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I'm having an issue where when i mount my partition a few hours later it becomes read-only. Currently i run:

fuser -m -k /dev/sdb1
umount /dev/sdb1
fsck -y /dev/sdb1
mount /dev/sdb1

That allows me to remount it in read/write but this is a reoccurring problem. My question is how can I trouble shoot this. Does it look like a hardware or software issue?

This is currently on a CentOS 64bit box.

when i run dmesg i get see this:

EXT3-fs error (device sdb1): ext3_lookup: unlinked inode 36127046 in dir #36126721
Aborting journal on device sdb1.
__journal_remove_journal_head: freeing b_committed_data
__journal_remove_journal_head: freeing b_committed_data
ext3_abort called.
EXT3-fs error (device sdb1): ext3_journal_start_sb: Detected aborted journal
Remounting filesystem read-only

"smartctl -a /dev/sdb1" returns

smartctl version 5.38 [x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu] Copyright (C) 2002-8 Bruce Allen
Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/

=== START OF INFORMATION SECTION ===
Device Model:     ST31500341AS
Serial Number:    9VS2RH1M
Firmware Version: CC1H
User Capacity:    1,500,301,910,016 bytes
Device is:        Not in smartctl database [for details use: -P showall]
ATA Version is:   8
ATA Standard is:  ATA-8-ACS revision 4
Local Time is:    Fri Aug 13 16:50:33 2010 PDT
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status:  (0x82) Offline data collection activity
                    was completed without error.
                    Auto Offline Data Collection: Enabled.
Self-test execution status:      ( 246) Self-test routine in progress...
                    60% of test remaining.
Total time to complete Offline 
data collection:         ( 609) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities:            (0x7b) SMART execute Offline immediate.
                    Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
                    Suspend Offline collection upon new
                    command.
                    Offline surface scan supported.
                    Self-test supported.
                    Conveyance Self-test supported.
                    Selective Self-test supported.
SMART capabilities:            (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering
                    power-saving mode.
                    Supports SMART auto save timer.
Error logging capability:        (0x01) Error logging supported.
                    General Purpose Logging supported.
Short self-test routine 
recommended polling time:    (   1) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time:    ( 255) minutes.
Conveyance self-test routine
recommended polling time:    (   2) minutes.
SCT capabilities:          (0x103f) SCT Status supported.
                    SCT Feature Control supported.
                    SCT Data Table supported.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 10
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
  1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate     0x000f   113   099   006    Pre-fail  Always       -       51209038
  3 Spin_Up_Time            0x0003   100   100   000    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
  4 Start_Stop_Count        0x0032   100   100   020    Old_age   Always       -       16
  5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   100   100   036    Pre-fail  Always       -       6
  7 Seek_Error_Rate         0x000f   078   060   030    Pre-fail  Always       -       78095697
  9 Power_On_Hours          0x0032   094   094   000    Old_age   Always       -       5685
 10 Spin_Retry_Count        0x0013   100   100   097    Pre-fail  Always       -       0
 12 Power_Cycle_Count       0x0032   100   100   020    Old_age   Always       -       16
184 Unknown_Attribute       0x0032   100   100   099    Old_age   Always       -       0
187 Reported_Uncorrect      0x0032   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
188 Unknown_Attribute       0x0032   100   099   000    Old_age   Always       -       4295032833
189 High_Fly_Writes         0x003a   093   093   000    Old_age   Always       -       7
190 Airflow_Temperature_Cel 0x0022   068   057   045    Old_age   Always       -       32 (Lifetime Min/Max 31/35)
194 Temperature_Celsius     0x0022   032   043   000    Old_age   Always       -       32 (0 19 0 0)
195 Hardware_ECC_Recovered  0x001a   038   022   000    Old_age   Always       -       51209038
197 Current_Pending_Sector  0x0012   100   100   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable   0x0010   100   100   000    Old_age   Offline      -       0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count    0x003e   200   200   000    Old_age   Always       -       0
240 Head_Flying_Hours       0x0000   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       243150983534133
241 Unknown_Attribute       0x0000   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       230593735
242 Unknown_Attribute       0x0000   100   253   000    Old_age   Offline      -       2219959893

SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num  Test_Description    Status                  Remaining  LifeTime(hours)  LBA_of_first_error
# 1  Extended offline    Self-test routine in progress 60%      5685         -

SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1
 SPAN  MIN_LBA  MAX_LBA  CURRENT_TEST_STATUS
    1        0        0  Not_testing
    2        0        0  Not_testing
    3        0        0  Not_testing
    4        0        0  Not_testing
    5        0        0  Not_testing
Selective self-test flags (0x0):
  After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.
If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

