I think 8192 is high enough, since 4096 only breaks after something like 16TB.

when I get new hdds, i open a tmux instance with one pane per hdd, then i do:

• smartctl -t short /dev/sdX
• smartctl -t conveyance /dev/sdX
• badblocks -b 4096 -ws /dev/sdX
• smartctl -t long /dev/sdX

And if it passes all those, then I put them into a zpool.

edit: for bigger drives, you might need to increase the block size for badblocks, 65535 for example.

I’m just an amateur photographer and tech tinkerer. I’ve never had the CompactFlash cards have any issues in my camera. I have had multiple microSD card failures, and not from no-name brands either, the ‘pro’ or ‘extreme’ versions of sd cards.

My most recent camera has dual SD Card slots so I’m going to write copies of the image to both cards, I’d don’t work professionally, but I’d still hate to lose some of my shots.