How to check a usb stick

In order to check a usb stick we’ll use the software badblocks. Badblocks will write and read data on every block of the usb device and compare them.

There are three modes for badblocks :

• Write and read all the blocks

badblocks -w /dev/<device>

• Read-Write without erasing any data

badblocks -n /dev/<device>

• Only read data (default mode)

badblocks /dev/<device>

You can add the following options :

-v for verbose output

-o <output file> write the badblocks list to a file

-p <number> pass number

-s show the progress of the analysis

-b <size of the blocks>, it must be in octet, the default value is 1024.

In any case, it is best to make a backup before using badblocks. The tests are very time intensive, it can take hours depending on the drive speed.

I have made some tests on a 16Gb usb stick from 2008 and it has taken more than 3 hours.