Wanted - SATA/PATA/USB2 SSD with bad sectors for bcache testing (and offer of bcache presentation)

[William Stearns]

Good afternoon, all,
 	"Seriously?  He wants _bad_ sectors?" I hear them say.  :-)

 	I'm working on a linux kernel project that uses SSD's to cache 
normal rotating media hard drives.  bcache is in early development and not 
stable for general use, but the performance numbers are enticing:

* md5sum of small files: 3.5MB/sec off hard drive, 14.5MB/sec off SSD 
cache.

* directory listing of large fragmented tree: 390 seconds off hard drive, 
202 seconds off SSD cache.

* md5sum of 1.995GB file with 23,522 extents: 251 seconds from HD 
(7.948MB/sec), 82 seconds from SSD cache (24.329MB/sec).

 	On a side note, I'd be happy to give a talk with a live demo on 
bcache to any gnhlug chapter; get in touch if you have an open month.

 	As part of the testing, I want to make sure that the code is 
resilient enough to recognize bad sectors on the SSD cache and not 
panic/bug/die.  That requires an SSD with bad sectors.  Size and speed are 
not critical.  I have the ability to connect to sata, pata, and usb.
 	Anyone have one?

 	Before I get inundated with offers, I already have a hard drive 
with underlying bad sectors for that part of the testing.  Come to think 
of it, I probably have 15 to 20 hard drives with.... issues.  :-)
 	Cheers,
 	- Bill

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(Courtesy of Eric S. Raymond)
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William Stearns (wstearns at pobox.com, tools and papers: www.stearns.org)
Top-notch computer security training at www.sans.org , www.giac.net
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