Messages in this thread | | | From | tytso@snap ... | Date | Wed, 31 Jan 2001 10:32:39 -0500 | Subject | Re: Renaming lost+found |
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On Sun, Jan 28, 2001 at 01:35:44PM -0800, H. Peter Anvin wrote: > *renamed*, i.e. does the tools (e2fsck &c) use "/lost+found" by name, > or by inode? As far as I know it always uses the same inode number
e2fsck uses /lost+found by name, not by inode. It will recreate a new lost+found directory if one doesn't exist. *However*, if the filesystem is badly corrupted, it's possible that when it allocates blocks for the lost+found directory, it might override a datablock that might possibly be recoverable if one were truly desparate and using a disk editor to search for keywords. (This would only happen if part of the inode table had gotten corrupted due to a hardware error --- i.e., such as the anecdotal evidence of DMA units that write garbage to the disk because during a power failure, where it is conjectured that the +5V power rail drops below the critical working of the memory faster than +12V power rail drops below the critical working volutage of the disk drive --- so that the record in the inode table that a certain disk block was in use is erased.)
So if you really dislike lost+found, go ahead and delete it. It removes a somewhat tiny safeguard, but being able to take advantage of it requires wizard-level skills (there are no tools to do this automatically, since it requires human intuition and a knowledge of what file you might be trying to save.) So it would probably only be used in the case of someone who had 10 year's of Ph.D. research that wasn't backed up, and this was the only way they could get the data back. And although not doing disk backups is grounds for general redicule, losing ten years of graduate research would probably be reguarded by most as cruel and unusual punishment. But if you're not in a Ph.D. program, it doesn't matter, yes? (And in any case, we ALL do backups, all the time, religiously and on a regular schedule, RIGHT? :-)
- Ted
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