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I usually prefer the harddisk manufacturer's diagnosis tool to check for bad blocks, but you can also use the generic badblocks tool. Keep in mind that some options of the badblocks tool will destroy the data on the disk, so handle it with care and read the manpage before using it.
If you did full format (zeroing all sectors), then (I think) SMART should show you if there are any bad (reallocated) blocks/sectors. You can use 'Disk Utility', 'smartctl' or similar.
If their number doesn't increase, I wouldn't worry much. It might be a good idea to isolate them in unpartitioned space.
with modern drives, I doubt any software can do more than 'dd'. however, some say 'HDD Regenerator' is very good at 'repairing' hdd.
Distribution: Debian Testing, Stable, Sid and Manjaro, Mageia 3, LMDE
Posts: 2,628
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Quote:
Originally Posted by qrange
If you did full format (zeroing all sectors), then (I think) SMART should show you if there are any bad (reallocated) blocks/sectors. You can use 'Disk Utility', 'smartctl' or similar.
If their number doesn't increase, I wouldn't worry much. It might be a good idea to isolate them in unpartitioned space.
with modern drives, I doubt any software can do more than 'dd'. however, some say 'HDD Regenerator' is very good at 'repairing' hdd.
I wouldn't trus any software that claims to repair hardware issues. Especially those HDD "regenerators" create a false trust for the user that his hardware is magically fixed, while in reality it is likely that the situation will get worse.
My guess is that they simply 'zero wipe' all sectors (easily done with dd) and let hdd automatically remap bad ones (to spare area). But, I'd give 'hdd regenerator' a try if all else fails, even though its windows and all. (there was also famous 'spinrite', similar program, but also nonlinux)
Old hdds had a list of bad blocks on a label, back then you probably couldn't even find one without them, so it doesn't mean disk is useless. Still, I wouldn't keep important data on such disk, to be safe. And I'd replace it if number of bad blocks increases.
you can check if all blocks are readable with: dd if=/dev/... of=/dev/null bs=128K
I'd do it 'offline', while disk is not mounted (from livecd if needed). But be careful, dd can be destructive if not used properly.
That badblocks tool probably does something similar in read only mode.
I'd think the best is the OEM's diag disk.
If you can't get the actual OEM diags you may wish to get ultimate boot cd. I think it has two common generic diags. You generally have to select the long test or some test that may take a few hours or even a day or so.
I usually prefer the harddisk manufacturer's diagnosis tool to check for bad blocks, but you can also use the generic badblocks tool. Keep in mind that some options of the badblocks tool will destroy the data on the disk, so handle it with care and read the manpage before using it.
Thx, but howto check the health of a hard drive using badblocks tool?
There is no data on this hard disk.
Is it:
Warning: To anyone, the -w option makes destructive tests, so the data on the disk will inevitably be lost after the test. If you need the data on the disk make a backup first and use the -w option or use -n option instead, which will perform nondestructive tests. In any case when using such tools, read the manpage!
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