Checking SD card integrity/Linux: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 17:43, 15 March 2025

This is an add-on section for checking your SD card for errors using F3.

Depending on the size of your SD card and the speed of your computer, this process can take up to several hours!

This page is for Linux users only. If you are not on Linux, check out the Windows or Mac pages.

What You Need

The latest version of F3 (the .zip file)

Instructions

Insert your SD card into your computer
Mount your SD card
Create a new folder on your desktop, which will be referred to as the backup folder from now on
Copy everything from your SD card to the backup folder
Format the SD card
Extract the F3 .zip file
Open a terminal window and cd into the F3 directory
Run make to compile F3
Run ./f3write <your SD card mount point>
Wait until the process is complete. See below for an example output.

 $ ./f3write /media/michel/6135-3363/
 Free space: 29.71 GB
 Creating file 1.h2w ... OK!
 ...
 Creating file 30.h2w ... OK!
 Free space: 0.00 Byte
 Average Writing speed: 4.90 MB/s

Run ./f3read <your SD card mount point>
Wait until the process is complete. See below for an example output.

 $ ./f3read /media/michel/6135-3363/
 SECTORS                        ok/corrupted/changed/overwritten
 Validating file 1.h2w ... 2097152/        0/      0/      0
 ...
 Validating file 30.h2w ... 1491904/        0/      0/      0
 ...
 Data OK: 29.71 GB (62309312 sectors)
 Data LOST: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors)
 Corrupted: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors)
 Slightly changed: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors)
 Overwritten: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors)
 Average Reading speed: 9.42 MB/s

If the test shows the result Data LOST: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors), your SD card is likely good. You can delete all .h2w files on your SD card and then copy the contents of the backup folder back to it.

If the test shows any other results, your SD card is failing. You will have to replace it!

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 This page is for Linux users only. If you are not on Linux, check out the [[Checking SD card integrity/Windows|Windows]] or [[Checking SD card integrity/Mac|Mac]] pages.
-<big>{{warning|text=Copy all of your SD's contents to your PC and then [[Formatting_an_SD_card|format the SD card]] before starting this guide. If you do not, F3 will be unable to test the parts of the SD that still have data in them.}}</big>
 == What You Need ==
@@ Line 11: / Line 9: @@
 == Instructions ==
+# Insert your SD card into your computer
+# Mount your SD card
+# Create a new folder on your desktop, which will be referred to as the backup folder from now on
+# Copy everything from your SD card to the backup folder
+# [[Formatting_an_SD_card/Linux|Format the SD card]]
 # Extract the F3 <code>.zip</code> file
 # Open a terminal window and <code>cd</code> into the F3 directory
 # Run <code>make</code> to compile F3
-# Insert your SD card into your computer
-# Mount your SD card
 # Run <code>./f3write <your SD card mount point></code>
 # Wait until the process is complete. See below for an example output.
@@ Line 40: / Line 41: @@
    Average Reading speed: 9.42 MB/s
-{{success|text=If the test shows the result <code>Data LOST: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors)</code>, your SD card is likely good. You can delete all <code>.h2w</code> files on your SD card.}}
+{{success|text=If the test shows the result <code>Data LOST: 0.00 Byte (0 sectors)</code>, your SD card is likely good. You can delete all <code>.h2w</code> files on your SD card and then copy the contents of the backup folder back to it.}}
 {{critical|text=If the test shows any other results, your SD card is failing. You will have to replace it!}}
 [[Category:General guides]]