dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/hda

dd if=/dev/hda of=/dev/hda bs=512
cat /dev/urandom > /dev/hdb and then cat /dev/zero > /dev/hdb

Someone on Slashdot says this will fix damaged sectors somehow. http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=194486&cid=15938141

Is it true? They explain the details behind it, but what exactly do the commands do? Can I just boot a Knopppix disc and type that?

I have a drive with thousands of bad sectors, yet I'm still using it because the first 20 gigs work.. But it'd be nice to get the 80g back.

I don't want to keep any data. If I do this I'll wipe the drive and start fresh. Are you saying it won't help at all?

And it's not 80%, but it's about 10 gigs in the middle, and I haven't bothering to make a jump over those sectors to get the rest, which also contain a break.

And it might spread if I do that. I was just wondering if this was a real fix for broken sectors. I don't care what happens to them, I just want to get rid of them.