Dale writes:

> I finally got me a 3Tb drive on the way. Should be here Wednesday. I
> have seen some reviews where it would not work right. I think some of
> it may be BIOS related since some BIOS's don't like drives that large.
> Anyway, I want to test this thing real good to really make sure it is up
> to the task before putting my data on it. It's going to be so much
> data, there is really no way to do back-ups at this point. Come on, 2
> to 3Tbs on 4Gb DVDs. Really? lol Maybe a external drive later on but
> for now, well.
>
> I have heard of bonnie and friends. I also think dd could do some
> testing too. Is there any other way to give this a good work and see if
> it holds up? Oh, helpful hints with Bonnie would be great too. I have
> never used it before. Maybe someone has some test that is really
> brutal.

smartctl -t long /dev/sdb will make the drive start a selftest. This
will take a while, and even more if the drive is being used otherwise, as
this test should not impact its performance. Use smartctl -l selftest to
view the results. As long as there is no number in the
'LBA_of_first_error' column, it should be okay.

That is a reading test only, badblocks -sw /dev/sdb will make it perform
a write-mode test. It uses four different patterns, I would be okay with
only one test, so I'd either stop it when it is done writing and
comparing the first pattern, or supply a test pattern with option -t.

Wonko

hi

Dale wrote, at 08/05/2012 04:45 PM:
> Howdy,
>
>
> I have heard of bonnie and friends. I also think dd could do some
> testing too. Is there any other way to give this a good work and see if
> it holds up? Oh, helpful hints with Bonnie would be great too. I have
> never used it before. Maybe someone has some test that is really brutal.
>

some time ago i have played with bonnie++ to figure out my hard disk performance
using different filesystems and io schedulers. the script invokes 3 bonnie
instances; each instance runs its own set of tests: write/read/rewrite a 30gb
file followed with different file operations on 48k small files spread over 32
sub-directories:

#!/bin/bash
#
scratch=${1:-$(pwd)}
#
date
ft=$(df -Pl $scratch|tail -1|awk '{print $6}')
mnt=($(mount|grep "$ft "))
dev=$(basename $(readlink -fn ${mnt[0]}))
sched=$(cat /sys/block/$dev/queue/scheduler|sed -e 's/.*[//1' -e 's/].*//1')
log="$dev-${sched}-${mnt[4]}"
echo $log
rm -f ${log} ${log}.html
/usr/sbin/bonnie++ -p 3
/usr/sbin/bonnie++ -qd $scratch -n48:128K:16K:32 -ys -s30g -mg1 >> ${log} &
/usr/sbin/bonnie++ -qd $scratch -n48:128K:16K:32 -ys -s30g -mg2 >> ${log} &
/usr/sbin/bonnie++ -qd $scratch -n48:123K:16K:32 -ys -s30g -mg3 >> ${log} &
wait
/usr/sbin/bonnie++ -p -1
bon_csv2html ${log} >> ${log}.html
date

this script worked around 30mins on a sata3 1tb drive. presuming your 3tb, you
may adjust the file size and/or number of bonnie instances to fill up the disk
space; then start the script and leave it running for a day. i guess this test
would be brutal enough and on completion the disk might be considered good

victor

Dale wrote:
> Howdy,
>
> I finally got me a 3Tb drive on the way. Should be here Wednesday. I
> have seen some reviews where it would not work right. I think some of
> it may be BIOS related since some BIOS's don't like drives that large.
> Anyway, I want to test this thing real good to really make sure it is up
> to the task before putting my data on it. It's going to be so much
> data, there is really no way to do back-ups at this point. Come on, 2
> to 3Tbs on 4Gb DVDs. Really? lol Maybe a external drive later on but
> for now, well.
>
> I have heard of bonnie and friends. I also think dd could do some
> testing too. Is there any other way to give this a good work and see if
> it holds up? Oh, helpful hints with Bonnie would be great too. I have
> never used it before. Maybe someone has some test that is really brutal.
>
> Thanks
>
> Dale
>
> :-) :-)
>

I seem to have got a few really good responses to my question. Since I
really want to test this drive really hard, I'll try them all. lol If
it survives a few runs of all this, maybe it is going to live. Like the
one with the script too. May have to edit for my needs but certainly a
GREAT start.

