check disk for bad clusters on disk

[lindaonline15]

hi... I need an equivalent function to windows' check disk. my external hard drive seems to have bad clusters as every time I try to mount it it shows different weired behaviors. sometimes it fails to mount, sometimes it mounts but with no contents and when its neither of those, meaning it mounts with contents, it is really slow to surf it and READ/WRITE from/into it.
any suggestions...?

[OneLine]

Re: check disk for bad clusters on disk

Top 20 Kubuntu FAQs & Answers -> BONUS FAQ: "I'm a little worried worried about my hard drive -- how do I test it and verify it is OK?"

[lindaonline15]

Re: check disk for bad clusters on disk

Top 20 Kubuntu FAQs & Answers -> BONUS FAQ: "I'm a little worried worried about my hard drive -- how do I test it and verify it is OK?"

great post to refer to... -thanks for that!-
but im stuck...
while using smartmontools, im stuck in detecting which type i should use for my device. the command is:

smartctl -ia /dev/sdb

which gives me this error:

/dev/sdb: Unknown USB bridge [0x0411:0x0108 (0x104)]
Smartctl: please specify device type with the -d option.

Im having a Buffalo 1TB external hard drive which I connect it through my eSATA port.
so when I want to choose a type, which one of these I should use?
under smartmontools:
sat - the device type is SCSI to ATA Translation (SAT). This is for ATA disks that have a SCSI to ATA Translation
(SAT) Layer (SATL) between the disk and the operating system. SAT defines two ATA PASS THROUGH SCSI commands, one
12 bytes long and the other 16 bytes long. The default is the 16 byte variant which can be overridden with either
´-d sat,12´ or ´-d sat,16´.

usbcypress - this device type is for ATA disks that are behind a Cypress USB to PATA bridge. This will use the
ATACB proprietary scsi pass through command. The default SCSI operation code is 0x24, but although it can be over‐
ridden with ´-d usbcypress,0xN´, where N is the scsi operation code, you're running the risk of damage to the device
or filesystems on it.

usbjmicron - this device type is for SATA disks that are behind a JMicron USB to PATA/SATA bridge. The 48-bit ATA
commands (required e.g. for ´-l xerror´, see below) do not work with all of these bridges and are therefore disabled
by default. These commands can be enabled by ´-d usbjmicron,x´. If two disks are connected to a bridge with two
ports, an error message is printed if no PORT is specified. The port can be specified by ´-d usbjmicron[,x],PORT´
where PORT is 0 (master) or 1 (slave). This is not necessary if the device uses a port multiplier to connect multi‐
ple disks to one port. The disks appear under separate /dev/ice names then. CAUTION: Specifying ´,x´ for a device
which does not support it results in I/O errors and may disconnect the drive. The same applies if the specified
PORT does not exist or is not connected to a disk.

usbsunplus - this device type is for SATA disks that are behind a SunplusIT USB to SATA bridge.

[doctordruidphd]

Re: check disk for bad clusters on disk

1. You may need to run smartctl as sudo, even just to read the information:

sudo smartctl -ia /dev/sdb

2. Try running the gui version and see if it picks up the drive. You will need to install the package gsmartcontrol. It can be run two ways, as gsmartcontrol for reading information, and gsmartcontrol-root for changing things (careful!). Note that you do not need to run gsmartcontrol-root as kdesudo, it does that automatically on its own.

[OneLine]

Re: check disk for bad clusters on disk

http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/sma...ed_USB-Devices is suggesting: "-d sat" option. More: http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/smartmontools/wiki/USB

[doctordruidphd]

Re: check disk for bad clusters on disk

Further:

I notice that when I plug in my usb drive, I *have* to run gsmartcontrol-root, the non-root version just won't work with the usb drive plugged in.

Hope this helps.

[lindaonline15]

Re: check disk for bad clusters on disk

thx for all the info.
I followed your says, but im not sure how to run it. based on its man page, i got that i have to run it as:

#gsmartcontrol-root kde

is that right? [gtk]: i get an error saying cannot open display : :0

[doctordruidphd]

Re: check disk for bad clusters on disk

gsmartcontrol-root

it will ask you for your password.

Edit: you could also run

kdesudo gsmartcontrol

they do exactly the same thing.

[lindaonline15]

Re: check disk for bad clusters on disk

gsmartcontrol-root

it will ask you for your password.

Edit: you could also run

kdesudo gsmartcontrol

they do exactly the same thing.

ok I get the GUI interface that I got previously as well.. (i just didnt know the root one is also the same)
anyways, it detects my external hard drive, but when I right click on the drive to perform test, that option is disabled.
i tried it on my other hard disk and the option is enabled, so I'm sure the problem is with this drive. how can I solve this? I've formatted this drive recently as well many times. but problems are still there.

[doctordruidphd]

Re: check disk for bad clusters on disk

I am wondering at this point if maybe your external hard drive does not support SMART.

What does

sudo smartctl -i /dev/sd? (where ? is your device)

tell you? If it says smart is not enabled. then try

sudo smartctl -s on /dev/sd?

If you don't know the /dev/sd? for your external disk, then

sudo blkid

will tell you.

