Can linux recognise bad sectors?

futurist · 07-06-2003, 05:29 AM

My harddisk crashed and after reformat, it has bad sectors, if i installed it with linux again, will linux
knows where are the bad sectors and avoid using them ?

acid_kewpie · 07-06-2003, 05:37 AM

yes, running fsck on the drive will scan it for bad blocks normally.

futurist · 07-06-2003, 05:39 AM

you mean scan it after installation? will it be too late?

MasterC · 07-06-2003, 05:53 AM

During most distrobutions installs, it offers you an option to scan your disk before completing the install (during the format stage). IF yours doesn't, try using a recovery feature if one is available on your distro's install CD's. From there you should be able to use fsck as Chris noted above.

Cool

acid_kewpie · 07-06-2003, 05:53 AM

i'd assume the installer program will have an option to scan before formatting, i think mdk used to when i used to use it.

jbstew32 · 07-06-2003, 01:17 PM

yeah they will all allow you to do this (unless it is some oddball distro). In Mandrake i believe you have to use the 'expert' mode for it to give you the option (type expert then enter to boot rather than just hitting enter to install)

Other distros may do the same for the newbie factor, but it should be there. It is a pretty vital option imo.

futurist · 07-07-2003, 03:39 AM

yes, i did it.
in expert mode, i chose to detect bad sector and reformat it.
now is OK.