I ended up running "e2fsck -fy /dev/sdb1" and it gave me this:

e2fsck 1.39 (29-May-2006)
/dev/sdb1: recovering journal
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
Pass 2: Checking directory structure
Entry 'primary.sqlite' in /cache/yum/updates (36094008) has deleted/unused inode 36094073.  Clear? yes

Entry 'repomd.xml' in /cache/yum/c5-testing (36126721) has deleted/unused inode 36127046.  Clear? yes

Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
Pass 4: Checking reference counts
Unattached inode 20005231
Connect to /lost+found? yes

Inode 20005231 ref count is 2, should be 1.  Fix? yes

Inode 36094015 ref count is 1, should be 2.  Fix? yes

Inode 36094017 ref count is 1, should be 2.  Fix? yes

Unattached inode 36094024
Connect to /lost+found? yes

Inode 36094024 ref count is 2, should be 1.  Fix? yes

Unattached inode 36094068
Connect to /lost+found? yes

Inode 36094068 ref count is 2, should be 1.  Fix? yes

Unattached inode 36094076
Connect to /lost+found? yes

Inode 36094076 ref count is 2, should be 1.  Fix? yes

Unattached inode 36110353
Connect to /lost+found? yes

Inode 36110353 ref count is 2, should be 1.  Fix? yes

Inode 36110357 ref count is 1, should be 2.  Fix? yes

Unattached inode 36127047
Connect to /lost+found? yes

Inode 36127047 ref count is 2, should be 1.  Fix? yes

Unattached inode 73007330
Connect to /lost+found? yes

Inode 73007330 ref count is 2, should be 1.  Fix? yes

Unattached inode 73007331
Connect to /lost+found? yes

Inode 73007331 ref count is 2, should be 1.  Fix? yes

Pass 5: Checking group summary information
Block bitmap differences:  +161978373 -161984512 +161986577 -(161990662--161990663) +(161990668--161990669) -161992704 +161992715 -161994753 +161994778 -162000900
Fix? yes

Free blocks count wrong for group #356 (242, counted=240).
Fix? yes

Free blocks count wrong for group #375 (2086, counted=2064).
Fix? yes

Free blocks count wrong for group #2203 (3224, counted=3223).
Fix? yes

Free blocks count wrong for group #3564 (1, counted=3).
Fix? yes

Free blocks count wrong for group #3571 (2820, counted=2824).
Fix? yes

Free blocks count wrong (311466471, counted=311466452).
Fix? yes

Free inodes count wrong for group #2203 (16060, counted=16059).
Fix? yes

Free inodes count wrong (181859841, counted=181859840).
Fix? yes


/dev/sdb1: ***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****
/dev/sdb1: 1296896/183156736 files (1.5% non-contiguous), 54817548/366284000 blocks

I'm assuming that was what was causing the HD to go into Read-only. I'll keep you updated and tell you if the issue reoccurs. (either way im replacing the hard-drive)

2
  • does dmesg show anything? Is there anything relating to the hard drive in /var/log/*
    – Zypher
    Aug 13, 2010 at 23:29
  • so its been running for 18 hours without any issues, it seems "e2fsck -fy /dev/sdb1" did the job. So if anyone has this type of re-occurring read-only issue then I suggest doing this.
    – Chad Scira
    Aug 14, 2010 at 22:43

2 Answers 2

4

The filesystem is probably mounted with the option errors=remount-ro, which as the name suggests means that if an error is detected, the filesystem is immediately set to read-only, to avoid further damage.

There will be information in the kernel logs (/var/log/kern.log on most Linux distributions).

What to do next depends on the cause. Here are the most likely:

  • It could be a failing disk. Often you'll see IO errors reported in the kernel logs. smartctl -a /dev/sdb can tell you more. Back up your data as soon as possible and replace the disk.

  • It could be a problem with your RAM. Run a memtest just to make sure.

  • It could be a kernel bug. This is hard for mere mortals to diagnose. Make sure you have the latest kernel released for your distribution.

  • The filesystem could have been damaged earlier, for a reason that no longer applies (e.g. a kernel bug that has now been fixed). Running fsck should fix the problem, so unfortunately for you this case doesn't apply to you.

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  • It seems its hosed. The machine isn't on-site so I'm going to keep the drive unmounted until I can pop in another drive and copy it.
    – Chad Scira
    Aug 14, 2010 at 0:50
1
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct   0x0033   100   100   036    Pre-fail  Always       -       6

This indicates that the drive has 6 failed sectors.

As this value increases more chance of failed drive in near future. I recommend to change the disk as soon as possible so that it will not affect your work.

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