In the gui, when you hover the mouse pointer over the drive, does it say, "Smart status: enabled" ? Does the "View Details" option give you a screen with drive information?

I can't duplicate the problem, it works here.

Other than SMART, there are a few utilities out there for checking disks, but they are primarily partition tools, as opposed to hardware diagnostics. e2fsck would be the main one for linux file systems, but there again, it must be run as root, so use care.

Edit: Some second thoughts on this.

Im having a Buffalo 1TB external hard drive which I connect it through my eSATA port.

I'll admit I don't know what an "eSATA" port is. Is this something that plugs into a usb socket? Whether yes or no, you might try plugging your drive in and type

lsusb

and see what shows up there. you might, after all, need to use the -d option with smartctl, and to do so you will need to know what type of usb bridge is involved (lsusb will tell you that).

Also, there may be an issue with whether the drive is plugged in during bootup. Do you have the external drive connected before booting the system?

(I'm just going through the things I would check if this happened to me)

[dibl]

Re: check disk for bad clusters on disk

If the attached external disk is seen by

sudo fdisk -l

then you could use GParted to check it, as well as e2fsck as said by Dr. D. In either case, make sure the drive is unmounted first.

[SteveRiley]

Re: check disk for bad clusters on disk

I'll admit I don't know what an "eSATA" port is. Is this something that plugs into a usb socket? Whether yes or no, you might try plugging your drive in and type

eSATA defines the specifications and connectors for external SATA drives. Most newer machines have an eSATA port:

[img width=240]http://genesisonestudio.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/esata1.jpg[/img]

But the voltages and connectors are different:

[img width=240]http://www.amitbhawani.com/blog/Images/S/sata-esata.jpg[/img]

It's much faster than USB. Unfortunately, eSATA doesn't provide power, so you have to find +5V someplace else. Commonly that's from a USB port. An unofficial eSATAp exists to fix this, but neither the SATA nor the USB standards bodies have approved it.

[doctordruidphd]

Re: check disk for bad clusters on disk

I see. OK, then going through a usb bridge isn't the problem.
Don't know why smartctl isn't picking up the disk, unless either the disk doesn't support
SMART (unlikely) or it really does have a problem, maybe even a bad connector or something like that inside the box.

[dibl]

Re: check disk for bad clusters on disk

If it is USB-connected, that connection can be a little iffy on some hardware -- for example if the system has started going into sleep or hibernate after a period of inactivity. I've got an Asus desktop motherboard that has zero USB capability when you wake it up from sleep.

FYI, a sturdy laptop with an e-SATA port, like a Dell E6500, along with an e-SATA to SATA cable and a power adapter, makes a pretty fair tool for hooking up a virus-laden Windows drive for scanning purposes. The SATA channel runs about 3X - 4X faster than USB2 (the spec shows 5X faster but you don't realize that in practice).

[lindaonline15]

Re: check disk for bad clusters on disk


thanks for all responses...

I am wondering at this point if maybe your external hard drive does not support SMART.

What does

sudo smartctl -i /dev/sd? (where ? is your device)

tell you? If it says smart is not enabled. then try

sudo smartctl -s on /dev/sd?

If you don't know the /dev/sd? for your external disk, then

sudo blkid

will tell you.

unable to fetch IEC (SMART) mode page [unsupported field in scsi command]
A mandatory SMART command failed: exiting. To continue, add one or more '-T permissive' options.

In the gui, when you hover the mouse pointer over the drive, does it say, "Smart status: enabled" ?

no

Does the "View Details" option give you a screen with drive information?

no, it says "unsupported"

I can't duplicate the problem, it works here.

Other than SMART, there are a few utilities out there for checking disks, but they are primarily partition tools, as opposed to hardware diagnostics. e2fsck would be the main one for linux file systems, but there again, it must be run as root, so use care.

Edit: Some second thoughts on this.

Im having a Buffalo 1TB external hard drive which I connect it through my eSATA port.

I'll admit I don't know what an "eSATA" port is. Is this something that plugs into a usb socket? Whether yes or no, you might try plugging your drive in and type

lsusb

and see what shows up there. you might, after all, need to use the -d option with smartctl, and to do so you will need to know what type of usb bridge is involved (lsusb will tell you that).

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 064e:a213 Suyin Corp.
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0489:e00f Foxconn / Hon Hai Foxconn T77H114 BCM2070 [Single-Chip Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR Adapter]
Bus 002 Device 005: ID 0411:0108 MelCo., Inc.

Also, there may be an issue with whether the drive is plugged in during bootup. Do you have the external drive connected before booting the system?

nope...

(I'm just going through the things I would check if this happened to me)

yup... and thanks alot for your patients in pointing out carefully all the details...

If the attached external disk is seen by

sudo fdisk -l

then you could use GParted to check it, as well as e2fsck as said by Dr. D. In either case, make sure the drive is unmounted first.

yes I can see it and i did install gparted, but it right now im facing problems with starting gparted itself (!) which probably I shouldnt post under this topic so I've started a new topic for that problem here>>http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3119286.0
will get back to you guys as soon as its solved.