Is this PC doa? (was a formatting question)

[Basil Chupin]

On 17/11/2010 00:37, Michael Haney wrote:
> All high capacity drives have errors, this is where error correction
> technology comes in.  Its normal for drives to have a certain number
> of read/write errors on a daily basis, but when those numbers start to
> rise above a certain threshold that's when you've got a problem.  This
> is what SMART checks for, but SMART isn't as thorough and it should or
> could be.
>
> I wish there was a Linux version of this, or it was at least open
> source, but there's a great piece of software for instances like this.
>   Its called SpinRite, and many IT shops I've worked for used it to
> recover data from failing or failed drives.

I have known about SpinRite for years because I have been using grc.com 
for checking my systems' volnerability.

However, one thing which I have never bothered to determine (never had 
to do so) is how can SpirRite handle an HD is it stops even spinning up?

[pruned]

> Its made by Gibson Research Corporation which is owned by Steve
> Gibson, the guy beyond the Shields Up! test for testing the security of
> your router.

Steve started off as a hacker at the age of 13 yrs I believe.

However, when I mentioned grc's Shields Up! in some Linux-related forum 
(here I think but not sure) I was told by a couple of "gurus" that Steve 
'doesn't know anything' and is, basically, a 'charlatan' (but these were 
not the words used.)

However, I still use (and recommend) Shields Up!


>    I don't know if there's a Linux equivalent to this
> software.  Its tiny but powerful.  Doesn't anybody know of any free
> software that can do the same stuff SpinRite can do?
>    

Unfortunately, I don't think there is such a beast - at least not to my 
knowledge.

BC

-- 
Chi-sun Hsing-fu acted only after thinking thrice. "Twice is quite enough".
                   Confucius