<html><head></head><body>Hi Matthew,<br>
<br>
Thanks for the tip. That's an interesting thought. I don't really NEED all these computers, but i do use each for different purposes at different times. I just bought this tablet, so my money pot is empty at the moment.<br>
<br>
Sincerely,<br>
<br>
Ron<br>
<br>
--<br>
<br>
Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and K-9 Mail.<br>
Please excuse my potential brevity.<br>
<br>
(To whom it may concern. My email address has changed. Replying to former<br>
messages prior to 03/31/12 with my personal address will go to the wrong<br>
address. Please send all personal correspondence to the new address.)<br>
<br>
(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to<br>
call on the phone. I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy<br>
mailing lists and such. I don't always see new email messages very quickly.)<br>
<br>
Ron Frazier<br>
770-205-9422 (O) Leave a message.<br>
linuxdude AT <a href="http://techstarship.com">techstarship.com</a><br>
<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">Matthew <simontek@gmail.com> wrote:<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<pre style="white-space: pre-wrap; word-wrap:break-word; font-family: sans-serif">Newegg usually has a computer build you can buy as a daily special<br />atleast once a week for under $250.<br /><br />On 5/11/12, Jim Kinney <jim.kinney@gmail.com> wrote:<br />> Try badblocks in Linux. NOTE: that is dangerous to use on a mounted system.<br />><br />> OR - pull the drive into a newer system that has a bios that can handle it.<br />><br />> (seriously - dude! upgrade that dinosaur! it sucks down power like mad<br />> doing very little)<br />><br />> On Fri, May 11, 2012 at 1:41 AM, Ron Frazier (ALE) <<br />> atllinuxenthinfo@techstarship.com> wrote:<br />><br />>> Hi guys,<br />>><br />>> I'm running routine diagnostics on my hard drives. My normal practice is<br />>> to run SpinRite on them, which reads each sector, then refreshes the<br />>> magnetic fields by inverting and writing and inverting and writing them<br />>> again (in the particular mode I'm using). Thus, every bit is tested both<br />>> with a 0 and 1 and all the original data is refreshed. I don't want to<br />>> get<br />>> into a discussion as to the merits of this at the moment. I'm convinced<br />>> it's a good idea. My problem is that I have one computer that's so old<br />>> and<br />>> the bios is so old and the hdd is so big, that SpinRite complains because<br />>> the bios cannot access the whole drive. So, SpinRite won't run. Once<br />>> Windows or Linux starts up, those systems can access the whole hdd.<br />>> However, SpinRite runs strictly at the dos / bios level from a bootable<br />>> CD.<br />>><br />>> At the very least, I want to do a surface analysis be reading each<br />>> sector.<br />>> That, at least, will let the hdd controller review each sector and<br />>> determine if it thinks there are any problems. In Windows, I can start a<br />>> chkdisk, either graphically or on the command line, and specify the<br />>> surface<br />>> analysis option, and it will accomplish my goal.<br />>><br />>> My problem is on the Linux side of the fence. I don't know how to do what<br />>> I want there. I need to force the hdd to read all the sectors on the EXT4<br />>> main partition as well as the swap partition. Of course, I'm wanting to<br />>> do<br />>> all this nondestructively. So, I'm wondering exactly what a long smart<br />>> test<br />>> does, and whether it will accomplish my goal. It not, what would you<br />>> recommend?<br />>><br />>> Thanks in advance.<br />>><br />>> Sincerely,<br />>><br />>> Ron<br />>><br />>><br />>> --<br />>><br />>> Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and K-9<br />>> Mail.<br />>> Please excuse my potential brevity.<br />>><br />>> (To whom it may concern. My email address has changed. Replying to former<br />>> messages prior to 03/31/12 with my personal address will go to the wrong<br />>> address. Please send all personal correspondence to the new address.)<br />>><br />>> (PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to<br />>> call on the phone. I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy<br />>> mailing lists and such. I don't always see new email messages very<br />>> quickly.)<br />>><br />>> Ron Frazier<br />>> 770-205-9422 (O) Leave a message.<br />>> linuxdude AT <a href="http://techstarship.com">techstarship.com</a><br />>><br />>><hr /><br />>> Ale mailing list<br />>> Ale@ale.org<br />>> <a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</a><br />>> See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at<br />>> <a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</a><br />>><br />>><br />><br />><br />> --<br />> --<br />> James P. Kinney III<br />><br />> As long as the general population is passive, apathetic, diverted to<br />> consumerism or hatred of the vulnerable, then the powerful can do as they<br />> please, and those who survive will be left to contemplate the outcome.<br />> - *2011 Noam Chomsky<br />><br />> <a href="http://heretothereideas.blogspot.com">http://heretothereideas.blogspot.com</a>/<br />> *<br />><br /><br />-- <br />Sent from my mobile device<br /><br />SimonTek<br />912-398-6704<br /><hr /><br />Ale mailing list<br />Ale@ale.org<br /><a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</a><br />See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at<br /><a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</a><br /></pre></blockquote></div></body></html>