Re: re-using a damaged disk
On Mon, Jan 07, 2008 at 08:14:06AM -0600, Ron Johnson wrote:
> On 01/07/08 08:00, Douglas A. Tutty wrote:
> >On Mon, Jan 07, 2008 at 08:19:16AM +0100, pol wrote:
> >>Douglas A. Tutty wrote:
> >>>Since its only the /usr directory (presumably its own partition), don't
> >>>reformat it or you'll have to reinstall. If it's ext2/3, use
> >>># e2fsck -c -c /dev/xxx
> >>That was my first recovering oeration.
> >>It is about 10 hours 'fsck.ext3' is running now, yet less than half
> >>partition has been scanned. My /usr partition is 2 GB.
> >>Is it possible to pause the process, so as to be able to restart fsck
> >>later?
> >
> >I am not aware of that option.
> >
> >Has anything shown up in /var/log/syslog to indicate any drive problems?
> >
> >When you say 'fsck.ext3', did you use '-c -c' or not? If not, it will
> >only sort out the file system it won't look for bad blocks.
> >
> >Probably another 12 hrs to go.
>
> For a 2GB partition...
>
> Which is why Smart People are working on a Linux fs that doesn't
> need to be fsck'ed. Sadly, I think they are doomed to failure (or
> fated to only partial success), because IMO speed is the polar
> opposite of data security.
Even if the filesystem type didn't need to be fsck'ed, for a damaged
drive I wanted to try to reuse, I wouldn't put real data on it until I
had exercised it for 24 hrs straight anyway. It may as well look for
badblocks. Hopefully, it won't find any and the drive can remap itself
internally.
Silly me, I just thought, does this drive have S.M.A.R.T.? If so, when
you do reinstall, put the smartmontools on it and run a long test.
I remember that at the beginning of the thread, the OP presented the
drive as one that had "hard crashed". Later, we learn that it is a
laptop that was dropped 1m to the floor. I know that there are external
laptop-drive enclosures that are rated for 1m drop to concrete with no
damage (addonics Jupiter, Quantum Go-Vault). Perhaps the laptop is well
built and no damage was done at all.
Good luck.
Doug.
Reply to: