On 20 Nov 2001, Alan Shutko wrote: > Paolo Falcone <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > >>blaubaer:~# e2fsck /dev/hdb1 > >>e2fsck 1.25 (20-Sep-2001) > >>/dev/hdb1 is mounted. > >>WARNING!!! Running e2fsck on a mounted filesystem may cause > >>SEVERE filesystem damage. > > > > This is default behavior. But you need to delete the journal > > file first, else you wreck your ext3fs partition, before committing > > to fsck. > > No, e2fsck works fine on ext3 partitions. It just doesn't want to > work on mounted partitions. Remount root as read-only (mount / -o > ro,remount) and try it again. > > > The second one is to tweak your ext3fs partition. issue: > > > > tune2fs -c0 -i0 /dev/hdb1 > > Bad idea. From the tune2fs man page > > You should strongly consider the consequences of > disabling mount-count-dependent checking entirely. > Bad disk drives, cables, memory, and kernel bugs > could all corrupt a filesystem without marking the > filesystem dirty or in error. If you are using > journaling on your filesystem, your filesystem will > never be marked dirty, so it will not normally be > checked. A filesystem error detected by the kernel > will still force an fsck on the next reboot, but it > may already be too late to prevent data loss at > that point. > > and > > It is strongly recommended that either -c (mount- > count-dependent) or -i (time-dependent) checking be > enabled to force periodic full e2fsck(8) checking > of the filesystem. Failure to do so may lead to > filesystem corruption due to bad disks, cables, > memory, or kernel bugs to go unnoticed until they > cause data loss or corruption. > > > You won't really need fsck unless you screw up big time (playing > > around as root most of the time does that...). > > Untrue. > > --
It's precisely the above warnings that make me rather nervous of using ext3 (though I have it on all my filesystems at the moment, mainly to cope with the frequent lockups I am experiencing, for unknown reasons). The available documentation on ext3 doesn't seem to make things very clear, at least to me. If I leave /etc/fstab as it is, will all the file systems continue to be checked as normal when I reboot? Or should I issue tune2fs commands (with appropriate time or mount switches) and change /etc/fstab in some way? If so, how? What is the purpose of the /forcefsck file that is suggested, and what commands is it supposed to contain? My current /etc/fstab: # /etc/fstab: static file system information. # # <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass> # /dev/hdb1 / auto defaults,errors=remount-ro 0 1 /dev/hdb5 /usr auto defaults 0 2 /dev/hdb6 /var auto defaults 0 2 /dev/hdb7 /usr/local auto defaults 0 2 /dev/hdb8 /home auto defaults 0 2 /dev/hda1 /msdos msdos rw,noauto,user 0 0 /dev/hda3 /backup auto rw,noauto,user 0 2 /dev/hda5 none swap sw 0 0 # proc /proc proc defaults 0 0 /dev/fd0 /floppy auto defaults,user,noauto 0 0 /dev/cdrom /cdrom iso9660 defaults,ro,user,noauto 0 0 # Any illumination gratefully received. Anthony -- Anthony Campbell - running Linux GNU/Debian (Windows-free zone) For an electronic book (The Assassins of Alamut), skeptical essays, and over 140 book reviews, go to: http://www.acampbell.org.uk/ Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. [Carl Sagan]
