[kwlug-disc] Checking a USB disk for errors

[William Park]

On Fri, May 16, 2014 at 10:08:33AM -0400, Khalid Baheyeldin wrote:
> # badblocks -b 4096 -c 4096 -sv /dev/sdb 23000000 22135600
...
> Pass completed, *2 bad blocks found*. (2/0/0 errors)
> 
> But now after repeating the destructive test (-w) a few times, the error
> disappeared?
> 
> # badblocks -b 4096 -c 4096 -svw /dev/sdb 23000000 22135600
...
> Pass completed, *0 bad blocks found*. (0/0/0 errors)
> 
> Did the drive reallocate the sector and hence it is no longer reporting
> that one as defective?
> 
> Is it safe to use the drive, or it would be suspect? There is no click of
> death or grinding sounds.

Try scanning the whole disk.  If that passes, it should be okay.
You can try using 'smartctl', but, at least for me, it never finds
anything wrong on disks that I know are dying.
-- 
William