1414,10 @@ This number can be changed by the optional parameter NUM.
 The maximum number of log entries is vendor specific
 (in the range from 1 to 256 inclusive).
 .Sp
+Note that the contents of this log is not preserved across power cycles or
+controller resets, but the value of \*(AqError Information Log Entries\*(Aq
+from SMART/Health Information log is.
+.Sp
 .\" %ENDIF OS Darwin FreeBSD Linux NetBSD Windows Cygwin
 .I xerror[,NUM][,error]
 \- [ATA only] prints the Extended Comprehensive SMART error log