Using Badblocks for testing hdds on the nodes one normally uses

$ badblocks -v -p10 /dev/sdb

which checks the disk. if it makes 10 clean runs it will exit. but if the disk is really damaged it will run forever.

via this patch a new option "-m most_runs" is added, so that

$ badblocks -v -p10 -m 2 /dev/sdb

will run a test only 2 times in any case.

see also bug #241

This actually a patch for e2fsprogs. It patches misc/badblocks.c and misc/badblocks.8.in So it changes the badblocks-program and its man-Page

From 81f2a4661b088d5603bcc542d7dfc5b19058c9bc Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: =?utf-8?q?Henrik=20Kr=C3=B6ger?= <henrikkroeger@googlemail.com>
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2008 17:39:41 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] added option -m most_runs to badblocks

By using -m most_runs you can use -p num_passes without the problem that
the scanning will continue forever on a broken disk.
With -m most_runs, the scanning will cancel after most_runs of tests.
---
 misc/badblocks.8.in |    8 ++++++++
 misc/badblocks.c    |   13 ++++++++++---
 2 files changed, 18 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/misc/badblocks.8.in b/misc/badblocks.8.in
index 5a10f8a..23ceab9 100644
--- a/misc/badblocks.8.in
+++ b/misc/badblocks.8.in
@@ -36,6 +36,10 @@ badblocks \- search a device for bad blocks
 .I num_passes
 ]
 [
+.B \-m
+.I most_runs
+]
+[
 .B \-t
 .I test_pattern
 ]
@@ -150,6 +154,10 @@ Default is 0, meaning
 .B badblocks
 will exit after the first pass.
 .TP
+.BI \-m " most_runs"
+Cancel scanning after given number of scans.
+Default is 0, meaning never cancel scanning.
+.TP
 .BI \-t " test_pattern"
 Specify a test pattern to be read (and written) to disk blocks.   The
 .I test_pattern
diff --git a/misc/badblocks.c b/misc/badblocks.c
index f7d67a7..2b81963 100644
--- a/misc/badblocks.c
+++ b/misc/badblocks.c
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ static void usage(void)
    fprintf(stderr, _(
 "Usage: %s [-b block_size] [-i input_file] [-o output_file] [-svwnf]\n"
 "       [-c blocks_at_once] [-d delay_factor_between_reads] [-e max_bad_blocks]\n"
-"       [-p num_passes] [-t test_pattern [-t test_pattern [...]]]\n"
+"       [-p num_passes] [-m most_runs] [-t test_pattern [-t test_pattern [...]]]\n"
 "       device [last_block [first_block]]\n"),
        program_name);
    exit (1);
@@ -972,6 +972,8 @@ int main (int argc, char ** argv)
    blk_t last_block, first_block;
    int num_passes = 0;
    int passes_clean = 0;
+   int most_runs = 0;
+   int runs_done = 0;
    int dev;
    errcode_t errcode;
    unsigned int pattern;
@@ -1006,7 +1008,7 @@ int main (int argc, char ** argv)
 
    if (argc && *argv)
       program_name = *argv;
-   while ((c = getopt (argc, argv, "b:d:e:fi:o:svwnc:p:h:t:X")) != EOF) {
+   while ((c = getopt (argc, argv, "b:d:e:fi:o:svwnc:p:m:h:t:X")) != EOF) {
       switch (c) {
       case 'b':
          block_size = parse_uint(optarg, "block size");
@@ -1056,6 +1058,10 @@ int main (int argc, char ** argv)
          num_passes = parse_uint(optarg,
                   "number of clean passes");
          break;
+      case 'm':
+         most_runs = parse_uint(optarg,
+                  "maximum number of runs");
+         break;
       case 'h':
          host_device_name = optarg;
          break;
@@ -1226,13 +1232,14 @@ int main (int argc, char ** argv)
          passes_clean = 0;
       else
          ++passes_clean;
+      runs_done++;
 
       if (v_flag)
          fprintf(stderr,
             _("Pass completed, %u bad blocks found.\n"),
             bb_count);
 
