[smartmontools-support] smartctl fails but badblocks succeeds

Carlos E. R. robin.listas at telefonica.net
Sun Jun 26 08:23:24 CEST 2022


On 2022-06-12 23:29, Alex wrote:
> Hi,
> I have an older WD1502FAEX 1.5TB disk that fails a smartctl short and
> long test at virtually the same place on the disk with a read error.
> However, running badblocks over the same place on the disk where
> smartctl fails has no problem, even after multiple read/write passes.
> 
> Which test do I believe? Is this a reliable disk?
> 
> If they're just read errors, isn't there some mechanism to relocate
> those bad sectors or just mark them as unusable and move on?

Writing to that sector causes the disk firmware to relocate it, if it is
bad when writing.

When in doubt, I backup the entire disk, then write it full of zeroes
with dd. Then I run the smart long test, and decide.

-- 
Cheers / Saludos,

		Carlos E. R.

  (from Elesar, using openSUSE Leap 15.3)


More information about the Smartmontools-support mailing list