you can load a live DVD into the system and then try one of the many HDD test tools (badblocks with no options is a safe bet and will tell you almost immediately if there are any problems). I know there is another command line tool that can test drive throughput and read the SMART tables on the controller. I can't remember its name off hand, but it is a good one to test the drive electronics.

-eric

On Feb 17, 2012, at 10:05 AM, Michael Havens wrote:

> Yep.... I think I had a hard disk failure. I restarted my computer and was presented with:
> 
>      error: unknown filesystem.
>      grub rescue>
> 
> I then typed 'ls' and the response was
> 
>      (hd0) (hd0,msdos5) (hd0,msdos3) (hd0,msdos1) (fd0)
> 
> which is two partitions, the swap drive, and the floppy disk
> how do I verify my suspicion of drive failure?
> funny how all this happened just as I was attempting to back it up.
> 
> -- 
> :-)~MIKE~(-:
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