Automatic Search for Backup Superblocks

The following fsck error message examples illustrate the automatic backup superblock discovery feature.

If a file system has a damaged superblock and it was created with newfs or mkfs customized parameters, such as ntrack or nsect, using fsck's automatically discovered superblock for the repair process could damage your file system.

In the case of a file system that was created with customized parameters and it has a bad superblock, fsck provides the prompt to cancel the fsck session:

CANCEL FILESYSTEM CHECK?

• If the file system was created with the newfs command and fsck responds that just the primary superblocks are corrupted, then consider letting fsck restore the superblock.

  # fsck /dev/dsk/c1t2d0s0 ** /dev/rdsk/c1t2d0s0 BAD SUPERBLOCK AT BLOCK 16: BLOCK SIZE LARGER THAN MAXIMUM SUPPORTED LOOK FOR ALTERNATE SUPERBLOCKS WITH MKFS? no LOOK FOR ALTERNATE SUPERBLOCKS WITH NEWFS? yes FOUND ALTERNATE SUPERBLOCK 32 WITH NEWFS USE ALTERNATE SUPERBLOCK? yes FOUND ALTERNATE SUPERBLOCK AT 32 USING NEWFS If filesystem was created with manually-specified geometry, using auto-discovered superblock may result in irrecoverable damage to filesystem and user data. CANCEL FILESYSTEM CHECK? no ** Last Mounted on ** Phase 1 - Check Blocks and Sizes ** Phase 2 - Check Pathnames ** Phase 3a - Check Connectivity ** Phase 3b - Verify Shadows/ACLs ** Phase 4 - Check Reference Counts ** Phase 5 - Check Cylinder Groups CORRECT GLOBAL SUMMARY SALVAGE? y UPDATE STANDARD SUPERBLOCK? y 81 files, 3609 used, 244678 free (6 frags, 30584 blocks, 0.0% fragmentation) ***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****

• If the file system was created with the mkfs command and fsck responds that just the primary superblocks are corrupted, then consider letting fsck restore the superblock.

  # fsck /dev/dsk/c1t2d0s0 ** /dev/rdsk/c1t2d0s0 BAD SUPERBLOCK AT BLOCK 16: BLOCK SIZE LARGER THAN MAXIMUM SUPPORTED LOOK FOR ALTERNATE SUPERBLOCKS WITH MKFS? yes FOUND ALTERNATE SUPERBLOCK 32 WITH MKFS USE ALTERNATE SUPERBLOCK? yes FOUND ALTERNATE SUPERBLOCK AT 32 USING MKFS If filesystem was created with manually-specified geometry, using auto-discovered superblock may result in irrecoverable damage to filesystem and user data. CANCEL FILESYSTEM CHECK? no ** Last Mounted on ** Phase 1 - Check Blocks and Sizes ** Phase 2 - Check Pathnames ** Phase 3a - Check Connectivity ** Phase 3b - Verify Shadows/ACLs ** Phase 4 - Check Reference Counts ** Phase 5 - Check Cylinder Groups CORRECT GLOBAL SUMMARY SALVAGE? y UPDATE STANDARD SUPERBLOCK? y 81 files, 3609 used, 243605 free (117 frags, 30436 blocks, 0.0% fragmentation) ***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****

The following example illustrates what would happen if you specified fsck's -y option in a damaged superblock scenario. You are automatically dropped out of the fsck session. A message is displayed to rerun it with the alternate superblock.

# fsck -y /dev/dsk/c1t2d0s0
# 
** /dev/rdsk/c1t2d0s0
BAD SUPERBLOCK AT BLOCK 16: BLOCK SIZE LARGER THAN MAXIMUM SUPPORTED

LOOK FOR ALTERNATE SUPERBLOCKS WITH MKFS?  yes


LOOK FOR ALTERNATE SUPERBLOCKS WITH NEWFS?  yes

SEARCH FOR ALTERNATE SUPERBLOCKS FAILED.

USE GENERIC SUPERBLOCK FROM MKFS?  yes

CALCULATED GENERIC SUPERBLOCK WITH MKFS
If filesystem was created with manually-specified geometry, using
auto-discovered superblock may result in irrecoverable damage to
filesystem and user data.

CANCEL FILESYSTEM CHECK?  yes

Please verify that the indicated block contains a proper
superblock for the filesystem (see fsdb(1M)).

FSCK was running in YES mode.  If you wish to run in that mode using
the alternate superblock, run `fsck -y -o b=453920 /dev/rdsk/c1t2d0s0'.

The following fsck error message scenario illustrates the new prompts for the backup superblock, but the fsck run is not canceled, in this example. Canceling the fsck session would be an appropriate response if this file system was created with customized parameters or if there is some other concern about running fsck on this file system.

The various superblock error conditions are provided in italics as follows:

# fsck /dev/rdsk/c0t1d0s0

** /dev/rdsk/c0t1d0s0

BAD SUPERBLOCK AT BLOCK 16: BLOCK SIZE LARGER THAN MAXIMUM SUPPORTED
BAD SUPERBLOCK AT BLOCK 16: NUMBER OF DATA BLOCKS OUT OF RANGE
BAD SUPERBLOCK AT BLOCK 16: INODES PER GROUP OUT OF RANGE
BAD SUPERBLOCK AT BLOCK 16: MAGIC NUMBER WRONG
BAD SUPERBLOCK AT BLOCK 16: BAD VALUES IN SUPER BLOCK
BAD SUPERBLOCK AT BLOCK 16: NCG OUT OF RANGE
BAD SUPERBLOCK AT BLOCK 16: CPG OUT OF RANGE
BAD SUPERBLOCK AT BLOCK 16: NCYL IS INCONSISTENT WITH NCG*CPG
BAD SUPERBLOCK AT BLOCK 16: SIZE OUT OF RANGE
BAD SUPERBLOCK AT BLOCK 16: NUMBER OF DIRECTORIES OUT OF RANGE
BAD SUPERBLOCK AT BLOCK 16: ROTATIONAL POSITION TABLE SIZE OUT OF RANGE
BAD SUPERBLOCK AT BLOCK 16: SIZE OF CYLINDER GROUP SUMMARY AREA WRONG
BAD SUPERBLOCK AT BLOCK 16: INOPB NONSENSICAL RELATIVE TO BSIZE

LOOK FOR ALTERNATE SUPERBLOCKS WITH MKFS? yes

FOUND ALTERNATE SUPERBLOCK 32 WITH MKFS

USE ALTERNATE SUPERBLOCK? yes

FOUND ALTERNATE SUPERBLOCK AT 32 USING MKFS
If filesystem was created with manually-specified geometry, using
auto-discovered superblock may result in irrecoverable damage to
filesystem and user data.

CANCEL FILESYSTEM CHECK? no

** Last Mounted on 
** Phase 1 - Check Blocks and Sizes
** Phase 2a - Check Duplicated Names
** Phase 2b - Check Pathnames
** Phase 3a - Check Connectivity
** Phase 3b - Verify Shadows/ACLs
** Phase 4 - Check Reference Counts
** Phase 5 - Check Cylinder Groups

SALVAGE? yes


UPDATE STANDARD SUPERBLOCK? yes

82 files, 3649 used, 244894 free (6 frags, 30611 blocks, 0.0% 
fragmentation)

***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****