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cdwijs

Member

Registered: 2010-04-24

Posts: 289

What filesystem can recover from bad blocks?

Hi All,

I have a hard drive with a few bad blocks on it. I really should toss it in the garbage bin, and not use it anymore. Also, I need to keep backups.

But if I were to use this harddrive again, what would be the best filesystem to use? Are there any filesystems that can cope with bad blocks? Can those filesystems also cope with new badblocks appearing?

Best regards,
Cedric

WorMzy

Forum Moderator

From: Scotland

Registered: 2010-06-16

Posts: 11,859

Website

Re: What filesystem can recover from bad blocks?

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ba … ad_Sectors

Any use to you?

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cdwijs

Member

Registered: 2010-04-24

Posts: 289

Re: What filesystem can recover from bad blocks?

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ba … ad_Sectors

Any use to you?

Thank you. I didn't realise one could tell the filesystem about bad blocks. I'll copy all data to another disk, and then create a new filesystem with a list of bad blocks.

Out of curiosity, when the disk develops more bad blocks, what filesystem will lose the least amout of data?

Best regards,
Cedric

DSpider

Member

From: Romania

Registered: 2009-08-23

Posts: 2,273

Re: What filesystem can recover from bad blocks?

A different filesystem won't help you. Look into commercial software like SpinRite, HDD Regenerator, etc., and hope for the best. Also, don't keep anything important, like backups and such, on this drive. Once it starts to show signs of damage, try to salvage what you can from it before it gives out completely. I had one with a broken axle, made weird sounds when it started/powered off, and it didn't last more than two weeks after I started hearing those noises. The average lifespan for HDDs I think is around 3-5 years. So if it was bought before 2009, don't be so surprised.

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"How to Succeed with Linux"

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*david_a*

Member

Registered: 2009-06-19

Posts: 80

Re: What filesystem can recover from bad blocks?

Out of curiosity, when the disk develops more bad blocks, what filesystem will lose the least amout of data?

Don't even bother trying. A backup on a bad disk is worse than nothing, because you think you're safe but you're not. Back up the data now, onto a good disk, and throw the failing disk away. Despite its original dollar value, it has become a liability.