How to test hard disc surface

[Jose Manuel Cuena]

Hello,

I want to make a non-destructive test on a SCSI disk that seems to have problems.

I have used STM but it??s not enough for me.

What kind of tool can I use ??
I have used STM but it??s not enough for me.

[Stefan Farrelly]

dd is the tool you want. If it passes over an entire disk surface without any errors your non-destructive read test is fine and the disk is ok;

dd if=/dev/rdsk/cxxxxxx of=/dev/null bs=1024k

[Vicente Sanchez_3]

Hi Jose Manuel,

Execute this command:

dd if=/dev/dsk/cxtydz of=/dev/null

Change cxtydz with the device file of the disk you suspect with problems.

This options check hardware integrity.

Regards Vicente.

[Jose Manuel Cuena]

Ok,

That is a good READ test of the disc surface.

Any idea abaout a WRITE non-destructive test ???

[Stefan Farrelly]

That last reply should say use /dev/rdsk/c...
not /dev/dsk/c....

Always use the rdsk entry when doing a surface check.

[Stefan Farrelly]

Write test - same command;

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/rdsk/cxxxxxx bs=1024k

This will write zeroes to all parts of your disk and again, if it works your disk is fine, if it fails with an I/O error then you have a problem.

Another command you can use is mediainit (this does a low level format) but its NOT recommended for modern disks as it may reduce their lifetime. Only use if your desperate (ie. cant get the disk replaced). Again, if mediainit fails your disk is dead, bin it, if it works your disk is usable but its lifetime may be reduced.

[Jose Manuel Cuena]

Hello,

I??m using this:
dd if=/dev/rdsk/c3t15d0 of=/dev/rdsk/c3t15d0 bs=1024k

for a NON-destructive test, I??m now waiting for the errors ....