While at it, I found a lot of references to the flood in Japan or I
assume it was Japan. Anyone think this could still be a problem?
Should they all be flushed out of the system by now? Pardon the flush
term there. ;-)

Linky:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1310560&CatId=4357

Please, no hard drive brand flame wars. Seagates fail, WD fails, they
all fail at some point. We all know that already. This is what I got
so it is what it is. :-D That is why I want to test this thing like a
wild man BEFORE putting anything on it. If it has a issue, hopefully
the test will bring that to the front now instead of later.

Waiting on Wednesday to get here now.

Dale

:-) :-)

P. S. What is a good way to back up something this large BESIDES
another drive the same size or larger? I thought about getting a blue
ray burner but even that will take a lot of media. Another drive is all
I can think of myself.

--
I am only responsible for what I said ... Not for what you understood or how you interpreted my words!

What do you gain if you abuse your drive so hard that its lifetime is severly impacted?

Am 06.08.2012 11:47 schrieb "Dale" <rdalek1967@gmail.com>:
Dale wrote:

> Howdy,

>

> I finally got me a 3Tb drive on the way. *Should be here Wednesday. *I

> have seen some reviews where it would not work right. *I think some of

> it may be BIOS related since some BIOS's don't like drives that large.

> Anyway, I want to test this thing real good to really make sure it is up

> to the task before putting my data on it. *It's going to be so much

> data, there is really no way to do back-ups at this point. *Come on, 2

> to 3Tbs on 4Gb DVDs. *Really? *lol *Maybe a external drive later on but

> for now, well.

>

> I have heard of bonnie and friends. *I also think dd could do some

> testing too. *Is there any other way to give this a good work and see if

> it holds up? *Oh, helpful hints with Bonnie would be great too. *I have

> never used it before. *Maybe someone has some test that is really brutal.

>

> Thanks

>

> Dale

>

> :-) *:-)

>



I seem to have got a few really good responses to my question. *Since I

really want to test this drive really hard, I'll try them all. *lol *If

it survives a few runs of all this, maybe it is going to live. *Like the

one with the script too. *May have to edit for my needs but certainly a

GREAT start.



While at it, I found a lot of references to the flood in Japan or I

assume it was Japan. *Anyone think this could still be a problem?

Should they all be flushed out of the system by now? *Pardon the flush

term there. *;-)



Linky:



http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1310560&CatId=4357




Please, no hard drive brand flame wars. *Seagates fail, WD fails, they

all fail at some point. *We all know that already. *This is what I got

so it is what it is. *:-D *That is why I want to test this thing like a

wild man BEFORE putting anything on it. *If it has a issue, hopefully

the test will bring that to the front now instead of later.



Waiting on Wednesday to get here now.



Dale



:-) *:-)



P. S. *What is a good way to back up something this large BESIDES

another drive the same size or larger? *I thought about getting a blue

ray burner but even that will take a lot of media. *Another drive is all

I can think of myself.



--

I am only responsible for what I said ... Not for what you understood or how you interpreted my words!

On Monday 06 Aug 2012 10:42:17 Dale wrote:

> If it has a issue, hopefully
> the test will bring that to the front now instead of later.

Or it is just going to knacker your drive and make it fail earlier that it
would otherwise (esp if you overheat it)? ha, ha!


> P. S. What is a good way to back up something this large BESIDES
> another drive the same size or larger? I thought about getting a blue
> ray burner but even that will take a lot of media. Another drive is all
> I can think of myself.

Splitting it?

Partimage would do that and so would star/tar for fs level backups.
--
Regards,
Mick

Volker Armin Hemmann wrote:
>
> What do you gain if you abuse your drive so hard that its lifetime is
> severly impacted?
>

That if it has a problem that will cause it to fail soon in it's life,
then I can find it soon. Remember that curve about failures? I would
like to get past that first part of the curve. Maybe by the time I get
to the later part, I'll have another drive or some backup scheme. Most
the failures I have read about in reviews for this drive were early or
was just plain old DOA. Testing it will get me past that. I'd rather
it fail before I get my data on it instead of after.

I thought I posted why I wanted to do this in my first post.

Dale

:-) :-)

--
I am only responsible for what I said ... Not for what you understood or how you interpreted my words!

Mick wrote:
> On Monday 06 Aug 2012 10:42:17 Dale wrote:
>
>> If it has a issue, hopefully
>> the test will bring that to the front now instead of later.
> Or it is just going to knacker your drive and make it fail earlier that it
> would otherwise (esp if you overheat it)? ha, ha!

