[plug] Hard disk Testing

[Craig Ringer]

On Tue, 2004-02-10 at 11:28, Jay Turner wrote:
> Hi All,
> 
> Just wondering if anyone knows of a hard disk testing program similar to
> Memtest x86 for memory?

I'm not aware of any single program, but there are a few tools you can
use to help. 

First: if you can, try the manufacturer's disk tools, you can usually
get them from their website. You usually just need to copy some files
from a zip file to a DOS floppy. Some manufacturers have recently
started shipping "helpful" win32 programs that write the floppy for you
- sometimes as the only way of getting the tools. Good manufacturers
also supply a raw disk image suitable for use with dd under *nix and/or
a zip file of the programs, but if yours doesn't you'll need to get
someone with Windows to write you a disk.

Try using 'smartctl' from smartmontools(?) to query the disk's SMART
status, error log and vendor information. Sometimes this can be very
informative.

Try 'badblocks' to do a surface scan. BACK UP FIRST - just in case.

Try using 'bonnie++' to thrash the disk mechanism.

Craig Ringer