HDD Burn In with Python

[Terry Reedy]

"hokieghal99" <hokiegal99 at hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:bss1jq$8qk$1 at solaris.cc.vt.edu...
> Irmen de Jong wrote:
>

> > (although you could format the disk in one huge partition and
> > then write random files to it until the disk is full).
> >
>
> That's an idea. But what approach might one take if there were already
> files and folders on the volume that should not be destroyed? Some type
> of non-destructive test?

You can start start with the root directory and use os.path.walk to read
everything already the disk.

You could also get the assembly coded SpinRite5 (<$100) which will
systematically read and test every block, including boot sectors, on the
disk (moving each block of data temporarily to another place while write
testing).  It also fixes bad formatting and has twice saved a disk for me
that ScanDisk could not.

Terry J. Reedy