Ext3 - Short read reading journal superblock
 

I tried fsck and this is what I got:

[root@localhost todd]# fsck /dev/sda6
fsck 1.40.8 (13-Mar-2008)
e2fsck 1.40.8 (13-Mar-2008)
/dev/sda6: Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read while reading block 529

/dev/sda6: Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read reading journal superblock

fsck.ext3: Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read while checking ext3 journal for /dev/sda6
[root@localhost todd]#
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Then I tried to run debugfs -w and when I try to view any of the files I get:
[root@localhost todd]# debugfs /dev/sda6 -w
debugfs 1.40.8 (13-Mar-2008)
debugfs: ls
2 (12) . 2 (12) .. 11 (20) lost+found 15679489 (12) todd
18104321 (16) share 11436033 (20) lisahedaria 4177921 (16) arlene
14123009 (20) candynally 5980161 (16) louis 2899969 (16) lpinson
2916353 (12) joe 4866049 (12) jeri 13189121 (16) xerox
3063809 (20) jeriwalter 3342337 (16) arlenem 2932737 (3860) joed
debugfs: cd todd
debugfs: ls

Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read
debugfs:
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when I try to mount the partition I get:
[root@localhost todd]# mount /dev/sda6
mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda6,
missing codepage or helper program, or other error
In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
dmesg | tail or so

[root@localhost todd]#

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If I view the log file, this is what I get:

[root@localhost todd]# dmesg | tail
EXT3-fs: error loading journal.
ata1: EH complete
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 312500000 512-byte hardware sectors (160000 MB)
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] 312500000 512-byte hardware sectors (160000 MB)
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
sd 0:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[root@localhost todd]#
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This is the first time that I've ever even really looked at the file system in 8 years of using Linux. I know I'm an idiot for not caring, but I do now. I've heard for years that ext3 is far better than NTFS and frankly that's always been good enough for me. So if anyone has a clue which direction to point me and can be of assistance it would be greatly appreciated. Yes this is the /home partition of a "win2k domain controler" where all of the user files are. It always bugs me when people start crying about how important the data is so I won't do it. Only that the data was important enough to me that my "win2k domain controler" is not win2k. I here by swear that I will help the next person with a problem that I know how to fix. I would have done that anyway but there it is. Thanks in advance.

Try an alternate superblock - "man fsck.ext3" will direct you to "mkfs.ext3 -n ..."
Very useful.

As a last resort, you might want to read the description of the "-S" parameter. But this really is a last resort.

Please read my sigline ...

Sorry, I tried what you said but it said that the device was in use. I didn't have it mounted and I assumed that would be enough. I'm downloading Knoppix now and will give it another try tomorrow. Thanks for the reply.

This is what I got while running knoppix


root@Knoppix:/ramdisk/home/knoppix# e2fsck -n /dev/sda6
e2fsck 1.40-WIP (14-Nov-2006)
Couldn't find ext2 superblock, trying backup blocks...
/dev/sda6: Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read while reading block 529

/dev/sda6: Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read reading journal superblock

e2fsck: Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read while checking ext3 journal for /dev/sda6
root@Knoppix:/ramdisk/home/knoppix#
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This is what happened when I tried to use a different superBlock

root@Knoppix:/ramdisk/home/knoppix# e2fsck -b 32768 /dev/sda6
e2fsck 1.40-WIP (14-Nov-2006)
/dev/sda6: Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read while reading block 529

/dev/sda6: Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read reading journal superblock

e2fsck: Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read while checking ext3 journal for /dev/sda6
root@Knoppix:/ramdisk/home/knoppix#

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This is what happened when I tried to byte-swap the whole partition

root@Knoppix:/ramdisk/home/knoppix# e2fsck -S /dev/sda6
e2fsck 1.40-WIP (14-Nov-2006)
Couldn't find ext2 superblock, trying backup blocks...
/dev/sda6: Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read while reading block 529

/dev/sda6: Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read reading journal superblock

e2fsck: Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read while checking ext3 journal for /dev/sda6
root@Knoppix:/ramdisk/home/knoppix#

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This is what I got when I asked for all of the backup superBlocks (none of which worked)
root@Knoppix:/ramdisk/home/knoppix# mke2fs -n /dev/sda6
mke2fs 1.40-WIP (14-Nov-2006)
Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=4096 (log=2)
Fragment size=4096 (log=2)
18628608 inodes, 37246694 blocks
1862334 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=0
Maximum filesystem blocks=0
1137 block groups
32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group
16384 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208,
4096000, 7962624, 11239424, 20480000, 23887872

root@Knoppix:/ramdisk/home/knoppix#

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Is there anything I can do with this information? Can I make my own superBlock?

Thanks in advance.

Todd

Oh and here is the log entry after running e2fsck -S

root@Knoppix:/ramdisk/home/knoppix# dmesg | tail
ASC=0x11 ASCQ=0x4
end_request: I/O error, dev sda, sector 14527062
printk: 4 messages suppressed.
Buffer I/O error on device sda6, logical block 4239
ata1: EH complete
SCSI device sda: drive cache: write back
SCSI device sda: 312500000 512-byte hdwr sectors (160000 MB)
sda: Write Protect is off
sda: Mode Sense: 00 3a 00 00
SCSI device sda: drive cache: write back
root@Knoppix:/ramdisk/home/knoppix#