It depends on how well you want them tested.  A common one for me is to 
boot off a live cd and dd off of /dev/zero onto the raw drive and see if 
it errors out anywhere.  Also run SMART tests on them using smartctl.

Mark Mitchell wrote:
> I have a failing hard drive in one of my systems, and 4 drives I've dug out of 
> desk drawers.  
>
> Is there a way for me to test these 4 questionable drives under a live CD to 
> see if any of them are reliable enough to use in my nfs server?
>
> Also, if you have any >5G drives you want to get rid of, let me know.  I'll 
> pick up.
>
> Thanks,
> Mark
>
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>   

-- 
Jon Schewe | http://mtu.net/~jpschewe
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For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels 
nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any 
powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all 
creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that 
is in Christ Jesus our Lord. - Romans 8:38-39