I am running fedora core 4 in the past when the power went down on reboot you could check y for a system check. The new updates removed this option. How can I run a file cleaning program like scandisk? I tried all commands from previous threads and all were unrecognized. I only have linux on this hard drive. On start up it shows bad files.

Moved: This thread is more suitable in Fedora and has been moved accordingly to help your thread/question get the exposure it deserves.

rhandwor: The easy answer is to boot into rescue mode using the first FC4 Installation CD (or using the FC4 Rescue CD), but don't search for/mount the FC installation, and then run e2fsck from the command prompt. For example,

e2fsck -f /dev/hda1

(also see: man e2fsck)

Remember, you need to unmount a partition before running a filesystem check on ext3, and that's difficult to do when you need the partition to run FC.

But it's rare that you would need to do that with a journal-type file system like ext3. After an “unscheduled” shutdown like a power outage, the journal data is recovered during the boot process and there is usually no need to check the filesystem. If the system reboots properly after an unscheduled shutdown, then the filesystem(s) should be fine.

In the rare cases where a problem does exist and cannot be automatically fixed, you will (eventually) be given the option to enter the root password and run e2fsck on each partition. Sometimes, even that doesn't help and you will need to fall back on my first suggestion.

Forgot to mention, you can also use tune2fs to force a filesystem check during the next reboot by changing the number of times a partition has been mounted to the same number that would force a check. For example:

tune2fs -c 35 -C 35 /dev/hda1