badblocks

Search a device for bad blocks.

Some usages of badblocks can cause destructive actions, such as erasing all data on a disk, including the partition table.

• Search a disk for bad blocks by using a non-destructive read-only test:

sudo badblocks {/dev/sdX}

• Search an unmounted disk for bad blocks with a non-destructive read-write test:

sudo badblocks -n {/dev/sdX}

• Search an unmounted disk for bad blocks with a destructive write test:

sudo badblocks -w {/dev/sdX}

• Search an unmounted disk for bad blocks with a destructive write test and show verbose status:

sudo badblocks -svw {/dev/sdX}

• Search an unmounted disk in destructive mode and output found blocks to a file:

sudo badblocks -o {path/to/file} -w {/dev/sdX}

• Search an unmounted disk in destructive mode with improved speed using 4K block size and 64K block count:

sudo badblocks -w -b {4096} -c {65536} {/dev/sdX}

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