re: a modest request

[gslink <gslink@xxxxxxx>]

The problem with bad sectors is not with sectors that show a write check 
but with those that don't show a write check but are bad.  The write 
check on most hard drives is very simple and consists only of parity. 
If a certain number of bits are dropped then there will be no write 
check and install will work perfectly.  You will never know about this 
until you try to run the program because there will be no read error. 
In addition there is the case where buffers are being allocated.  No 
check of media integrity is made on these(swap partition).  This has 
always been a problem with RH.  Most shops have discs with small bad 
spots and many discs develop these over time.  The c option was put into 
mkfs just to take care of these problems.  At the present time we must 
take ANY disc that displays even a small bad spot and use mkfs on 
another system before we can install Linux.  I suspect that a surprising 
number of the strange troubles that are being reported by only one user 
are due to this problem.  When you invoke Disc Druid you need to be able 
to request a long format or else mkfs needs to be on the recovery disc. 
 Currently discs are tested at the factory and bad sectors are locked 
out  In some large discs there are quite a few bad spots.  In normal 
operation perfectly good discs will have bad spots develop over time. 
This is not a serious problem with modern discs if it is handled by the 
software.  The problem has always been that RH doesn't handle the 
problem.  Incidently, Microsoft does.