Linux disk testing... failure?!

Hi AO!

I'm back with another linux question.

I have a Red Hat 7.3 server running on a PII 350mhz, 60gig maxor hdd, 384mb ram that keeps making funny noises from the hard drive.

It almost sounds like when you first start a pc, the disk will "jump" and make a little noise before spinning up. Except for the disk is in use when it happens. It is just random from what I can tell. It still boots and I have full functionality from it as of right now.

I've heard the infamous "ping pong" noises that a failed/failing disk has, but it isn't that bad.

This "problem" just started last night and I never really noticed it before, so I made sure to backup all my important data again. The disk is a little more than a year old and I've never had problems with it before.

I am sure to cleanly unmount it too, as it has NEVER froze/crashed on me (well, except for X).

I use it primarily as a media/file server and the rest of the network connect to it and "stream" mp3s/video or install programs from it. It gets decent usage, but only about 4 people connect to it and I use it the most to server my music files.

I have already enabled the S.M.A.R.T. function within the BIOS, but that doesn't show anything wrong with it.

What I'm wondering is:

I know that for m$ there are utilities, like norton utilities and PC Doctor to test disks and other hardware components.

Does linux have anything like this?
What would be a good way to test this hard drive if it is failing with the linux OS installed?

Thanks in advance as always! AOers always come through!

Use badblocks. http://www.die.net/doc/linux/man/man8/badblocks.8.html
Cheers,
cgkanchi

Quote:

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It almost sounds like when you first start a pc, the disk will "jump" and make a little noise before spinning up

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Is your disk have noise like..mmm..aeroplane will take off..:) ? If so you have same problem as me, I have old pentium 3 550mhz and the problem is the disk and then I tried to swap a new disk (I bought 16X IDE/ATAPI cd/dvd rom ) and my problem is gone, I don't think the problem is Linux, maybe you have problem with your disk/hardware but I could be wrong. And my computer running red hat linux 7.3 (I like RH 7.3 then RH 8.0...I don't know why..hehehe)

Check the manufacturers site (the one that made the hard disk).
They usually offer some sort of diagnostics tool that you can put on a bootable floppy to perform diagnostics on your drive.
Hope it helps.

Thank you all for your replies. I didn't think to check the manufacturers site.

I was thinking, there is a chkdsk /scandisk for m$, why not for *nix?

I'll try those after I get home from class late tonight.

Again, thanx. ;)

There is, it's the fsck command. You'll have to look at the man pages to figure out how to use it though, I've got no idea how to use it myself, unfortunately. I've never had any need. :)

fsck by itself scans only the filesystem and does not check for bad sectors. You have to pipe the output of fsck t badblocks (or vice versa I can't remember which) to get it to do that. I have no idea how to do it though, so you'll have to look it up.
Cheers,
cgkanchi