loading certain extensions

[jackarius86]

Which filesystem types does drive in question feature?

300+Mb FAT32 partition - this contains my bootloader and wifi stuff from when i installed it from windows
1Gb Linux swap partition
5-6Gb EXT4 partition

[coreplayer2]

I wonder,  why use a swap partition on a USB ??    surely performance would be pitiful ?

[tinypoodle]

Boot with code "base".
In case you need extensions in order to connect to net, manually mount storage and copy extensions to /tmp/tce/optional, then umount again.

Code: [Select]

tce-load -wi e2fsprogs.tcz
tce-load -wi dosfstools.tcz
e2fsck -vc -C 0 /dev/sdxN  #on ext4
dosfsck -vVrft /dev/sdxN  #on vfat

[tinypoodle]

Additionally:

Boot with code "noswap".

Code: [Select]

badblocks -svw /dev/sdxN #on swap partition
Be careful to select swap partition only with this, as it is erasing data!

[gerald_clark]

Swap on a flaky flash drive is a disaster waiting to happen.

[jackarius86]

wow ok, i thought swap was a good thing :-/.

Instead of doing all that, would it eliminate the problem to just delete the swap partition and resize my ext4? (as this is what i will eventually end up doing after those comments lol).

If not will it be better to do before or after the repartitioning?

[tinypoodle]

Sure a coup de grace could be considered eliminating a problem...

And partitioning when either corrupted file systems or faulty hardware is involved might result in a coup de grace.

If you have any valuable data on that drive, it might be a good idea to rescue it first, and then to do all the checks as already mentioned and see what they show, before using the drive in any other way.

And please re-read Reply #10.

[jackarius86]

hi tinypoodle.

I am doing as prescribed, looks like it will take a while for the ext4. probably a couple of hours. I dont understand what i have to do when it is finished - i take it its not going to fix anything while its unmounted/read-only mode. how do i fix any bad blocks when its done?

[tinypoodle]

hi tinypoodle.

I am doing as prescribed, looks like it will take a while for the ext4. probably a couple of hours.

Correct

I dont understand what i have to do when it is finished

Depending on errors found (if any), you should either get prompted or informed by dosfsck and e2fsck.
Not sure about running badblocks directly, but no data to lose on swap area, at worst it could require a "mkswap" again in the end.

take it its not going to fix anything while its unmounted/read-only mode. how do i fix any bad blocks when its done?

Oh yes, these are read-write repair options, that's exactly why the filesystems must not be mounted.

[jackarius86]

OK, I did all that, but still have issues with my USB 'offlining'. here is the link to my DMESG output: http://pastebin.com/RQqbiUpB . It just seems to happen for no specific reason..

[gerald_clark]

As you were told earlier. I/O errors.
Replace that flash drive.

[tinypoodle]

OK, I did all that

Well, did you get any output?

EXT4-fs (sda5): warning: maximal mount count reached, running e2fsck is recommended

EXT4-fs (sda5): recovery complete

That shouldn't show after having run e2fsck.

[jackarius86]

i did get output but didnt write any of it down, i remember reading the number of bad blocks and it said 0 which is vivid for me as i remember it confusing the hell out of me as i was expecting to see that loads of blocks were bad.. Think i just need a new usb, the annoying thing is that this one works fine for the boot procedure, but then just lets me down when im in the middle of trying to do stuff

[tinypoodle]

If there is any data on this device which you want to salvage, I suggest you don't connect it again except for the purpose of data rescue, and then use boot codes "base" and "noswap" and mount read-only.

[gerald_clark]

When USB flash drives fail they often become suddenly and completely inaccessible by any means.