The definitive test of a disk drive is the badblocks program. I usually use the -v and -w options. It will destroy everything on the disk, but when it is done, you will know if the drive is good or bad. It is easy if you are not using it on the disk that does not contain the root file system. badblocks -vw /dev/sdb, or whatever. It is a little more tricky if there is only one disk. In that case, boot from an install disk; go through the steps up through sensing disks skipping the network steps; then execute a shell; then do badblocks -vw /dev/sda You may wish to save the output in a file, or maybe even mount a usb stick and save it on that. You may need the following boot parameters: speakup.synth=ltlk debconf/priority=medium graphics=no This is also a delightful way to fix anything that isgiving you trouble about a disk containing windows D. Curtis Willoughby
