> I did not care about the data. I used format ->analyze ->verify and
> found no problems, but there are grown bad sectors and sysmontools
> indicates problems too. It has also been used for 45 days, which is a
> bit much for a disk sold as new. The disk is being returned.
>
> If you have other suggestions on the best ways to test a drive, I'm
> interested - someone else suggested VTS, which I never thought of, but
> it is perhaps the obvious one.
>
> --
> Dave (from the UK)

Since you don't care about data you can go into analyze and set parameters
to:

Enter number of passes[2]: 25
Use random bit patterns[no]? yes

and then go back and format the drive.

If that fails or marks an insane amount of blocks bad, then you know the
drive has problems.
If it succeeds, then switch to SunVTS.

Partition the entire disk as one slice via format and label it.
Then bring up SunVTS and select the drive you want to test.
Select the partition you made the whole disk.
Set Media Write Read Mode: to WriteRead
Set Media Coverage to 100%
Set Seek Pattern: to R
Set Media Transfer Size: to random

Apply the changes and then start cranking away!
If that doesn't find any problems after a couple days, then the drive should
be good.

Trinean