[plug] BadBlocks

[Nick Bannon]

On Thu, Jan 11, 2001 at 08:28:12AM +0800, Peter Wilsmore wrote:
[...]
> > them? I have an ext2 fs on a big SCSI that has some bad blocks but for =
> > some reason after the initial install the OS still tried to write to it.
[...]
> Yes, from memory you put the output of the badblocks command 
> into a file called /etc/badblocks. I cannot remember where I got
> this information from but I do know I have had to do it before.

That's as good a place as any - I think you then feed the file into fsck
with "-l filename" (man e2fsck, man dumpe2fs).

However, the bad news is that many (all?) SCSI drives actually go
through the process internally - they reserve some blocks for just this
purpose, and move data off failing ones onto the reserved ones as
required. So by the time you actually see visible errors like this, the
drive has already run out of reserved space and the problem may be
worse than you think.

If you have manufacturer's warranty left (often a generous 5 years on
good drives), use it now. If not, time to go and invest in some more
storage...

Nick.

-- 
  Nick Bannon  | "I made this letter longer than usual because
nick at it.net.au | I lack the time to make it shorter." - Pascal