On Mon, 2008-08-25 at 15:36 -0700, Nifty Cluster Mitch wrote: > On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 03:43:18PM -0400, William L. Maltby wrote: > > On Mon, 2008-08-25 at 12:03 -0700, Nifty Cluster Mitch wrote: > > > On Mon, Aug 25, 2008 at 07:24:24AM -0400, William L. Maltby wrote: > > > > > > > ><snip> > > > > > > (potentially) lost on an existing file system. It's best utility is at > > > > FS creation and check time. It also has use if you can un-mount the FS > > > > (ignoring the "force" capability provided) but cannot take the system > > > > down to run manufacturer-specific diagnostic and repair software. > > > > > > It might be interesting to add a "catch 22" story. > > > > > > I once added -c flags to /fsckoptions and "touch"ed /forcefsck. > > > I had to take the disk to the lab and fix it on a bench system. > > > > YOIKS! Any explanation why such a reliable process would cause such a > > result? Was it a long time ago with a buggy e2fsck maybe? Did you mean > > to say you added the "-f" flag and the FS was mounted and active at the > > time? Is it just one of those "Mysteries of the Universe"? I hate those! > > The removal of /forcefsck would never happen when badblocks was run. > Something wonkey perhaps because I did have a disk with defects.. > > Might be worth a retry next time I need to clean and reload a machine > but I do not know how to reproduct the disk hardware issue. > > Gone are the days where disk controllers gave you the ability > to 'expose' defects. I don't have an available "smart" drive here at home, but I do have some older stuff. I think we can "emulate" defects by defining a partition that runs a few sectors beyond the end of the HD. Then mke2fs giving the -c -c and a manually specified size that includes the phantom sectors. When I get time (won't be RSN) I'll do both a mke2fs test and then an e2fsck test. What I don't know is if notification of "beyond media end" is sent by hardware and caught by drivers or if drivers just catch an error and a bad block (sector) is presumed, to be logged and avoided. ISTR (on SCSI anyway) that read past media end was handled. But, this ain't SCSI! 8-) If someone has a setup that makes this a quick and easy test to run sooner than I'll be able to, that would be "peachy". > <snip> -- Bill