Well, if it is going to fail because of anything, including heat, I
would rather it do so BEFORE I put my stuff on it. Right now, a backup
is not possible other than a blue ray or something. Also, I have a
Cooler Master case with the fan blowing right on the drives. If it gets
hot and blows a fuse, it has a problem anyway. It may as well die early
while under warranty.

>
>> P. S. What is a good way to back up something this large BESIDES
>> another drive the same size or larger? I thought about getting a blue
>> ray burner but even that will take a lot of media. Another drive is all
>> I can think of myself.
> Splitting it?
>
> Partimage would do that and so would star/tar for fs level backups.

Split what? The drive into two partitions or something? If that is
what you mean, if it dies, I'd still loose it all. If you meant two
drives, well, I only have one on the way right now. It will be a while
before I can get another. In the past, I just backed up stuff on DVDs.
3Tbs is a lot of DVDs tho. It won't take to long to fill that up
either. I love my DSL. lol

I hope to get another drive in the future tho. Just going to be a
little while. ;-)

Dale

:-) :-)

--
I am only responsible for what I said ... Not for what you understood or how you interpreted my words!

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On 06.08.2012 12:14, Dale wrote:
> Volker Armin Hemmann wrote:
>>
>> What do you gain if you abuse your drive so hard that its
>> lifetime is severly impacted?
>>
>
> That if it has a problem that will cause it to fail soon in it's
> life, then I can find it soon. Remember that curve about failures?
> I would like to get past that first part of the curve. Maybe by
> the time I get to the later part, I'll have another drive or some
> backup scheme. Most the failures I have read about in reviews for
> this drive were early or was just plain old DOA. Testing it will
> get me past that. I'd rather it fail before I get my data on it
> instead of after.
>
> I thought I posted why I wanted to do this in my first post.
>
> Dale
>
> :-) :-)
>

Why not simply get you data on it and use it for about 2 weeks? Maybe
you should mirror important stuff to the old drive for that time.

After about 2 weeks of normal usage you should be well out of the
beginnig of that bathtub curve (I always had problems when copying
data to the new drive when I had a bad one, except DOA of course).


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On Mon, 06 Aug 2012 04:42:17 -0500, Dale wrote:

> P. S. What is a good way to back up something this large BESIDES
> another drive the same size or larger?

A smaller drive, backups can be compressed. Also, you don't need to
backup everything, for example rips of DVDs and CDs you own can be
recreated. If you organise your data to separate stuff that needs to be
backed up from that which doesn't you can reduce the amount of space
needed.

Factor in that you won't be filling this drive for a while and that you
don't need maximum performance from a backup drive and you'll almost
certainly get by with using your old drive(s).

Really important stuff should be stored offsite, Amazon S3 gives the best
value for me.


--
Neil Bothwick

Ask a silly person, get a silly answer

Neil Bothwick wrote:
> On Mon, 06 Aug 2012 04:42:17 -0500, Dale wrote:
>
>> P. S. What is a good way to back up something this large BESIDES
>> another drive the same size or larger?
> A smaller drive, backups can be compressed. Also, you don't need to
> backup everything, for example rips of DVDs and CDs you own can be
> recreated. If you organise your data to separate stuff that needs to be
> backed up from that which doesn't you can reduce the amount of space
> needed.
>
> Factor in that you won't be filling this drive for a while and that you
> don't need maximum performance from a backup drive and you'll almost
> certainly get by with using your old drive(s).
>
> Really important stuff should be stored offsite, Amazon S3 gives the best
> value for me.
>
>

What I have on there is videos. When I tried to compress some and test,
it was basically the same size. I guess videos don't compress to much?

When I put this in, I'm going to redo the whole thing. Ages ago when I
was green all over and not just around the gills, I created a /data
directory and that is where I stored "stuff". My new plan, the new
drive will become /home and I will be putting things where they should
have been to begin with. I plan to reorganize this whole mess I created
ages ago. That video directory is HUGE tho.

root@fireball / # du -shc /data/Videos/
703G /data/Videos/
703G total
root@fireball / #

While I am at it. You should have a good answer for this one. What is
a good file system for this sort of thing? I been using ext4 but it
sure does use a lot of space for its overhead. As far as files go, most
will likely be videos. I do have other files but when compared to the
number of videos, they are close to nothing. The files system for the
current 1Tb, spread across two drives with LVM, uses about 75Gbs for the
file system thingy. That's a pretty good bit to me. I may lose more
than 200Gbs on this 3Tb drive. O_O

Thanks.

Dale

:-) :-)

--
I am only responsible for what I said ... Not for what you understood or how you interpreted my words!