From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Jun 7 17:20:31 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A81B8106564A for ; Sun, 7 Jun 2009 17:20:31 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from gfritz@gmail.com) Received: from mail-pz0-f195.google.com (mail-pz0-f195.google.com [209.85.222.195]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 762D78FC18 for ; Sun, 7 Jun 2009 17:20:31 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from gfritz@gmail.com) Received: by pzk33 with SMTP id 33so2304276pzk.3 for ; Sun, 07 Jun 2009 10:20:31 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:received:date:from:to:cc :subject:message-id:references:mime-version:content-type :content-disposition:in-reply-to:user-agent; bh=xb+dilE0ltbs0XIYha14iuzHe3+sqk34IGRC9gbFMxY=; b=oYJqMYLHXZwoIiqRfK1VmqfsujXczd3vEs/kNWTVV716kXCj5+q3tQi14O6j0TIWnA qdkB2CdwSRg9ZteGUGKURlXvagWgGTAwIefRhfxC+G88HzdYyUI02wU4KFD4I5hZLfPL g7PRA8q26Bx6PGIBuCVpfRxOTxhAcN7VGJkm4= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=date:from:to:cc:subject:message-id:references:mime-version :content-type:content-disposition:in-reply-to:user-agent; b=anQ/pERWWC+I0aeZyzR6kRdqo5r/p/8LF+QCq+FAmWbzdHRGDqOYuBh3HwPfgetfr9 PajTmfTH5lx2o6Ap2tNGMOxenRTW2XxXxVdzZxDiDCIhNx8WJiL00Kng6TOTsEVWW6gb yvr7E3zhJ4JC8Wz15xnE3hOsKct9Bby42JK9k= Received: by 10.142.186.15 with SMTP id j15mr2116853wff.48.1244393706281; Sun, 07 Jun 2009 09:55:06 -0700 (PDT) Received: from dev.null (63-12-66-208.dsl.cust.wirelessbeehive.com [208.66.12.63]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id 20sm6608216wfi.0.2009.06.07.09.55.05 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=RC4-MD5); Sun, 07 Jun 2009 09:55:05 -0700 (PDT) Received: by dev.null (Postfix, from userid 1001) id 567E277; Sun, 7 Jun 2009 10:55:04 -0600 (MDT) Date: Sun, 7 Jun 2009 10:55:04 -0600 From: Geoff Fritz To: "John ." Message-ID: <20090607165504.GA67823@dev.null> References: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.19 (2009-01-05) Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: please recommend a disk-exercising program? X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 07 Jun 2009 17:20:31 -0000 On Sun, Jun 07, 2009 at 10:43:40AM +0100, John . wrote: > Hello list, > > Can anyone please recommend to me a program that will stress-test a > disk? If it matters, two are connected by firewire, another via usb. > Filesystem is ufs. I think I have a disk that might be about to fail, > but it only sometimes errors when under stress. I need to see if it > was a fluke or to really make it fail, so that I can get rid of it. I believe that the "badblocks" util is what you're looking for. It can be found in the sysutils/e2fsprogs port. It has both destructive and non-destructive modes. I've used it on Linux and FreeBSD, and it can really exercise the disk well. I've seen several mentions of "dd" in this thread, and I'll say that I've seen several recommendations elsewhere to use a simple: dd if=/dev/ of=/dev/ to "refresh" the drive. That is, dd will read the block(s), then attempt to write them back, and if there are problems, the drive should re-map the sector to one without problems. Though the dd_rescue/ddrescue/dd-rescue ports are more tolerant of errors than the stock dd util. Personally, I'd recommend badblocks before trying anything else. -- Geoff