using a HD with bad sectors

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using a HD with bad sectors
\ Iain Buchanan (5 May 2008)
. \ deface (5 May 2008)
. \ Volker Armin Hemmann (5 May 2008)
. . \ Neil Bothwick (5 May 2008)
. \ Stroller (5 May 2008)
. \ Florian Philipp (5 May 2008)

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Subject:	using a HD with bad sectors
Group:	Gentoo-user
From:	Iain Buchanan
Date:	5 May 2008

Hi all,

I have two 2.5in HD's, one 60Gb with a heap of bad sectors currently
used in external Hd enclosure, and one 100Gb which seems in good
condition, currently in my laptop.

I'm upgrading my laptop, and I'd like to turn the old one into a myth
frontend or something similar, so I want to put the 60Gb in it. I will
then use the 100Gb in my external enclosure for travelling, backups,
etc.

The reason the 60Gb has bad sectors (I think) is because I dropped it
(in it's enclosure). This was quite some time ago, and it doesn't seem
to be dying any further, but I haven't done any comparisons on the bad
sector count. I use nearly 100% of the space available, and regularly
compare cksums, so if anything was deteriorating, I would know.

The question is: should I use it at all (for any use, external HD or
internal with operating system), or is it sufficient to let the fsck
tool mark the bad sectors and just keep using it?

Is there a way to monitor it's "health" in the external enclosure until
I get my new laptop? Is counting the bad sectors enough?

thanks heaps!
--
Iain Buchanan <iaindb at netspace dot net dot au>

Better late than never.
-- Titus Livius (Livy)

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