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[NoOp]

On 02/18/2009 08:00 PM, Rashkae wrote:

> If the Hard drive hasn't already declared itself dead, then you should
> use badblocks to scan the surface.  

Hmmm... I've never tried badblocks, so I checked 'man badblocks':

Important note: If the output of badblocks is going to be  fed  to  the
e2fsck or mke2fs programs, it is important that the block size is prop‐
erly specified, since the block numbers which are  generated  are  very
dependent on the block size in use by the filesystem.  For this reason,
it is strongly recommended that users not run badblocks  directly,  but
rather use the -c option of the e2fsck and mke2fs programs.

seems to have more 'Warnings':
WARNING
Never use the -w option on a device containing an existing file system.
This  option  erases  data!  If you want to do write-mode testing on an
existing file system, use the -n option instead.  It is slower, but  it
will preserve your data.

Is there a 'Dummys' guide to using badblocks so as to not hose a drive
in the process?


Since this computer has already
> exhibited such hostile symptoms, I would (after a backup of my data, of
> course) boot from a CD and do a non-destructive read write test.  This
> is slow, but it's as good as doing a Low Level Format of your hard
> drive, and has the benefit of preserving all your data if the HD isn't a
> failure.  This should be followed with another look at smartctl to make
> sure the hard drive hasn't re-allocated sectors silently during the
> read-write test.  (Technically, that's what the HD should do if any of
> the sectors are iffy, but I would still consider it a warning sign of
> imminent danger.)
>