-   } while (passes_clean < num_passes);
+   } while (passes_clean < num_passes && (most_runs < 1 || runs_done < most_runs));
 
    close (dev);
    if (out != stdout)
-- 
1.5.6.5

For the etch-version of badblocks another patch is neccessary:

From 1e9a75e36541fa90fc1005e098428f7aa7cf6ea6 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Henrik Kroeger <henrik@postfixserver>
Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2008 21:38:32 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] added option -m most_runs to badblocks
 
When using the "-p num_passes" for badblocks the scanning will continue
almost forever on a really bad disk. Especially in batch-mode this might
not be ideal.
By using -m most_runs you can use -p num_passes without the problem that
the scanning will continue forever on a broken disk.
With -m most_runs, the scanning will cancel after most_runs of tests.
---
 misc/badblocks.8.in |    8 ++++++++
 misc/badblocks.c    |   18 ++++++++++++++++--
 2 files changed, 24 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/misc/badblocks.8.in b/misc/badblocks.8.in
index 1719db2..74d48a7 100644
--- a/misc/badblocks.8.in
+++ b/misc/badblocks.8.in
@@ -28,6 +28,10 @@ badblocks \- search a device for bad blocks
 .I num_passes
 ]
 [
+.B \-m
+.I most_runs
+]
+[
 .B \-t
 .I test_pattern
 ]
@@ -129,6 +133,10 @@ Default is 0, meaning
 .B badblocks
 will exit after the first pass.
 .TP
+.BI \-m " most_runs"
+Cancel scanning after given number of scans.
+Default is 0, meaning never cancel scanning.
+.TP
 .BI \-t " test_pattern"
 Specify a test pattern to be read (and written) to disk blocks.   The
 .I test_pattern
diff --git a/misc/badblocks.c b/misc/badblocks.c
index 9867668..74fd53c 100644
--- a/misc/badblocks.c
+++ b/misc/badblocks.c
@@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ int sys_page_size = 4096;

 static void usage(void)
 {
-       fprintf(stderr, _("Usage: %s [-b block_size] [-i input_file] [-o output_file] [-svwnf]\n [-c blocks_at_once] [-p num_passes] [-t test_pattern [-t test_pattern [...]]]\n device [last_block [start_block]]\n"),
+       fprintf(stderr, _("Usage: %s [-b block_size] [-i input_file] [-o output_file] [-svwnf]\n [-c blocks_at_once] [-p num_passes] [-m most_runs] [-t test_pattern [-t test_pattern [...]]]\n device [last_block [start_block]]\n"),
                 program_name);
        exit (1);
 }
@@ -825,6 +825,8 @@ int main (int argc, char ** argv)
        unsigned long blocks_at_once = 64;
        blk_t last_block, from_count;
        int num_passes = 0;
+       int most_runs = 0;
+       int done_runs = 0;
        int passes_clean = 0;
        int dev;
        errcode_t errcode;
@@ -860,7 +862,7 @@ int main (int argc, char ** argv)
        
        if (argc && *argv)
                program_name = *argv;
-       while ((c = getopt (argc, argv, "b:fi:o:svwnc:p:h:t:X")) != EOF) {
+       while ((c = getopt (argc, argv, "b:fi:o:svwnc:p:m:h:t:X")) != EOF) {
                switch (c) {
                case 'b':
                        block_size = strtoul (optarg, &tmp, 0);
@@ -913,6 +915,14 @@ int main (int argc, char ** argv)
                                exit (1);
                        }
                        break;
+                case 'm':
+                       most_runs = strtoul (optarg, &tmp, 0);
+                       if (*tmp) {
+                               com_err (program_name, 0,
+                                       "bad number of most runs - %s", optarg);
+                               exit (1);
+                       }
+                       break;
                case 'h':
                        host_device_name = optarg;
                        break;
@@ -1100,6 +1110,10 @@ int main (int argc, char ** argv)
                                _("Pass completed, %u bad blocks found.\n"), 
                                bb_count);
 
+               ++done_runs;
+               if( most_runs > 0 && done_runs >= most_runs )
+                       break;
+
        } while (passes_clean < num_passes);
 
        close (dev);
-- 
1.5.5.GIT

-- HenrikKroeger - 05 Nov 2008