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. More information: https://manned.org/badblocks.

• 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

• Use the destructive write test and show verbose progress:

sudo badblocks -svw /dev/sdX

• In destructive mode, output found blocks to a file:

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

• Use the destructive mode with improved speed using 4K block size and 64K block count:

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