Toshiba MG09 helium condition dropping — normal?

[naston]

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for a second opinion on a Toshiba MG09ACA18TE (18TB) that was sold as new. SMART behavior looks a bit strange and I’d like to confirm whether this is normal for MG09 or a sign of prior use.

Initial SMART (first power‑on):
Helium Condition Upper: Current = 100, Worst = 100
MAMR Health Monitor (1B): 000000FF0822

Now (a few days later):
Helium Condition Upper: Current = 100, Worst = 93
MAMR Health Monitor (1B): 00000008005C

Only a couple of TB written so far, nothing heavy.

What concerns me is that Helium Condition Upper keeps dropping: 100 → 99 → 97 → 96, while Worst stays at 93. This happened with the drive completely idle at 25°C — no workload, no thermal stress, just sitting there.

For a drive that’s supposed to be brand new, I’m not sure how to explain this. At this point I’m leaning toward returning it, but I’d appreciate input from people who run MG08/MG09 regularly.

Thanks.

 

[rtech]

Given rapidity of Helium level decline you should backup your data ASAP. Wait a while if it stays level but given how small He atoms are it is very unlikely that it will stay in same level especially if it is caused by leak not faulty sensor.

 

[twin_savage]

Have there been large temperature swings while operating the drive?
If the firmware isn't running a temperature compensation algorithm on the helium stat, it will show a worse state while the drive is cold.

 

[tinfoil3d]

It's so new! Do not store important data there and monitor it, to possibly return. My toshibas still at 100

 

[tinfoil3d]

Id ont have MG9 but this guy

smartctl --all -x /dev/sdp
smartctl 7.4 2023-08-01 r5530 [x86_64-linux-4.19.0-24-amd64] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-23, Bruce Allen, Christian Franke, www.smartmontools.org

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Model Family:     Toshiba MG10ACA... Enterprise Capacity HDD
Device Model:     TOSHIBA MG10ACA20TE
Serial Number:    ---
LU WWN Device Id: 5 000039 --------
Firmware Version: 4307
User Capacity:    20,000,588,955,648 bytes [20.0 TB]
Sector Sizes:     512 bytes logical, 4096 bytes physical
Rotation Rate:    7200 rpm
Form Factor:      3.5 inches
Device is:        In smartctl database 7.3/5528
ATA Version is:   ACS-4 T13/BSR INCITS 529 revision 5
SATA Version is:  SATA 3.3, 6.0 Gb/s (current: 6.0 Gb/s)
Local Time is:    Mon May 18 14:46:48 2026 JST
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled
AAM feature is:   Unavailable
APM level is:     254 (maximum performance)
Rd look-ahead is: Enabled
Write cache is:   Enabled
DSN feature is:   Unavailable
ATA Security is:  Disabled, NOT FROZEN [SEC1]
Wt Cache Reorder: Enabled

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

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status:  (0x82)    Offline data collection activity
                    was completed without error.
                    Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled.
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:         (  120) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities:              (0x5b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
                    Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
                    Suspend Offline collection upon new
                    command.
                    Offline surface scan supported.
                    Self-test supported.
                    No Conveyance Self-test supported.
                    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:      (   2) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time:      (1702) minutes.
SCT capabilities:            (0x003d)    SCT Status supported.
                    SCT Error Recovery Control supported.
                    SCT Feature Control supported.
                    SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAGS    VALUE WORST THRESH FAIL RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     PO-R--   100   100   050    -    0
  2 Throughput_Performance  P-S---   100   100   050    -    0
  3 Spin_Up_Time            POS--K   100   100   001    -    9600
  4 Start_Stop_Count        -O--CK   100   100   000    -    1
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   PO--CK   100   100   010    -    0
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         PO-R--   100   100   050    -    0
  8 Seek_Time_Performance   P-S---   100   100   050    -    0
  9 Power_On_Hours          -O--CK   068   068   000    -    12816
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        PO--CK   100   100   030    -    0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       -O--CK   100   100   000    -    1
 23 Helium_Condition_Lower  PO---K   100   100   075    -    0
 24 Helium_Condition_Upper  PO---K   100   100   075    -    0
 27 MAMR_Health_Monitor     PO---K   100   100   030    -    330061
191 G-Sense_Error_Rate      -O--CK   100   100   000    -    0
192 Power-Off_Retract_Count -O--CK   100   100   000    -    0
193 Load_Cycle_Count        -O--CK   100   100   000    -    4932
194 Temperature_Celsius     -O---K   100   100   000    -    27 (Min/Max 21/34)
196 Reallocated_Event_Count PO--CK   100   100   010    -    0
197 Current_Pending_Sector  -O--CK   100   100   000    -    0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   ----CK   100   100   000    -    0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    -O--CK   200   200   000    -    0
220 Disk_Shift              -O----   100   100   000    -    393216
222 Loaded_Hours            -O--CK   089   089   000    -    4690
226 Load-in_Time            -OS--K   100   100   000    -    635
240 Head_Flying_Hours       P-----   100   100   001    -    0
241 Total_LBAs_Written      -O--CK   100   100   000    -    27110788576
242 Total_LBAs_Read         -O--CK   100   100   000    -    422370510
                            ||||||_ K auto-keep
                            |||||__ C event count
                            ||||___ R error rate
                            |||____ S speed/performance
                            ||_____ O updated online
                            |______ P prefailure warning

