now I remember what the other tool was: hdparm. that tool will tell you what the SMART status is on the HDD. -eric On Feb 18, 2012, at 2:42 AM, Stu wrote: > Just a suggestion, have you thought about giving UBCD a try? There's a bunch of software tools on it, most of which are way beyond me, but I have managed to salvage a couple of hard drives with it in the past. > > http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ > > > On 02/17/2012 04:27 PM, Technomage Hawke wrote: >> 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~(-: >>> --------------------------------------------------- >>> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us >>> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: >>> http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss >> --------------------------------------------------- >> PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us >> To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: >> http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss >> > > --------------------------------------------------- > PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us > To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: > http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss --------------------------------------------------- PLUG-discuss mailing list - PLUG-discuss@lists.plug.phoenix.az.us To subscribe, unsubscribe, or to change your mail settings: http://lists.PLUG.phoenix.az.us/mailman/listinfo/plug-discuss