• Testing best done with direct connection - USB connections are really slow and not fully functional (smart)
• Check for I/O errors in /var/log/messages
• Install 'smartmontools' package
• http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/badblockhowto.html
• http://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/monitoring-hard-disk-health-with-smartd-under-linux-or-unix-operating-systems.html
• man smartctl for many options/disk/controller types
• Typically, you need to dismount the filesystems on the drives to be tested

Disks support smart?

sudo smartctl -i /dev/sdf

Show disk info:

sudo smartctl -a /dev/sdf

Enable smart:

sudo smartctl -s on -d ata /dev/sdf

Initiate quick health check:

sudo smartctl -d ata -H /dev/sdf

Initiate extended self test:

sudo smartctl -d ata -t long /dev/sdf

then

sudo smartctl -l selftest /dev/sdf

Badblocks can be hazardous to your data. Make a backup first!

There are some valid circumstances where you have to use the '-f' switch to force the testing. Be careful when doing so to make sure you 'do no harm'.

tune2fs -l /dev/sdf1 | grep Block

Read/write test a disk/partition:

sudo badblocks -nvs /dev/sdf                # entire disk
sudo badblocks -nvs /dev/sdf1               # partition only

This is the best test and uses 4096K blocks for improved speed:

sudo badblocks -wvs -b 4096 /dev/sdf | tee badblocks.txt

Write zeros to disk (best for making compressible images) (also wipes out MBR):

sudo sh -c "cat /dev/zero > /dev/sdf"

Show disks:

sudo fdisk -l

Partition a drive:

sudo fdisk /dev/sdf

Write a DOS MBR (like fdisk /MBR) (may need –force)

sudo install-mbr /dev/sdf -v --interrupt n --partition D --timeout 0

Note: the syslinux package also includes a mbr.bin file:

sudo dd if=/usr/lib/syslinux/mbr.bin of=/dev/sdf

Linux EXT3:

sudo mkfs.ext3 /dev/sdf1

FAT32 (Flash is normally FAT16 or FAT32): Partition the flash device as 'W95 FAT32' and set the 'bootable' flag if desired.

sudo mkdosfs -F 32 /dev/sdf1

or

sudo mkfs.vfat -F 32 /dev/sdf1