Storage must be formatted error - fix-disk advice needed please

Thank you. I'll minimise usage. By the way, is there anywhere a guide to fixdisk options, as in extra command line switches that can be used? In researching my problem I came across a few places where there were "do fix-disk (as it was then) -P or other letters.
Thanks again.
 
prpr said:
Run "fix-disk -h" from the command prompt
Click to expand...
Is there a built-in help page for fix-disk?
EDIT
It looks like there is a help menu (visible only from Maintenance mode) :-
Code: 
humax# fix-disk -h
Running /bin/fix-disk
Custom firmware version 3.03

fix-disk options:
    Partitions to check - without any of these options all three partitions
    will be checked:
        -1          Check partition 1
        -2          Check partition 2
        -3          Check partition 3
    Other options:
        -B          Skip block search
        -F          Skip file system checks
        -P          Skip pending sector error tests
        -l          Perform a long SMART disk test
        -n          No polling during SMART tests
        -x <opts>   Additional options for filesystem check (e2fsck)
humax#

I have added it to the WiKi page now, HERE
 
Last edited:
Ezra Pound said:
Is there a built-in help page for fix-disk?
Click to expand...
I don't understand what you mean by "help page". The command as listed previously gives the help.
It looks like there is a help menu (visible only from Maintenance mode) :-
Click to expand...
I wouldn't call it a menu as that implies it's waiting for you to select something, which it isn't.
Nor is it only availabable in maintenance mode. "-h" works perfectly well in normal operation mode.
 
prpr said:
"-h" works perfectly well in normal operation mode.
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I tried it in normal (non Maintenance mode) an got this :-
Code: 
humax# fix-disk -h
Running /bin/fix-disk
Custom firmware version 3.03

Warning: This procedure will freeze the Humax for anything up to 2 hours.
Please ensure that no recordings are currently in progress or scheduled
during this time.
Do you wish to continue? [Y/N]:
Which is the same as entering fix-disk without the '-h', however when in Maintenance mode I got the 'Menu'** in #24

** there is always the option of selecting nothing from a Menu
 
It's not a menu in any meaningful way in this context. The context is not the same as going into a restaurant. The result of fix-disk -h is not waiting for any kind of input, not even a null response, and it is necessary to initiate the fix-disk command again before any options are acted on.

I think EP may be confusing the convention of sending a brief command descrition to the standard stream in response to the h switch, with the *nix manual (user guide) system which displays pages of detailed description in response to (eg) man fix-disk (if there had been fix-disk manual pages prepared and compiled). If there was compiled help, the output would be a "man page".

I think it would be a very good idea to tweak the fix-disk executable so that it detects the h switch before it checks for maintenance mode (and include the requirement for maintenance mode in the h response).
 
Is there an option to check an ext3 formatted external drive? I am sure that mine would benefit from some TLC after several years use.


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Black Hole said:
I think it would be a very good idea to tweak the fix-disk executable so that it detects the h switch before it checks for maintenance mode (and include the requirement for maintenance mode in the h response).
Click to expand...
That was done in CFW 3.10, bit people do insist on using old versions!
 
Could the option to point fix-disk at external drives be added to a future release? Please.


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4ndy said:
Is there an option to check an ext3 formatted external drive? I am sure that mine would benefit from some TLC after several years use.
Click to expand...
Just run e2fsck manually from the command line e.g.
umount /dev/sdb1
e2fsck /dev/sdb1
You will need to determine whether sdb1 is the correct identifier for your drive/partition and substitute as appropriate.
You don't need to be in maintenance mode for this either.
 
Thanks prpr.

I worked out that the mount command shows which partition is which and I ran e2fsck as advised. It was very quick and reported very little:
Code: 
HDR1# umount /dev/sdb1
HDR1# e2fsck /dev/sdb1
e2fsck 1.42.13 (17-May-2015)
CRIME: clean, 5325/122101760 files, 473763383/488377856 blocks
(The drive in question is called "CRIME")

Should I be specifying options in e2fsck?
 
1.02.20, 1.02.32, and 1.03.12 - on three machines, each dedicated to the specific usages optimised by the respective Humax firmware version. I am not aware of any advantages in running outdated CF, other than to be a "late adopter" (ie keep a distance from the bleeding edge).
 
3rddawn said:
Thank you. I'll minimise usage. By the way, is there anywhere a guide to fixdisk options, as in extra command line switches that can be used? In researching my problem I came across a few places where there were "do fix-disk (as it was then) -P or other letters.
Click to expand...
If you want to try and recover your drive, I'd suggest running fix-disk with -y -B
That will speed things up by assuming yes rather than asking you for each block and not bothering to check if the block is in use (which is a slow operation). Unfortunately it does look as if new errors are occurring as fast as old ones are fixed so it may not be entirely successful.
 
Black Hole said:
I am not aware of any advantages in running outdated CF, other than to be a "late adopter" (ie keep a distance from the bleeding edge).
Click to expand...
... which is not an unreasonable stance. The only ones that are officially unsupported are those before version 3.00 but anyone wanting to use fix-disk should move to 3.10 as it has a number of improvements. There are two recent threads on here (including the start of this one when it looked like the disk was recoverable) where 3.03 couldn't fix the problem but 3.10 could.
 
af123: Thanks, that will also remove the need for me to be in front of the computer that's running it for 2+ hours ...

Black Hole: Thanks for adding to the wiki. Is it worth also mentioning that from 3.10 the command is now fixdisk without the hyphen?
As af123 has elaborated above, is it worth also adding on the row for -B that this means skipping checking if the block is in use, and adding -y (which doesn't appear) which means it assumes yes rather than asking you for each block repair?

I know these extra bits of information would be useful to people unfamiliar with the utility but confident to make good decisions if they understand what the switches do.

Oh, and the whole Maintenance Mode menu items have changed from numbers to words ... upgrades eh - who can ever keep up with documentation ... :eek:
 
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