Checking the file system every 22 boots

[Michael R. Head]

On Sun, 2008-04-13 at 00:11 +0300, Ioannis Vranos wrote:
> Karl Larsen wrote:
> > Ioannis Vranos wrote:
> >> OS: Ubuntu 7.10 x86.
> >>
> >>
> >> 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?
> >>
> 
> In my Pentium III with 350-400 GB HDD (don't remember its capacity right
> now), it takes some time.
> 
> Since it is unnecessary why it takes place? Also how can I disable this?

It's not actually unnecessary. If your filesystem does get out of whack,
and it's not fixed early, that can lead to big problems later.

However, you do have some options,
      * Force the check to run when you have the time
              * You can do this by running "sudo touch /forcefsck" and
                the next time you reboot, the check will be run and the
                counter reset
      * Increase the mount count, so that it happens less frequently
              * You can do this using the "tune2fs" program
      * You can completely disable it, though again, this is not
        recommended.
              * You can also do this using the "tune2fs" program

I don't want to steer you wrong on tune2fs's usage, so I recommend
opening a terminal and typeing
        
        man tune2fs
        
You should check out the section that I've pasted here:

       -c max-mount-counts
              Adjust  the  number of mounts after which the filesystem will be
              checked by e2fsck(8).  If max-mount-counts is 0 or -1, the  num‐
              ber  of  times  the filesystem is mounted will be disregarded by
              e2fsck(8) and the kernel.

              Staggering the mount-counts at which  filesystems  are  forcibly
              checked  will  avoid  all  filesystems being checked at one time
              when using journaled filesystems.

              You should  strongly  consider  the  consequences  of  disabling
              mount-count-dependent   checking  entirely.   Bad  disk  drives,
              cables, memory, and kernel bugs could all corrupt  a  filesystem
              without  marking  the  filesystem dirty or in error.  If you are
              using journaling on your filesystem, your filesystem will  never
              be marked dirty, so it will not normally be checked.  A filesys‐
              tem error detected by the kernel will still force an fsck on the
              next reboot, but it may already be too late to prevent data loss
              at that point.

              See also the -i option for time-dependent checking.



-- 
Michael R. Head <burner at suppressingfire.org>
http://www.cs.binghamton.edu/~mike/
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