Martin Gregorie  wrote:
> On Tue, 02 Oct 2018 08:56:43 +0200, Helmut Harnisch wrote:
>
>> Am 02.10.2018 um 03:44 schrieb bob prohaska:
>>> Is there a program that can interrogate a flash storage device to
>>> determine how many spare blocks remain?
>>>
>>> I'm looking for a way to guesstimate when it's time to replace a
>>> microSD card or USB flash drive before it fails completely.
>>>
>>> Thanks for reading,
>>>
>>> bob prohaska
>> Maybe this:
>>
>> https://www.heise.de/download/product/h2testw-50539
>
> Do fsck or badblocks show anything useful?
>
I didn't realize the Pi supported badblocks. I'll give it a try.

My predicament was revealed by fsck: a fault was found, fsck asked
permission to fix the fault and told me to run fsck again. The fault
was still present. This went on till I gave up. If the block with the
error is bad, and there are no spare blocks to replace it, this makes
good if unhappy sense. I'm looking for some measuring tool that looks
past the flash controller to independently ascertain the state of the
storage media.

> I'd expect badblocks with the -n option to show something useful, but
> I've not used it on an SD card.
>

Thank you very much!

bob prohaska

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