Greg Stark wrote: > Tom Lane <tgl@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes: > > > Janning Vygen <vygen@xxxxxx> writes: > > > one more question: You mentioned standard disk and memory checks. Can you > > > point to some link where i can find more about it or which software do you > > > mean? I guess i have to start looking at it. > > > > The stuff I've heard recommended is memtest86 for memory checks and > > badblocks for disk checks. But perhaps someone on the list has better > > ideas. > > I second memtest86, though even the author says memory errors can be tricksy > things. Sometimes a large compile finds memory errors that even memtest86 > doesn't find (the symptom is gcc crashing). > > However I fear using badblocks alone is pretty useless these days. Modern IDE > drives detect bad blocks and remap them to other locations. If you just use > badblocks you'll see mysterious errors that disappear or might not see any > errors at all. You need to use tools like smartctl to query the drive's SMART > firmware about errors. It's not easy to interpret but if you watch the numbers > for a while you can tell if a drive is going bad and continually remapping bad > blocks. badblocks is useful still as a way of ensuring that every block is > read and written to, but then you have to look at the SMART data to see what > happened. It is my experience the SCSI drive controllers will beep if they have a bad block that can't be read cleanly. -- Bruce Momjian | http://candle.pha.pa.us pgman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx | (610) 359-1001 + If your life is a hard drive, | 13 Roberts Road + Christ can be your backup. | Newtown Square, Pennsylvania 19073
