This EX200 practice question tests your understanding of deploy, configure, and maintain systems. The scenario asks you to isolate a root cause — eliminate options that address a different problem before choosing. After answering, compare your reasoning against the explanation and wrong-answer breakdown below. Once you have made your selection, read the full explanation to reinforce the concept and understand why each distractor is designed to mislead on exam day.
A system has a disk that may be failing. Which tool can be used to check the health of a SATA disk using SMART monitoring?
fsck
Why wrong: fsck checks filesystem consistency, not disk health.
dd
Why wrong: dd is a data duplication tool, not for health monitoring.
smartctl
smartctl is the correct tool to check SMART attributes for disk health.
badblocks
Why wrong: badblocks checks for bad blocks but does not use SMART.
Answer choices
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
smartctl
smartctl is the correct tool because it directly interfaces with the Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (SMART) built into modern SATA and ATA drives. It can query the drive's internal health metrics, such as reallocated sector counts and temperature, to predict potential failure. The other options do not access SMART data.
Key principle: Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Answer analysis
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
fsck
Why it's wrong here
fsck checks filesystem consistency, not disk health.
dd
Why it's wrong here
dd is a data duplication tool, not for health monitoring.
smartctl
Why this is correct
smartctl is the correct tool to check SMART attributes for disk health.
Related concept
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
badblocks
Why it's wrong here
badblocks checks for bad blocks but does not use SMART.
Common exam traps
Red Hat often tests the distinction between file system tools (fsck), block-level utilities (dd, badblocks), and hardware monitoring tools (smartctl), leading candidates to confuse disk surface testing with SMART health checks.
Detailed technical explanation
SMART is a monitoring system included in ATA (and SATA) drives that tracks various attributes (e.g., raw read error rate, spin-up time, reallocated sector count) with threshold values. smartctl, part of the smartmontools package, uses the ATA PASS-THROUGH command (via SCSI or direct ATA) to retrieve this data. In a real-world scenario, a failing disk may still pass a badblocks scan but show critical SMART warnings, making smartctl essential for proactive failure detection.
Key takeaway
Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option.
Real-world example
A practitioner preparing for the EX200 exam encounters this exact type of scenario on the job. The correct answer here is not the most general option — it is the best answer for the specific constraint described. Answer the scenario, not the keyword: identify the specific constraint before choosing the most familiar-sounding option. Real exam questions reward reading the full scenario before eliminating options, because the constraint defines which answer fits.
What to study next
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FAQ
Deploy, configure, and maintain systems — This question tests Deploy, configure, and maintain systems — Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer..
The correct answer is: smartctl — smartctl is the correct tool because it directly interfaces with the Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (SMART) built into modern SATA and ATA drives. It can query the drive's internal health metrics, such as reallocated sector counts and temperature, to predict potential failure. The other options do not access SMART data.
Identify which exam domain this question belongs to, review the core concept, then practise similar questions from the same domain.
Read the scenario before looking for a memorised answer.
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Last reviewed: Jun 30, 2026
This EX200 practice question is part of Courseiva's free Red Hat certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the EX200 exam.
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