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1 perry 1 BADBLOCKS
2 !!!BADBLOCKS
3 NAME
4 SYNOPSIS
5 DESCRIPTION
6 OPTIONS
7 WARNING
8 AUTHOR
9 AVAILABILITY
10 SEE ALSO
11 ----
12 !!NAME
13
14
15 badblocks - search a device for bad blocks
16 !!SYNOPSIS
17
18
19 __badblocks__ [[ __-svwnf__ ] [[ __-b__
20 ''block-size'' ] [[ __-c__ ''blocks_at_once'' ] [[
21 __-i__ ''input_file'' ] [[ __-o__ ''output_file''
22 ] [[ __-p__ ''num_passes'' ] ''device'' [[
23 ''last-block'' ] [[ ''start-block'' ]
24 !!DESCRIPTION
25
26
27 __badblocks__ is used to search for bad blocks on a
28 device (usually a disk partition). ''device'' is the
29 special file corresponding to the device (e.g
30 ''/dev/hdc1''). ''last-block'' is the last block to be
31 checked; if it is not specified, the last block on the
32 device is used as a default. ''start-block'' is an
33 optional parameter specifying the starting block number for
34 the test, which allows the testing to start in the middle of
35 the disk. If it is not specified the first block on the disk
36 is used as a default.
37
38
39 __Important note:__ If the output of __badblocks__ is
40 going to be fed to the __e2fsck__ or __mke2fs__
41 programs, it is important that the block size is properly
42 specified, since the block numbers which are generated is
43 very dependent on the block size in use. For this reason, it
44 is strongly recommended that users __not__ run
45 __badblocks__ directly, but rather use the __-c__
46 option of the __e2fsck__ and __mke2fs__
47 programs.
48 !!OPTIONS
49
50
51 __-b__ ''block-size''
52
53
54 Specify the size of blocks in bytes.
55
56
57 __-c__ ''number of blocks''
58
59
60 is the number of blocks which are tested at a time. The
61 default is 16. Increasing this number will increase the
62 efficiency of __badblocks__ but also will increase its
63 memory usage. __Badblocks__ needs memory proportional to
64 the number of blocks tested at once, in read-only mode,
65 proportional to twice that number in read-write mode, and
66 proportional to three times that number in non-destructive
67 read-write mode. If you set the number-of-blocks parameter
68 to too high a value, __badblocks__ will exit almost
69 immediately with an out-of-memory error
70 __
71
72
73 __-f__
74
75
76 Normally, badblocks will refuse to do a read/write or a
77 non-destructive test on a device which is mounted, since
78 either can cause the system to potentially crash; even a
79 non-destructive test can damage a mounted filesystem. This
80 can be overriden using the __-f__ flag, but should almost
81 never be used --- if you think you're smarter than the
82 __badblocks__ program, you almost certainly aren't. The
83 only time when this option might be safe to use is if the
84 /etc/mtab file is incorrect, and the device really isn't
85 mounted.
86
87
88 __-i__ ''input_file''
89
90
91 Read a list of already existing known bad blocks.
92 __Badblocks__ will skip testing these blocks since they
93 are known to be bad. If ''input_file'' is specified as
94 ''new'' bad blocks produced on the standard
95 output or in the output file. The __-b__ option of
2 perry 96 dumpe2fs(8) can be used to retrieve the list of
1 perry 97 blocks currently marked bad on an existing filesystem, in a
98 format suitable for use with this option.
99
100
101 __-o__ ''output_file''
102
103
104 Write the list of bad blocks to the specified file. Without
105 this option, __badblocks__ displays the list on its
106 standard output. The format of this file is suitable for use
2 perry 107 by the __-l__ option in e2fsck(8) or
108 mke2fs(8).
1 perry 109
110
111 __-p__ ''num_passes''
112
113
114 Repeat scanning the disk until there are no new blocks
115 discovered in num_passes consecutive scans of the disk.
116 Default is 0, meaning __badblocks__ will exit after the
117 first pass.
118
119
120 __-n__
121
122
123 Use non-destructive read-write mode. By default only a
124 non-destructive read-only test is done. This option must not
125 be combined with the __-w__ option, as they are mutually
126 exclusive.
127
128
129 __-s__
130
131
132 Show the progress of the scan by writing out the block
133 numbers as they are checked.
134
135
136 __-v__
137
138
139 Verbose mode.
140
141
142 __-w__
143
144
145 Use write-mode test. With this option, __badblocks__
146 scans for bad blocks by writing some patterns (0xaa, 0x55,
147 0xff, 0x00) on every block of the device, reading every
148 block and comparing the contents. This option may not be
149 combined with the __-n__ option, as they are mutually
150 exclusive.
151 !!WARNING
152
153
154 Never use the __-w__ option on an device containing an
155 existing file system. This option erases data! If you want
156 to do write-mode testing on an existing file system, use the
157 __-n__ option instead. It is slower, but it will preserve
158 your data.
159 !!AUTHOR
160
161
162 __badblocks__ was written by Remy Card
163 __
164 !!AVAILABILITY
165
166
167 __badblocks__ is part of the e2fsprogs package and is
168 available from
169 http://e2fsprogs.sourceforge.net.
170 !!SEE ALSO
171
172
2 perry 173 e2fsck(8), __mke2fs__(8)
1 perry 174 ----
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