Computer Hardware Support - Re: Hard Disk requalification

Computer Hardware Support - Re: Hard Disk requalification

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") ?

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?

The HDD manufacturer should have diagnostics that will check
a drive.

Here are some,
http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287