--- "Stephen C. Tweedie" <sct@redhat.com> wrote: > > I tested my memory with memtest86 but no errors were detected, I > > read that this is not conclusive. > > Indeed. How long did you test it for, by the way? I usually > recommend > an overnight run at the very least. Oops only had it run a few times. > looking very carefully through your log files for any signs that might point > to something specific (such as CRC errors being reported on the disk > controller). No CRC errors found in /var/log/ or other kind of disk read/write errors prior the ones I mentioned Thank you for your response. Civileme gave me this answer on expert@linux-mandrake.com: "OK What happened is this: With each sector of data the system generates a 57 byte CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) WD drives of the generation you are using do not calculate that same CRC for comparison--they store it in their big 600-byte sectors along with the 512 bytes of data. They may calculate the first in a series of writes, but not all. The result is that a channel error is not always recognized from mobo to disk, only from disk to memory No request to retransmit is generated by the disk because it is not capable of independently verifying the channel error. This is NOT new. Chipset makers have been letting WD get away with this crap for years http://kt.zork.net/kernel-traffic/kt20000214_54.html#2 Yep February 2000 Anyway WD is the only drive I know that can turn a transitory noise problem into a more or less permanent hardware problem. The drive is safe enough run at udma2 (33Mhz and 32 byte CRCs) or lower but has this very low probability of failure at udma3 or higher. But in computers a low probability of failure means that you can calculate how often to expect it. ext3 or XFS or Reiserfs or JFS are not inherently more secure than ext2... They just recover from errors caused by sudden poweroffs or static from the family cat brushing up against the computer case somewhat faster than the older non-journaling filesystems. On a larger partition this can be the difference between back up in 45 seconds or 45 minutes, so the journaling filesysem is much preferable for servers. If you cannot put a better drive in that box, a 40-pin cable could make a big difference for the safe operation, to force 33MHz or lower transfer speed. KDE constantly updates things on disk, like the position of windows on the screen, so drive reliability is critical with that application. " This helped though I still have some questions, they are asked in expert@linux-mandrake.com vatbier __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Shopping - Send Flowers for Valentine's Day http://shopping.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Ext3-users@redhat.com https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/ext3-users
