If a file or directory is corrupted, the system might still function, depending on the type of corruption. Any damage is effectively unrecoverable if no good copies of the data exist on the system. If the data is valuable, you must restore the affected data from backup. Even so, you might be able to recover from this corruption without restoring the entire pool.
If the damage is within a file data block, then the file can be safely removed, thereby clearing the error from the system. Use the zpool status –v command to display a list of file names with persistent errors. For example:
# zpool status tank -v pool: tank state: ONLINE status: One or more devices has experienced an error resulting in data corruption. Applications may be affected. action: Restore the file in question if possible. Otherwise restore the entire pool from backup. see: http://support.oracle.com/msg/ZFS-8000-8A config: NAME STATE READ WRITE CKSUM tank ONLINE 4 0 0 c0t5000C500335E106Bd0 ONLINE 0 0 0 c0t5000C500335FC3E7d0 ONLINE 4 0 0 errors: Permanent errors have been detected in the following files: /tank/file.1 /tank/file.2
The list of file names with persistent errors might be described as follows:
If the full path to the file is found and the dataset is mounted, the full path to the file is displayed. For example:
/monkey/a.txt
If the full path to the file is found, but the dataset is not mounted, then the dataset name with no preceding slash (/), followed by the path within the dataset to the file, is displayed. For example:
monkey/ghost/e.txt
If the object number to a file path cannot be successfully translated, either due to an error or because the object doesn't have a real file path associated with it, as is the case for a dnode_t, then the dataset name followed by the object's number is displayed. For example:
monkey/dnode:<0x0>
If an object in the metaobject set (MOS) is corrupted, then a special tag of <metadata>, followed by the object number, is displayed.
You can attempt to resolve more minor data corruption by using scrubbing the pool and clearing the pool errors in multiple iterations. If the first scrub and clear iteration does not resolve the corrupted files, run them again.For example:
# zpool scrub tank # zpool clear tank
If the corruption is within a directory or a file's metadata, the only choice is to move the file elsewhere. You can safely move any file or directory to a less convenient location, allowing the original object to be restored in its place.
If a damaged file system has corrupted data with multiple block references, such as snapshots, the zpool status –v command cannot display all corrupted data paths. The current zpool status reporting of corrupted data is limited by the amount of metadata corruption and if any blocks have been reused after the zpool status command is executed. Deduplicated blocks makes reporting all corrupted data even more complicated.
If you have corrupted data and the zpool status –v command identifies that snapshot data is impacted, then considering running the following command to identify additional corrupted paths: