[svlug] Files That Will Not Delete

[Michael Eager]

On 11/01/14 11:41, Sarah Newman wrote:
> On 11/01/2014 11:32 AM, Akkana Peck wrote:
>
>> Since I couldn't make a warranty claim if I couldn't find a single
>> diagnostic program that could see an error, I reformatted the drive,
>> wiping out the reiserfs partition that was on it, and replaced it
>> with the same data but on an ext3 partition. Then I installed the disk
>> back in the machine it had come out of and went back to using it,
>> backing up frequently and expecting it to die at any moment.
>>
>> I used that disk for at least two more years before finally retiring
>> that machine, and had no further disk problems.
>>
>> I still don't understand why a filesystem problem would leave I/O
>> error messages in dmesg; but it can happen.
>>
>
> Maybe it was trying to read using an invalid start offset or length? I could see a file system bug
> doing that...

That is a possibility.  I'd be more likely to believe this if
badblocks or dban found no error or if there were other reports
of similar failures using the file system.

The medical aphorism "when you hear hoof beats, think horses
not zebras" applies to computers as well.

I've had many disks fail.  So far, it's always been a hardware
problem, never a file system bug.

-- 
Michael Eager	 eager at eagercon.com
1960 Park Blvd., Palo Alto, CA 94306  650-325-8077