SSD has a few bad sectors, must run fsck every reboot

rjrjr · 2011-01-30 19:12:00

Title pretty much says it all. According to my disk utility my ssd is healthy, but has developed a few bad sectors. I recently rebooted my computer and when it got to the file system check it threw some error and told me to manually run fsck on /dev/sda4. I do so and it asks me to fix a few errors and reboot, and everything goes smoothly.

In trying to figure out what the problem is I ran across this error:

$ sudo fdisk -l /dev/sda

WARNING: GPT (GUID Partition Table) detected on '/dev/sda'! The util fdisk doesn't support GPT. Use GNU Parted.


Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders, total 156301488 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1      208844      104422   83  Linux
/dev/sda2          208845      224909        8032+  82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda3          224910    16611209     8193150   83  Linux
/dev/sda4        16611210   156296384    69842587+  83  Linux

Mainly I'm wondering if there is a serious problem with my ssd or if I misconfigured something. Please let me know if there is any additional information that would help, I haven't really dug into these disk utilities before.

alphaniner · 2011-01-31 20:28:21

Something seems wrong, because it doesn't look like you are using GPT based on the partition layout. I'm not familiar with GPT, but I made some partitions on a GPT'd SAN virtual disk and the fdisk output looks like this:

WARNING: GPT (GUID Partition Table) detected on '/dev/sdb'! The util fdisk doesn't support GPT. Use GNU Parted.

Disk /dev/sdb: 107.4 GB, 107374182400 bytes
256 heads, 63 sectors/track, 13003 cylinders, total 209715200 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1               1  4294967295  2147483647+  ee  GPT

If you're feeling brave, you could save the fdisk output, zero the MBR (or just the partition table; if you zero the whole MBR you'll have to redo your boot loader as well), and re-do the partitions. As long as the boundaries reported by fdisk are correct, your data would be safe. That I know from experience. But then I don't know if this will actually fix anything, so it may not be worth the risk.

Last edited by alphaniner (2011-01-31 20:33:01)

graysky · 2011-01-31 21:46:12

That's not GPT... fdisk doesn't support it. This is what it should look like:

# fdisk -l /dev/sdb

WARNING: GPT (GUID Partition Table) detected on '/dev/sdb'! The util fdisk doesn't support GPT. Use GNU Parted.


Disk /dev/sdb: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
256 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9691 cylinders, total 156301488 sectors
Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00000000

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1               1   156301487    78150743+  ee  GPT

Here it is on gdisk:

# gdisk /dev/sdb
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 0.6.14

Partition table scan:
  MBR: protective
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: present

Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.

Command (? for help): p
Disk /dev/sdb: 156301488 sectors, 74.5 GiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): 56653CEF-0DFD-446B-AC23-29910A499E5E
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 156301454
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 2014 sectors (1007.0 KiB)

Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
   1            2048        29362175   14.0 GiB    0700  Linux/Windows data
   2        29362176       156301454   60.5 GiB    0700  Linux/Windows data

I would recommend that you backup all data, nuke the drive, then repartition it with gdisk. See the following wiki page for instructions: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/SS … l_Clearing

Bonus is that the SSD gets reset to factory speeds!

alphaniner · 2011-02-01 14:34:58

Also, I found out the hard way that just re-writing the partition table isn't enough to get rid of whatever identifies the disk as GPT. This caused issues for Windows, and I think I got the same kind of fdisk output as OP. I was in a bit of a hurry at that point so I'm not sure. Zeroing the first 512 bytes didn't do it either. I ended up zeroing the first 1GB.

Last edited by alphaniner (2011-02-01 16:03:38)

rjrjr · 2011-02-04 00:29:27

Hmm, that's what I was afraid of. Well, I guess I'll have to back up and repartition. I don't have to run fsck at every reboot, not sure why that issue resolved itself.

Will realigning my drive help with the accumulation of bad sectors or is it mainly a speed thing? I can't believe I missed the wiki's page on ssd's, that would have helped to know when I installed the first time around.

Also, FWIW, I am singlebooting Arch on a Macbook, all of this gpt stuff is a bit new to me, but will the fact that it is using efi cause any problems? I don't have a way to "bless" the efi partition so the Mac firmware would boot from it natively. I don't want to end up with an unbootable system.

Last edited by rjrjr (2011-02-04 00:36:26)

rjrjr · 2011-02-04 00:39:16

Whoa, gdisk had a fit when I first ran it, is this just more of the same problem?

$ sudo gdisk /dev/sda
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 0.6.14

Caution: invalid main GPT header, but valid backup; regenerating main header
from backup!

Caution! After loading partitions, the CRC doesn't check out!
Warning! Main partition table CRC mismatch! Loaded backup partition table
instead of main partition table!

Warning! One or more CRCs don't match. You should repair the disk!

Partition table scan:
  MBR: MBR only
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: damaged

Found valid MBR and corrupt GPT. Which do you want to use? (Using the
GPT MAY permit recovery of GPT data.)
 1 - MBR
 2 - GPT
 3 - Create blank GPT

I read the wiki page on GPT, and it says that I can switch from MBR to GPT without data loss. Would that solve my problem? Should I attempt to rebuild the gpt and switch over my boot options to use it? It would be nice to save the hassle of having to wipe my drive and reinstall.

Last edited by rjrjr (2011-02-04 02:58:55)

Arch Linux

#1 2011-01-30 19:12:00

SSD has a few bad sectors, must run fsck every reboot

#2 2011-01-31 20:28:21

Re: SSD has a few bad sectors, must run fsck every reboot

#3 2011-01-31 21:46:12

Re: SSD has a few bad sectors, must run fsck every reboot

#4 2011-02-01 14:34:58

Re: SSD has a few bad sectors, must run fsck every reboot

#5 2011-02-04 00:29:27

Re: SSD has a few bad sectors, must run fsck every reboot

#6 2011-02-04 00:39:16

Re: SSD has a few bad sectors, must run fsck every reboot

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