Newbie Question: How do I check my hdd with Knoppix?

[Baylynx]

I preface my inquiry by saying that I know practically nothing about Linux. That said, after reading about this procedure, I downloaded the full version of Knoppix v5.1 to cd and used it to retrieve data files from the hdd on my Compaq Presario 2103. I usually run Windows XP on my laptop, but it is unable to boot so I suspect the hdd has failed. However, before I replace it, I want to check out the drive to verify that it's dead.

Also, when I first booted Knoppix from cd and mounted hda1, there was some reference about it being a "dirty volume". What does this mean Can someone tell me how I go about running a disk diagnostic on the hdd using Knoppix?

Thank you.

[Harry Kuhman]

....and used it to retrieve data files from the hdd .... but it is unable to boot so I suspect the hdd has failed. However, before I replace it, I want to check out the drive to verify that it's dead.....

First of all, it is important to know that we very often see that windows itself damages the data on a hard disk. It can do this so badly that the system will not boot. Knoppix can sometimes still recover the data. At other times Knoppix can't recover the data either (I have had this happed 4 times and still have 2 such drives). This does not mean that the hard drive is physically bad or that it should be replaced.

I don't want to imply that I'm certain that there is absolutely nothing wrong with the hard drive. Hard drives can have a problem with the data on them going "weak" so that the drive can no longer distinguish between 0s and 1s. When this happens in the data section of the sector it is easily corrected the next time the data is written. But it if happens in the overhead part of the partition that is generally not rewritten, it can lead to loss of us of the sector. There is asoftware package that is particularly good at fixing this type of problem call SpinRite. It can repair the low level formatting of a drive. But it is expensive (sometimes more expensive than a new drive). So far there is no reason to believe that this is what has happened with your drive. And as far as I can tell, SpinRite will do nothing to help in the most common Windows related drives problems where Windows has corrupted the data itself. So while you could indeed have a physical problem with the drive, I see no reason yet to believe that has occured and I am not suggesting that you obtain this software, I'm just trying to lay out all of the facts.

I quoted above that you said Knoppix was able to recover files for you. Great! Sometimes, even when the drive is physically good it can not. But since it did, I really don't expect that you have a drive problem, just an all too common Windows problem.

There are utilities in Linux that can help check out a drive. See the help page obtained by typing man testdisk for one example. But if you are more comfortable with the Windows work than the Linux world, my best advice would be to recover all that you can now, and then delete the current partition (or partitions) on the disk and reinstall (assuming that you have a copy of Windows or made recovery discs to reinstall from, which would also be an issue if you bought a new drive).

You may also find some test utilities that came with the hard drive, or if you didn't get them, from the hard drive maker's website. I generally don't find these too useful, but they are better than nothing, and if the drive really is failing the S.M.A.R.T. system built into most modern drives will likely catch and report the problem (it will have nothing to report for Windows caused disk corruption though).