Samsung HM080HC 80GB 2.5" Hard Drive (5V 0.85A)

Specification
HK$500 with 3 years warranty, or $705 for a 120GB.

$ dmesg

usb 1-4: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 5
usb 1-4: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
scsi2 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
usb-storage: device found at 5
usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scanning
scsi 2:0:0:0: Direct-Access SAMSUNG HM080HC AM10 PQ: 0 ANSI: 0 CCS
SCSI device sda: 156301488 512-byte hdwr sectors (80026 MB)
sda: Write Protect is off
sda: Mode Sense: 00 14 00 00
sda: assuming drive cache: write through
SCSI device sda: 156301488 512-byte hdwr sectors (80026 MB)
sda: Write Protect is off
sda: Mode Sense: 00 14 00 00
sda: assuming drive cache: write through
sda: unknown partition table
sd 2:0:0:0: Attached scsi disk sda
sd 2:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg0 type 0
usb-storage: device scan complete

$ hdparm -v /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
readonly = 0 (off)
readahead = 256 (on)
geometry = 9729/255/63, sectors = 156301488, start = 0

$ fdisk -l /dev/sda

Disk /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80026361856 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9729 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Disk /dev/sda doesn't contain a valid partition table

$ time badblocks -n -v -s -o /tmp/hm080hc.log /dev/sda

Checking for bad blocks in non-destructive read-write mode
From block 0 to 78150744
Checking for bad blocks (non-destructive read-write test)
Testing with random pattern: 6851840/ 78150744
...
...
...
Testing with random pattern: done
Pass completed, 0 bad blocks found.

real 241m58.349s <-- SIX hours thru USB-IDE!!
user 4m7.435s
sys 1m6.512s

# mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda1

mke2fs 1.39 (29-May-2006)
Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=4096 (log=2)
Fragment size=4096 (log=2)
9781248 inodes, 19537040 blocks
976852 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=0
Maximum filesystem blocks=0
597 block groups
32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group
16384 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208,
4096000, 7962624, 11239424

Writing inode tables: done
Creating journal (32768 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done

This filesystem will be automatically checked every 26 mounts or
180 days, whichever comes first. Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.

$ time fsck.ext3 -n -c -f -v /dev/sda1

e2fsck 1.39 (29-May-2006)
Checking for bad blocks (read-only test): 77184/ 19537040
...
...
...

Checking for bad blocks (read-only test): done
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
Pass 2: Checking directory structure
Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
Pass 4: Checking reference counts
Pass 5: Checking group summary information

/dev/sda1: ***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****

11 inodes used (0.00%)
1 non-contiguous inode (9.1%)
# of inodes with ind/dind/tind blocks: 0/0/0
352991 blocks used (1.81%)
0 bad blocks
1 large file

0 regular files
2 directories
0 character device files
0 block device files
0 fifos
0 links
0 symbolic links (0 fast symbolic links)
0 sockets
--------
2 files

real 56m38.911s
user 0m2.420s
sys 0m12.597s