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From: u31b3hs@cip-s02.informatik.rwth-aachen.de (Michael Haardt)
Newsgroups: comp.os.minix
Subject: Badblocks (was: /etc/update is hanging)
Message-ID: <4144@rwthinf.UUCP>
Date: 13 Mar 91 09:01:27 GMT
Sender: news@rwthinf.UUCP
Reply-To: u31b3hs@cip-s02.informatik.rwth-aachen.de (Michael Haardt)
Organization: Informatik RWTH Aachen
Lines: 47

>When I first made the partition, I ran "readall /dev/hd6" to
>find the bad blocks.  I then ran "badblocks" to get rid of
>them (I think!).
>[trouble deleted]
>doesn't badblocks stop other programs, like "ar" from writing
>to bad areas by allocating the bad blocks to files?
>
>Is it a problem to mv the .BadXXXX files to a subdirectory
>called "BAD".  Does the mv kill the bad blocks information?
>
>Also, when I run fsck after badblocks, I get weird messages
>about duplicate zones and missing bitmaps?  Is this normal?
 
I had a similar problem a year ago.  I was using version 1.3
and badblocks did no work as it should work.  In my opinion,
it does not change the zone-table or something like that.
I am using 1.5.10 at the moment (upgrade from plains) and I
never saw the 1.5.10 manual.  The 1.3 manual explains the
filesystem very detailed and de(1) is one of the best disk
editors I ever saw.  It was not very difficult to make the
entries by hand:
 
-   At first I created so many empty files as I needed for
    my bad blocks.  Eight blocks will fit in one file.
 
-   Then I copied de(1) and fsck(1) to my ram floppy.  I
    unmounted the harddisk and patched to bitmaps.  Look at
    the manual for the structure of the file system.  After
    making a entry, I used fsck to check if it is ok.
 
-   At last, I mounted the hard disk and set the permissions
    for the .badXXXX files to 000.
 
I saw a lot of patches for badblocks on the net, but I did
not try them, because there was no desire for using it again.
It should be possible to move(!) the .badXXXX files, because
move only moves a directory entry, not the file itself (if
they are on the same filesystem).
 
My rc executes fsck with auto-repair option for the hard disk,
before it is mounted.  After a regular shutdown, there are no
inconsistencies, but there may be some after a power failure.
fsck seems to be the best way to eliminate them.

Hope this helps & Namaskaar

Michael Haardt (u31b3hs%cip-s01.informatik.rwth-aachen.de@unido.bitnet)