Thrashing a drive to flush out problems..

Thrashing a drive to flush out problems..

[Jon Hardcastle]

Hi guys can anyone recommend a tool for thrashing the b*ll*cks of a drive in  way that isn't destructive to the data?

I was thinking badblocks with -w but it is destructive and i dont want to do anything that will potentially lower the integrity of my array? (Even tho it is raid6 :) )

There must be some bonnie esk tool that will read/write every combination to every block but keep the data safe after to flush out any sector issues etc.

Cheers.


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N: Jon Hardcastle
E: Jon@eHardcastle.com
'Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own.'

***********
Please note, I am phasing out jd_hardcastle AT yahoo.com and replacing it with jon AT eHardcastle.com
***********

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Re: Thrashing a drive to flush out problems..

[berk walker]

Jon Hardcastle wrote:
> Hi guys can anyone recommend a tool for thrashing the b*ll*cks of a drive in  way that isn't destructive to the data?
> 
> I was thinking badblocks with -w but it is destructive and i dont want to do anything that will potentially lower the integrity of my array? (Even tho it is raid6 :) )
> 
> There must be some bonnie esk tool that will read/write every combination to every block but keep the data safe after to flush out any sector issues etc.
> 
> Cheers.
> 
> 
> -----------------------
> N: Jon Hardcastle
> E: Jon@eHardcastle.com
> 'Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own.'
> 
> ***********
> Please note, I am phasing out jd_hardcastle AT yahoo.com and replacing it with jon AT eHardcastle.com
> ***********
> 
> -----------------------
> 
> 
>       
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> 
Thirty-some years ago, I used to use multiple instances of disk 
access/read routines.  As the areas wrapped around the last cylinder and 
restarted from zero, all lengths and frequency of seeks took place.

Of course, in those days, drives were physically huge, tracks wide and 
few.  I used to run the tests for Jaquard Systems, on occasion.  Drives 
sounded like they were gong to fly apart.  Never did find a bad one that 
way, tho-
b-

Re: Thrashing a drive to flush out problems..

[Julian Cowley]

On 2010 Jan 25, at 04:26, Jon Hardcastle wrote:
> Hi guys can anyone recommend a tool for thrashing the b*ll*cks of a  
> drive in  way that isn't destructive to the data?
>
> I was thinking badblocks with -w but it is destructive and i dont  
> want to do anything that will potentially lower the integrity of my  
> array? (Even tho it is raid6 :) )
>
> There must be some bonnie esk tool that will read/write every  
> combination to every block but keep the data safe after to flush out  
> any sector issues etc.

Here are a couple of utilities I've used in the past:

- seeker: How fast is your disk?

   <http://www.linuxinsight.com/how_fast_is_your_disk.html>

   "With a little bit of torturing, and some fun on the way, find out  
how fast your hard disk drive really is."

- thrash - hard disk stress tester with random seek speed statistics

   <http://www.csc.liv.ac.uk/~greg/thrash/>

   "thrash is intended to exercise a hard disk seek mechanism and  
perform a random seek speed benchmark. It is largely targeted at new  
harddisks that should be exercised to encourage early failure (i.e.  
assuming a bathtub curve for failures)."

Also, as mentioned in the first article, you can use hdparm to test  
sequential access.

I believe all of these utilities can be used read-only, but I can't  
remember for sure.