Computer Hardware Support - Re: Hard Disk requalification

Computer Hardware Support - Re: Hard Disk requalification

On Tue, 26 Apr 2005 20:59:55 GMT, kony wrote:

>On Tue, 26 Apr 2005 13:15:53 -0700, Ian East
> wrote:
>
>>
>>Hi,
>>
>>I have many hard disks that I must re-qualify (they are old and can
>>not easily be replaced). Does anyone know of a good way of
>>requalifying IDE hard disks on an x86 system? The OS doesn't matter
>>as I can use Linux, Windows, Solaris x86, etc... The test should at
>>least write the entire surface of the disk, read the entire surface of
>>the disk, do random seek tests, and "exercise" the disk for 12 hours
>>or so. Does anyone have any suggestions? I've tried some of the
>>various benchmarking programs like bonnie++, iozone, etc... but have
>>not quite found something that suitable specifically for
>>re-qualification.
>>
>>Thanks for any help.
>
>What makes you feel they would need replaced with *same*
>thing, if they were to fail (since you wrote "not easily
>replaced") ?

They have a proprietary OS image that is dependent on the physical
geometry of the disk. Purchasing "new" refurbs from e-bay and whatnot
is not much different than using the disks we have now.

>
>If they are pretty old it doesn't necessarily matter if they
>pass a test, their expected lifespan is still up. Suppose
>you had a set of bald tires... just because the car stops,
>because you can cruise at highway speeds, does that mean
>it's a good idea to keep using them until you find they
>CAN'T cruise at highway speeds?
>
Agreed... But but creating a test that would cause an existing
physical disk problem to manifest itself now rather than later is the
idea. If you find that replacing the bald tires on your car is going
to cost you far more than the car is worth, you might want to wait a
little longer until next years budget and you can afford to buy a new
car.

>The HDD manufacturer should have diagnostics that will check
>a drive.
I have tried that and the test does not actually write to the disk
then read. Every sector must be written to in order to truly know if
the disk is failing.
>
>Here are some,
>http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287