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The equivilent is fsck, and the surface check is done by badblocks but you can only run them on a file systems that isn't mounted. So if you want to check / then you need to boot from a boot disk that doesn't use your hard drives file systems, then run fsck from there.
You can use a 'rescue' disk or some linux demo CD that contains their own file systems. A boot disk made of your own system will typically always try to mount the filesystems on you HDD(s). If you can get to a promper command prompt using you install disk you might be able to use that instead, as it won't mount any of your file systems, as it should assume that non exist yet. This works well with the Slacware install disks.
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