Checking the file system every 22 boots

[Nils Kassube]

Karl Larsen wrote:
> Ioannis Vranos wrote:
> > Why does Ubuntu run a full file system ext3 check every 22 times?
> > ext3 is considered robust. Is the default mode of ext3 under Ubuntu
> > 7.10 other than "ordered mode"? Is there any way to disable this
> > unnecessary forced file system check?

Yes, you can disable it, but I'm not sure if it is a good soultion. This 
is the warning from the tune2fs manpage:

| 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.

I don't know if the warning also applies to ext3, but unless somebody can 
explain, why it is used by Ubuntu even though it might be unnecessary, I 
will keep the file system checks active. Usually I change the time 
between system checks to 4 weeks. It is done with the command

sudo tune2fs -c 0 -i 4w DEVICENAME

in a terminal, where DEVICENAME is the entry in /dev for the partition to 
modify. If you really want to disable the checks entirely against the 
warning above, use this command:

sudo tune2fs -c 0 -i 0 DEVICENAME

>     You can get it to not ask but I really do not care. It happens and
> takes just a few seconds and is automatic. Just slows down booting
> slightly.

It may be a few seconds only with your machine. Here it is about 10 
minutes. And according to Murphey's law the system check is very likely 
to happen just when you are in a hurry. Therefore it can be really 
annoying.


Nils