Michael Hennebry wrote:
> Though quiet at the moment,
> my desktop sometimes sometimes makes a noise that I attribute
> to either a disk or a fan on its last legs.
> I'm looking for suggestions for distinguishing.
>
> For the disk, I expect I should use either hdparm of fsck.
> Even after reading the man page, I'm not sure how I would use hdparm.
> If I use fsck, what should I take as evidence of a bad drive?
> A good drive?
>
1. Have you looked at either /var/log/messages or dmesg for errors?
2. You can also use SMART:
step 1: smartctl -t short /dev/sd[abc...] (one at a time)
step 2, after 2+ minutes so the test's done: smartctl -a | more
3. The long way would be fsck -c (check for badblocks).
> Is there a way to tell whether the OS thinks a fan is on?
> Is there a way to turn a fan on or off manually?
Depends on your m/b. If you've got a BMC, install OpenIPMI and ipmitool.
>
> Time for a backup.
Indeed. *AFTER* you do that, you could take the system down, open it up,
and vacuum it - don't forget the fans, heatsinks, and PSU.
mark