FSCK(8) BSD System Manager's Manual FSCK(8)NAMEfsck — file system consistency check and interactive repair
SYNOPSISfsck [-Cdfnpvy] [-B | -F] [-T fstype:fsoptions] [-t fstype] [special |
node] ...
DESCRIPTION
The fsck utility invokes file system-specific programs to check the spe‐
cial devices listed in the fstab(5) file or in the command line for con‐
sistency.
It is normally used in the script /etc/rc during automatic reboot. Tra‐
ditionally, fsck is invoked before the file systems are mounted and all
checks are done to completion at that time. If background checking is
available, fsck is invoked twice. It is first invoked at the traditional
time, before the file systems are mounted, with the -F flag to do check‐
ing on all the file systems that cannot do background checking. It is
then invoked a second time, after the system has completed going multi‐
user, with the -B flag to do checking on all the file systems that can do
background checking. Unlike the foreground checking, the background
checking is started asynchronously so that other system activity can pro‐
ceed even on the file systems that are being checked.
If no file systems are specified, fsck reads the table /etc/fstab to
determine which file systems to check. Only partitions in /etc/fstab
that are mounted “rw”, “rq” or “ro” and that have non-zero pass number
are checked. File systems with pass number 1 (normally just the root
file system) are always checked one at a time.
If not in preen mode, the remaining entries are checked in order of
increasing pass number one at a time. This is needed when interaction
with fsck is required.
In preen mode, after pass 1 completes, all remaining file systems are
checked, in pass number order running one process per disk drive in par‐
allel for each pass number in increasing order.
In other words: In preen mode all pass 1 partitions are checked sequen‐
tially. Next all pass 2 partitions are checked in parallel, one process
per disk drive. Next all pass 3 partitions are checked in parallel, one
process per disk drive. etc.
The disk drive containing each file system is inferred from the shortest
prefix of the device name that ends in a digit; the remaining characters
are assumed to be the partition and slice designators.
The options are as follows:
-C Check if the “clean” flag is set in the superblock and skip file
system checks if file system was properly dismounted and marked
clean.
-d Debugging mode. Just print the commands without executing them.
Available only if fsck is compiled to support it.
-f Force checking of file systems, even when they are marked clean
(for file systems that support this).
-n Causes fsck to assume no as the answer to all operator questions,
except "CONTINUE?".
-p Enter preen mode. In preen mode, only a restricted class of
innocuous file system inconsistencies will be corrected. If
unexpected inconsistencies caused by hardware or software fail‐
ures are encountered, the check program will exit with a failure.
See the manual pages for the individual check programs for a list
of the sorts of failures that they correct when running in preen
mode.
-F Run in foreground mode. The check program for each file system
is invoked with the -F flag to determine whether it wishes to run
as part of the boot up sequence, or if it is able to do its job
in background after the system is up and running. A non-zero
exit code indicates that it wants to run in foreground and the
check program is invoked. A zero exit code indicates that it is
able to run later in background and just a deferred message is
printed.
-B Run in background mode. The check program for each file system
is invoked with the -F flag to determine whether it wishes to run
as part of the boot up sequence, or if it is able to do its job
in background after the system is up and running. A non-zero
exit code indicates that it wanted to run in foreground which is
assumed to have been done, so the file system is skipped. A zero
exit code indicates that it is able to run in background so the
check program is invoked with the -B flag to indicate that a
check on the active file system should be done. When running in
background mode, only one file system at a time will be checked.
Note that background fsck is limited to checking for only the
most commonly occurring file system abnormalities. Under certain
circumstances, some errors can escape background fsck. It is
recommended that you perform foreground fsck on your systems
periodically and whenever you encounter file-system-related pan‐
ics.
-t fstype
Invoke fsck only for the comma separated list of file system
types. If the list starts with “no” then invoke fsck for the
file system types that are not specified in the list.
-v Print the commands before executing them.
-y Causes fsck to assume yes as the answer to all operator ques‐
tions.
-T fstype:fsoptions
List of comma separated file system specific options for the
specified file system type, in the same format as mount(8).
FILES
/etc/fstab file system table
SEE ALSOfstab(5), fsck_ffs(8), fsck_msdosfs(8), mount(8)BSD January 25, 2009 BSD