General Purpose Log Directory Version 1
SMART           Log Directory Version 1 [multi-sector log support]
Address    Access  R/W   Size  Description
0x00       GPL,SL  R/O      1  Log Directory
0x01           SL  R/O      1  Summary SMART error log
0x02           SL  R/O     51  Comprehensive SMART error log
0x03       GPL     R/O      5  Ext. Comprehensive SMART error log
0x04       GPL,SL  R/O      8  Device Statistics log
0x06           SL  R/O      1  SMART self-test log
0x07       GPL     R/O      1  Extended self-test log
0x08       GPL     R/O      2  Power Conditions log
0x09           SL  R/W      1  Selective self-test log
0x0c       GPL     R/O    513  Pending Defects log
0x10       GPL     R/O      1  NCQ Command Error log
0x11       GPL     R/O      1  SATA Phy Event Counters log
0x24       GPL     R/O  65520  Current Device Internal Status Data log
0x25       GPL     R/O  65520  Saved Device Internal Status Data log
0x30       GPL,SL  R/O      9  IDENTIFY DEVICE data log
0x80-0x9f  GPL,SL  R/W     16  Host vendor specific log
0xab       GPL     VS    1024  Device vendor specific log
0xae       GPL     VS      25  Device vendor specific log
0xe0       GPL,SL  R/W      1  SCT Command/Status
0xe1       GPL,SL  R/W      1  SCT Data Transfer

SMART Extended Comprehensive Error Log Version: 1 (5 sectors)
No Errors Logged

SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged

SMART Extended Self-test Log Version: 1 (1 sectors)
No self-tests have been logged.  [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t]

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
No self-tests have been logged.  [To run self-tests, use: smartctl -t]

SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
 SPAN  MIN_LBA  MAX_LBA  CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
    1        0        0  Not_testing
    2        0        0  Not_testing
    3        0        0  Not_testing
    4        0        0  Not_testing
    5        0        0  Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
  After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

SCT Status Version:                  3
SCT Version (vendor specific):       1 (0x0001)
Device State:                        Active (0)
Current Temperature:                    27 Celsius
Power Cycle Min/Max Temperature:     21/34 Celsius
Lifetime    Min/Max Temperature:     21/34 Celsius
Specified Max Operating Temperature:    60 Celsius
Under/Over Temperature Limit Count:   0/0
SMART Status:                        0xc24f (PASSED)
Vendor specific:
00 00 02 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

SCT Temperature History Version:     2
Temperature Sampling Period:         1 minute
Temperature Logging Interval:        1 minute
Min/Max recommended Temperature:     10/40 Celsius
Min/Max Temperature Limit:            5/60 Celsius
Temperature History Size (Index):    478 (345)

 

[naston]

Thanks everyone — the feedback was really helpful.

I couldn’t find any temperature‑related explanation for the Helium Condition Upper changes. After transferring about 2 TB the drive reached ~36 °C and Current dropped to 96 (Worst 93), then went back to 100 once it cooled to 25 °C. At first I thought that might be normal.

But even in full idle at a steady 25 °C, Current dropped again to 96–97 without any activity, which is harder to justify as normal behavior.

I’m not storing anything important on it at this point. I’ve already initiated a return, but I’ll likely get another MG09 — the noise level was surprisingly low.

Thanks again for all the input. Comparing with drives that have been running for a long time made things much clearer.