On 12/11/18 4:54 PM, Luciano ES wrote: > On Tue, 11 Dec 2018 14:57:45 -0600, Eric Sandeen wrote: > >> On 12/11/18 2:32 PM, Luciano ES wrote: >>> I needed to restore something from my backups, an external hard >>> disk that is kept separately, always disconnected until I really >>> need it. >>> >>> But the file system refused to be mounted: "structure needs >>> cleaning," it said. >>> >>> I googled and didn't find much hope about it. I followed what >>> little advice I found: I ran xfs_repair and it didn't work. So I >>> ran it again with -L and it worked, but the software itself warned >>> me that some files could not be recovered. I'll never know which >>> ones. >>> >>> I always liked XFS and thought those dreaded days of file system >>> corruption and lost files were far behind. So my only question is: >>> Why does that happen? The disk is not even used 99% of the time. >>> How does an XFS file system go belly up just like that? >> >> There is no way for us to know. You didn't provide nearly enough >> information to even hazard a guess. >> >> But ok fine, I'll hazard a wild guess anyway: your external drive had >> a corrupt log because the enclosure didn't honor a cache flush issued >> by the filesystem after some previous mount. >> >> -Eric > > > ************************** > > I understand you don't have much to work with, but I can't tell you > more than I have. That's ok. It just means I can't help you more than I have. ;) > It happened several days ago and I didn't write > anything down. As far as I can remember, there wasn't really much > to note. "Structure needs cleaning" was pretty much all I was ever > told. There must have been more when I ran xfs_repair, but it looked > incomprehensible to me and I thought I shouldn't bother anyone else > about it. > > Your theory about the enclosure sounds good. Do you think it is so > flawed that issuing a 'sync' command manually before umounting > wouldn't have made any difference? If the enclosure ignores cache flush commands, then sync wouldn't have helped. Sync /shoudn't/ be necessary before unmount tho. You may have been in more jeopardy if you pulled out the USB plug, or lost power. But that's all just a guess. -Eric
