On Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:33:13 -0700, Jack wrote:
--- On Fri, 9/3/10, Hal Duston hal wrote:
From: Hal Duston Subject: Re: Ubuntu 9.04 with file issues Cross posted by intent- we're supposed to compare notes on such problems - I hope. To: kclug@kclug.org Date: Friday, September 3, 2010, 8:31 AM On Fri, Sep 03, 2010 at 07:32:39AM -0700, Jack wrote:
Dude, you're insane.
"Fsck -y" is like having unprotected sex with the
entire adult
entertainment industry.
Please, anyyour paying attention to this thread do not
run "fsck -y".
That is just flat out dangerous, and could really
screw up your fs.
Seriously, why did they ever add that option? ...
Something to do with not wanting to press "y" 10,000 times, I expect.
Lol, well if you have 10,000 multiply linked inodes, your time would be better used in running fdisk rather than fsck. It was my impression the original poster only had a few multiply linked inodes.
My major issue with -y is that it takes control out of your hands, and if your goal is to attempt to preserve as much as possible, the -y option isn't likely to be helpful there. Remember the original poster wanted to do the least destructive path. Sometimes the right answer is to sit there and press yes 10,000 times (and bill accordingly). After all, fsck already does the best it can to fix the filesystem in the default configuration.
For an ext2/ext3 fs the "fsck -p" gives almost the same result. This will automatically fix any error that is "safe" to fix, without assuming an answer of "yes" to *every* question. Now if you know every question that fsck might possibly ask and know that you want to answer "yes" to all of those questions then it makes sense to use he "-y". I'm simply not that confident that I know all the questions should be answered "yes". But if you miss your question and it winds up deleting grub or some other system critical file like fsck, you might be totally screwed.
So, if your find yourself at the point of pressing 'y' thousands of times and don't have a the budget to hire an expert to carefully research out the proper response to each of the questions nor the knowledge to do the research yourself, and don't have a backup of your data; you would be better served by packing up your system, returning it to the place of purchase and going back to using a pencil, pen or at the most a Smith-Corona as you are clearly to stupid to own a computer.
Thanks, -- Hal hald@kc.rr.com