On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 07:24:24AM -0400, William L. Maltby wrote:
"Badblocks" (which really should be invoked via mke2fs or e2fsck rather than manually) has useful, but limited, utility in ensuring reliability. And it does require some small storage space in the file system. And it does *not* assign alternate blocks (that is, it does not take advantage of the hardware alternate block capability). And it is not "predictive", thereby being useful only for keeping an FS usable *after* data has been (potentially) lost on an existing file system. It's best utility is at FS creation and check time. It also has use if you can un-mount the FS (ignoring the "force" capability provided) but cannot take the system down to run manufacturer-specific diagnostic and repair software.
It might be interesting to add a "catch 22" story.
I once added -c flags to /fsckoptions and "touch"ed /forcefsck. I had to take the disk to the lab and fix it on a bench system.