[CentOS] Is it safe to run tune2fs -c -1 -i 0 /dev/sda2 on mounted file system

[Devin Reade]

yonatan pingle <yonatan.pingle at gmail.com> wrote:

> It would be much better controlling this values from your /etc/fstab file,
> so in case of any future references to fsck on boot, you will know
> what's configured by file.
> man fstab , and read about the sixth field.

I would disagree with that as there's a difference in semantics.
If you set the 6th fstab field to zero, checks are never performed
at all; this is suitable for read-only mounts and other special
cases.  Going the tune2fs route, though, just turns off the flags
that say, "this filesystem appears to be clean but it's been a 
while since we checked, so we're going to check anyway".  If you
set the tune2fs flags to zero but leave the fstab flag set, then
as long as you've done a clean shutdown you will not get an fsck
on boot.  OTOH if you've had a crash, the filesystem will not 
be marked as clean and it will be checked at the next boot, which
is a whole lot safer than just using it.  With journaled filesystems,
it's also relatively fast.

I can't think of a situation where I would have a "normal" local
filesystem mounted read-write but for which I would disable fsck
in fstab.

Devin
-- 
If you have any trouble sounding condescending, consult a UNIX user.