Repair ext3 partition on external disk from Ubuntu 10.10

Question

What is currently the best way / tool to repair an ext3 partition?

There used to be fsck, but the disk is USB external, using the latest Ubuntu 10.10, and wondered if there is a new tool that helps?

Answer 1

You can use fsck that works well, go in runlevel 1 :

init 1

Unmount your usb drive :

umount /dev/sda3

Run fsck :

fsck -t ext3 /dev/sda3
fsck -y /dev/sda3

Once fsck finished, remount the file system and go in multiusermode

Answer 2

fsck should still work as the cable medium is inconsequential in this case. I'd be skeptical of any other tool that repairs ext3. It might just be a wrapper for fsck anyway.

Answer 3

The "Disk Utility" in Ubuntu is really nice. You can find it in System, Administration, Disk Utility. It basically shows you a dashboard about all your systems disks. Plug in your external usb, select it from Disk Utilities menu and you will see chapter and verse about your disk. A little green blob indicates the disk is healthy, you can see the SMART status, partitioning info and "Check Filesystem" which I am assuming runs the relevant version of fsck per filesystem under the covers. I recommend using that as if there is something wrong with a drive that's usually a good indicator.