empeg:/drive0/var/smartctl# ./smartctl -l error /dev/hda
smartctl version 5.33 [arm-empeg-linux-gnu] Copyright (C) 2002-4 Bruce Allen
Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/

Error SMART Status command failed: Input/output error
A mandatory SMART command failed: exiting. To continue, add one or more '-T perm
issive' options.

I don't think it means the drive is bad because it's actually working fine right now and able to play music and such. After a FSCK it even finished the 2-gig download I'd started earlier without complaint, and did a proper database rebuild.