[ale] what exactly does a long smart hdd test do?

[Ron Frazier (ALE)]

Hi Matthew,

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.

Sincerely,

Ron

--

Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and K-9 Mail.
Please excuse my potential brevity.

(To whom it may concern. My email address has changed. Replying to former
messages prior to 03/31/12 with my personal address will go to the wrong
address. Please send all personal correspondence to the new address.)

(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
call on the phone. I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
mailing lists and such. I don't always see new email messages very quickly.)

Ron Frazier
770-205-9422 (O) Leave a message.
linuxdude AT techstarship.com


Matthew <simontek at gmail.com> wrote:

Newegg usually has a computer build you can buy as a daily special
atleast once a week for under $250.

On 5/11/12, Jim Kinney <jim.kinney at gmail.com> wrote:
> Try badblocks in Linux. NOTE: that is dangerous to use on a mounted system.
>
> OR - pull the drive into a newer system that has a bios that can handle it.
>
> (seriously - dude! upgrade that dinosaur! it sucks down power like mad
> doing very little)
>
> On Fri, May 11, 2012 at 1:41 AM, Ron Frazier (ALE) <
> atllinuxenthinfo at techstarship.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi guys,
>>
>> I'm running routine diagnostics on my hard drives. My normal practice is
>> to run SpinRite on them, which reads each sector, then refreshes the
>> magnetic fields by inverting and writing and inverting and writing them
>> again (in the particular mode I'm using). Thus, every bit is tested both
>> with a 0 and 1 and all the original data is refreshed. I don't want to
>> get
>> into a discussion as to the merits of this at the moment. I'm convinced
>> it's a good idea. My problem is that I have one computer that's so old
>> and
>> the bios is so old and the hdd is so big, that SpinRite complains because
>> the bios cannot access the whole drive. So, SpinRite won't run. Once
>> Windows or Linux starts up, those systems can access the whole hdd.
>> However, SpinRite runs strictly at the dos / bios level from a bootable
>> CD.
>>
>> At the very least, I want to do a surface analysis be reading each
>> sector.
>> That, at least, will let the hdd controller review each sector and
>> determine if it thinks there are any problems. In Windows, I can start a
>> chkdisk, either graphically or on the command line, and specify the
>> surface
>> analysis option, and it will accomplish my goal.
>>
>> My problem is on the Linux side of the fence. I don't know how to do what
>> I want there. I need to force the hdd to read all the sectors on the EXT4
>> main partition as well as the swap partition. Of course, I'm wanting to
>> do
>> all this nondestructively. So, I'm wondering exactly what a long smart
>> test
>> does, and whether it will accomplish my goal. It not, what would you
>> recommend?
>>
>> Thanks in advance.
>>
>> Sincerely,
>>
>> Ron
>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> Sent from my Android Acer A500 tablet with bluetooth keyboard and K-9
>> Mail.
>> Please excuse my potential brevity.
>>
>> (To whom it may concern. My email address has changed. Replying to former
>> messages prior to 03/31/12 with my personal address will go to the wrong
>> address. Please send all personal correspondence to the new address.)
>>
>> (PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
>> call on the phone. I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
>> mailing lists and such. I don't always see new email messages very
>> quickly.)
>>
>> Ron Frazier
>> 770-205-9422 (O) Leave a message.
>> linuxdude AT techstarship.com
>>
>>_____________________________________________

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>>
>>
>
>
> --
> --
> James P. Kinney III
>
> As long as the general population is passive, apathetic, diverted to
> consumerism or hatred of the vulnerable, then the powerful can do as they
> please, and those who survive will be left to contemplate the outcome.
> - *2011 Noam Chomsky
>
> http://heretothereideas.blogspot.com/
> *
>

-- 
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SimonTek
912-398-6704
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