How to Test Hard Drive Integrity?

From: Chris Carlen (crcarle_at_BOGUS.sandia.gov)
Date: 07/30/04 

Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2004 14:55:45 -0700

Hi:

My incompetent computer vendor didn't turn off my system before yanking
the front bezel off with a harsh shock to the chassis. I told him to
shut it down first, but he didn't pay attention.

Before I took it there to have the CPU changed and some fans swapped, it
workd fine. When I got it home, KDE complained "can't start taskbar
applet" or something, and now KDE can't launch Konqueror or Konsole.
The same error happens to another user's account as well.

I suspect that the hard drive may have been damaged, corrupting some
file or files.

I don't think that simply reinstalling the OS is the thing to dojust
yet, since if there was a head crash on the platter, then that area will
be untrustworthy for the life of the drive.

If I can prove that the hard drive has been damaged, then I will seek to
have it replaced.

Is there a program or command I can run to do a very extensive check of
the media surface? And if there is such a program, will it also record
and newly found "bad sectors" to the map on the drive? If it entails a
destructive write over my data, that is Ok. I want a thorough disk
analysis.

Just how are bad sectors mapped on the drive anyway, and can these maps
be updated by software or some command?

Thanks for input.

Good day! 

-- 
_______________________________________________________________________
Christopher R. Carlen
Principal Laser/Optical Technologist
Sandia National Laboratories CA USA
crcarle@sandia.gov -- NOTE: Remove "BOGUS" from email address to reply.

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