[CentOS] /dev/mapper/cl-root filesystem corrupted?

Mon Dec 7 06:46:54 UTC 2020
Robert G. (Doc) Savage <dsavage at peaknet.net>

On Mon, 2020-12-07 at 15:43 +1100, Anthony K wrote:
> On 7/12/20 12:20 pm, Robert G. (Doc) Savage via CentOS wrote:
> > A client's (truly ancient) file server running CentOS 7 suddenly
> > started misbehaving, and I believe the ext4 filesystem on
> > /dev/mapper/cl-root may be corrupted. A reboot fails with a file
> > system
> > check and drops me into maintenance mode. I tried booting from a
> > live
> > C7 DVD and as root running e2fsck. It complains that the superblock
> > could not be read and suggests running "e2fsck -b 8193 <device>".
> > That
> > also fails.
> > 
> > Is there a way to more forcefully "encourage" e2fsck to do its job
> > without totally destroying that filesystem?
> > 
> > --Doc Savage
> >      Fairview Heights, IL
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> > CentOS at centos.org
> > https://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/centos
> > 
> I'd say first make sure the hardware is in good order.  If you have a
> faulty motherboard, CPU, and/or RAM, you might not be able to do 
> anything and could end up losing precious data if you manage to 
> forcefully "encourage" it.

Anthony,

There are no apparent hardware problems, but as I said this machine is
ancient.

The hardware is a Dell T110 server
(https://www.dell.com/downloads/emea/products/t110_spec_sheet.pdf) orig
inally purchased circa 2010. It came with Windows Small Business
Server, which I replaced with CentOS 7 when it was released in 2014.  I
also replaced the original Windows-only RAID card in 2014 with a Dell
update that supports a 4 x 500GB Linux software RAID5. All other
hardware is original, and I hate to think what the hard drive bearings
must look like after more than 87,000 power-on hours.

I might be able to use a C7 Live DVD with the external eSATA interface
to dd the contents of the boot drive to a spare, but that might just
copy a damaged LVM that still resists e2fsck.

--Doc