Re: how to test disk for bad sector

[David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk>]

On Sun 30 Aug 2020 at 08:02:24 (+1000), David wrote:
> On Sat, 29 Aug 2020 at 19:51, Long Wind <longwind2@yahoo.com> wrote:
> 
> > sudo smartctl -A /dev/sda1
> [...]
> > 188 Command_Timeout 0x0032 100 068 000 Old_age Always - 403733086445
> 
> That result does not look good. It should be a low number.

I wouldn't take that number at face value. First, convert it into hex
and take another look. I've seen several postings on the web with
>>> hex(4295032833)
'0x1 0001 0001'     ← I added the spaces
and I have a drive with
188 Command_Timeout         -O--CK   100   099   000    -    12885098499
>>> hex(12885098499)
'0x3 0003 0003'
and another with
188 Command_Timeout         -O--CK   100   096   000    -    137441116198
>>> hex(137441116198)
'0x20 0021 0026'
so the OP should look at
>>> hex(403733086445)
'0x5e 005e 00ed'
and ponder what they could mean.

Moral: always see what very large numbers look like in hex.

Cheers,
David.