I have 2 large files that behave strangely and are in an inconsistent state. Both 'stat' and reading the directory show these files at one length, and yet only a small fraction of that length is accessible. When you read as much of the file as you can from the beginning, using high-level I/O routines, the stopping point looks like the end of the file. When you do the same with low-level I/O routines, you get error #5 (I/O error) at the same location, which seems to be at a block boundary. I believe that you can append to the end of the file, but you can't read past this early stopping point. filename | file length | stopping point --------------+---------------------+--------------------- inbox | 19564798758 | 322543616 sent-mail | 1577130211 | 276058112 The question is: how do I get the full contents of both files back? If I can't, how can I salvage the most from these files? Environment Background: Samsung 530U notebook Intel Core i5-2467M 1.6GHz CPU quad core 500GB HDD (+16GB SSD, unused), 4GB RAM Linux Mint Cinnamon 17 3.13.0-24-generic x86_64 kernel ext4 filesystem Linux version 3.13.0-24-generic (buildd@panlong) (gcc version 4.8.2 (Ubuntu 4.8.2-19ubuntu1) ) #46-Ubuntu SMP Thu Apr 10 19:11:08 UTC 2014 (Ubuntu 3.13.0-24.46-generic 3.13.9) File 1: mutt inbox ls reports file size of 19564798758 ~/Mail\: stat inbox File: ‘inbox’ Size: 19564798758 Blocks: 38212824 IO Block: 4096 regular file Device: 802h/2050d Inode: 1966123 Links: 1 Access: (0755/-rwxr-xr-x) Uid: ( 1000/ walt) Gid: ( 1000/ walt) Access: 2014-10-29 17:56:17.167131303 -0400 Modify: 2014-08-28 10:46:39.365538078 -0400 Change: 2014-08-28 10:46:39.365538078 -0400 Birth: - walt-laptop Mail # cp inbox /mnt/sda6 cp: error reading ‘inbox’: Input/output error cp: failed to extend ‘/mnt/sda6/inbox’: Input/output error destination size 322543616 File 2: sent-mail ls reports file size of 1577130211 ~/Mail\: stat sent-mail File: ‘sent-mail’ Size: 1577130211 Blocks: 3080344 IO Block: 4096 regular file Device: 802h/2050d Inode: 1966186 Links: 1 Access: (0755/-rwxr-xr-x) Uid: ( 1000/ walt) Gid: ( 1000/ walt) Access: 2014-11-04 11:40:07.268161539 -0500 Modify: 2013-07-12 12:05:01.000000000 -0400 Change: 2014-07-30 15:19:59.302391052 -0400 Birth: - (same errors from copy command as with 'inbox') destination size when copied: 276058112 Thanks in advance for any information. Jeff Archambeault http://www.barkeaterstudios.org/ jeff@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-fsdevel" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
