very basic fsck question

[RedHatNewbie]

Hi All,

I feel pretty stupid asking this question since I've been using Linux for a couple of months now... but here goes.

I want to run "fsck" on my hard drives. I have 2 Linux boxes, one with RH 6.2 and one with RH 8.0. I know that fsck can only be run on unmounted drives, but if the command is on the drive I want to check, how do I go about it.

For example if I want to check the entire hda, what would the command be, and how would I bring the computer up to allow it to run the command? Also, would each partition have to be checked separately (hda1, hda2, etc.)?

I have looked at the man pages, did find the -A option for checking all file systems, but obviously, at least one file system must be mounted or the computer wouldn't be running. Then there's the -a option to automatically repair problems. If that's not used, is the user prompted to make repairs?

I really need a plain English (non-geekspeak) walk-through on how to run fsck on a hard drive. I would "play" with the command, but am worried about creating problems since both computers are running well at the moment.

Thanks in advance!

Jim

[ph34r]

You need to mount the drives as read-only before you can fsck them. One "easy" way would be to just hit the reset button - then when you reboot, the system will complain that the file system wasn't unmounted cleanly and force a check.

A better way would be to boot to single user mode and then run fsck. And yes, you need to do each partition on its own.

[RedHatNewbie]

Thanks!

Just so I understand then...

Reboot and at the lilo prompt type "linux single"

Then when it boots type "fsck -Aa hda1"

When that finishes, "fsck -Aa hda2"

And etc. until finished?

My next question is, on my RH 8 box which uses grub for a bootloader, how do I access single mode? Would I have to edit my /etc/inittab file to runlevel 1?

I don't see any propmt with grub that would let me boot to single user mode.

I know that these are really basic questions, but I've never seen any "plain English" explanations of how to do these things.

Thanks for your patience,

Jim

[Schotty]

[quote author=RedHatNewbie link=board=1;threadid=6361;start=0#60000 date=1045163680]
My next question is, on my RH 8 box which uses grub for a bootloader, how do I access single mode? Would I have to edit my /etc/inittab file to runlevel 1?
[/quote]

I boot up and login, and type sudo init 1 at the prompt

[RedHatNewbie]

I boot up and login, and type sudo init 1 at the prompt

Thanks!

That sounds simple enough... even for me!

Jim

[pbharris]

to have grub boot into single mode you could also go to the image you wish to boot (i.e. make your selection) and then hit e

go to the very end of the line of the image you selected and add either 1 or single. Then hit b to boot it.

hth.

[Schotty]

Thanks Paul :: I am still a moron with grub, so I use the skills I have to get around it If I can boot, I can fix it ;D

[pbharris]

i think they both get the job done

[Schotty]

True, however your method is more graceful ;D