[NTLUG:Discuss] File system problem, on a RH 7.3 machine

[Bryan J. Smith]

On Wed, 2004-09-15 at 23:56, Douglas King wrote:
> I have a server that needs to have a "check disk" run on the drive.  I have 
> found out that it is the backup machine that craters the web server every 
> night.  I forced a backup this morning on the a few of the directories, and 
> it locked the system up.  I am using the scp backup method.  My question 
> is....HOW do I run the following commands:
> On the command line while the server is running, I enter:
> e2fsck -b 8193 /dev/hda1

Are you sure you want to tell it to use an alternative superblock?
You typically don't need to do that unless prompted.

> After I try this, I get:
> WARNING!!!  Running e2fsck on a mounted filesystem may cause
> SEVERE filesystem damage.
> Do you really want to continue (y/n)? no
> How do I need to do this safely, hopefully without loosing an data?

You cannot check the disk while it is mounted read/write -- i.e.,
on-line.  That's why we call an fsck an "off-line" repair.**
The filesystem must either not be mounted, or mounted "read-only" so
_nothing_ is changing on it.**

Try mounting it read-only first:  

  mount -o remount,rw /dev/(device) /(mountpoint)

Then run e2fsck.

If the filesystem had errors, you shouldn't have been able to mount it
in the first place.  Unless you force mounted it.

-- Bryan

**NOTE:  MS-DOS (including MS-DOS 7 aka Windows 95/98/ME) is the only
operating system in the world that attempts to repair a FAT filesystem
while it is mounted read/write.  Why?  Because only FAT filesystems are
always assumed to be consistent, and it's up to the user not let any
checking run (possibly because the OS believes the system was not shut
down proper, but the filesystem itself does not have such a flag).


-- 
Bryan J. Smith                                  b.j.smith at ieee.org 
------------------------------------------------------------------ 
"Communities don't have rights. Only individuals in the community
 have rights. ... That idea of community rights is firmly rooted
 in the 'Communist Manifesto.'" -- Michael Badnarik