[Gllug] Ubuntu 32 bit or 64bit for Windows 7

[Chris Bell]

On Fri 26 Nov, Dennis Furey wrote:
> 
> On Fri, Nov 26, 2010 at 08:34:03AM +0000, Chris Bell wrote:
> >    I test a secondhand drive by creating a single partition covering the
> > entire disc then formatting it using
> > 
> > mke2fs -c -c /dev/hda1    (or /dev/sda1)
> 
> You can also invoke the badblocks (8) utility directly without
> partitioning or formatting the disk, and then create multiple
> partitions or format it with something other than an ext2 filesystem
> later.

   Just using badblocks read only does not find good sectors which have been
corrupted by a power failure. The full write then read test can clear simple
errors, it does invoke badblocks, but when I see errors I usually assume
that it is on the way out anyway, sometimes there has been a head bounce and
there are loads of errors. I could create the required final partition
structure and run the check on each, but then I need to monitor it. In fact
I tend to test a drive when it becomes available, not when I am waiting to
use it.

> 
> > this will take a very long time writing then reading different patterns to
> > the entire disc, and will report any errors.
> 
> yes, about 1 terabyte per day in my case, which is with a USB2
> interface



-- 
Chris Bell www.chrisbell.org.uk (was www.overview.demon.co.uk)
Microsoft sells you Windows ... Linux gives you the whole house.

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