The software described in this documentation is either in Extended Support or Sustaining Support. See https://www.oracle.com/us/support/library/enterprise-linux-support-policies-069172.pdf for more information.
Oracle recommends that you upgrade the software described by this documentation as soon as possible.

5.10 Checking and Repairing an XFS File System

Note

If you have an Oracle Linux Premier Support account and encounter a problem mounting an XFS file system, send a copy of the /var/log/messages file to Oracle Support and wait for advice.

If you cannot mount an XFS file system, you can use the xfs_repair -n command to check its consistency. Usually, you would only run this command on the device file of an unmounted file system that you believe has a problem. The xfs_repair -n command displays output to indicate changes that would be made to the file system in the case where it would need to complete a repair operation, but will not modify the file system directly.

If you can mount the file system and you do not have a suitable backup, you can use xfsdump to attempt to back up the existing file system data, However, the command might fail if the file system's metadata has become too corrupted.

You can use the xfs_repair command to attempt to repair an XFS file system specified by its device file. The command replays the journal log to fix any inconsistencies that might have resulted from the file system not being cleanly unmounted. Unless the file system has an inconsistency, it is usually not necessary to use the command, as the journal is replayed every time that you mount an XFS file system.

# xfs_repair device

If the journal log has become corrupted, you can reset the log by specifying the -L option to xfs_repair.

Warning

Resetting the log can leave the file system in an inconsistent state, resulting in data loss and data corruption. Unless you are experienced in debugging and repairing XFS file systems using xfs_db, it is recommended that you instead recreate the file system and restore its contents from a backup.

If you cannot mount the file system or you do not have a suitable backup, running xfs_repair is the only viable option unless you are experienced in using xfs_db.

xfs_db provides an internal command set that allows you to debug and repair an XFS file system manually. The commands allow you to perform scans on the file system, and to navigate and display its data structures. If you specify the -x option to enable expert mode, you can modify the data structures.

# xfs_db [-x] device

For more information, see the xfs_db(8) and xfs_repair(8) manual pages, and the help command within xfs_db.