All new docs in the last five days are gone!

[NoOp]

On 02/19/2009 04:44 PM, Rashkae wrote:
> NoOp wrote:
>> 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?
>> 
>> 
> 
> man badblocks was it :)
> 
> The -w, -f and -X -n options are the only way to use badblocks that will
> hose a filesystem, so don't.
> 
> The astute reader will note that I suggested the OP do a non-destructive
> read-write test, which is the -n option that I just said don't use :)
> -n tries not to hose your filesystem, but since it does involve writing
> directly to the disk, there is some risk.  If the hard drive really is
> bad, anything can happen.. I also wouldn't want a hard drive I was
> treating this way to be interrupted by something as mundane as a power
> failure.  Backups are a must before attempting this kind of low level
> operation.
> 
> 
> 

Perhaps 'sudo e2fsck -cc /dev/<device>' would be easier/better?

man e2fsck:
-c     This  option  causes  e2fsck to use badblocks(8) program to do a
read-only scan of the device in order to find  any  bad  blocks.
If  any  bad  blocks  are found, they are added to the bad block
inode to prevent them from being allocated to a file  or  direc‐
tory.   If  this  option  is specified twice, then the bad block
scan will be done using a non-destructive read-write test.