system freeze when copy ntfs-3g files >2(?)GB deb. 9.5 "4.9.0-8-amd64"

Hello,
I'm new here and start with a (for me) big problem:

When copying large files from ntfs-3g FS the system freezes.
Had top running (in gnome) indicating nothing abnormal (no swap).
Even when coping in MC smaller files (< 1GB) after some of them the system stops responding.
Tried with char-console (ctrl-alt-F5) without starting a gnome user session: Got flodded with messages - unreadable because too fast...
Found nothing in /var/log files for these messages.

Already added
vm.dirty_background_ratio = 5
vm.dirty_ratio = 10
to /etc/sysctl.conf - no help

Having an old win7 running on the disk, i copied (from USB ntfs) the files to win7 successfully. USB is not causing the problems (and hardware) because it worked on same disc with win7.

Mounted the win7-partition - same result.
Used midnight commander (MC) - worked somewhat better - so it seemed, but standstill after ~6GB with copy of whole dir (30GB) or filewise in small (<1GB) files only after several of them. Seems to subsumate.

Searched in internet but found no matching cases...

I even tried with 2 processes (in gnome session terminal) one sending tar output of the dir. to a named pipe, another reading from it and write to disk - same result (but took more time - ok is much slower ;-)

Any hints are welcome. Speed of copy is not of interest.

kind regards, Stefan

what sort of freeze?
how do you get out of the freeze?

standard troubleshooting i would try:
- open a terminal with 'dmesg -w'
- discard all output so far
- recreate the problematic behaviour
- see all the NEW output

Originally Posted by stefan.alb Tried with char-console (ctrl-alt-F5) without starting a gnome user session: Got flodded with messages - unreadable because too fast...

Grab your phone, get a video of it. Stop it, read the messages.

Had this about 10 times - the system doesn't respond any more... power-off.
In some occasions an open window (in gnome) or the mounse pointer in gnome showed feedback - only for few seconds.
The box doesn't respond to anything then. No way to investigate anything ...

The message "flood" was available only in char session (ctlr-alt-F5 (e.g.)) not in gnome terminal session.
I was able to read just a few words, appearing to the very right border of the screen (may pos. 100 or more)
like "helper", "ELM".
I tried to run the copy with "cp ... 2>&1 | tee file" - file was non-ex. after reboot.

I did this first from attached (USB) ext. hard disk (NTFS) with Gnome-Filer, after some seconds the activity bar stopped working along with the whole box. I assumed USB problems, so I started win7 (on same disk) and copied the whole bunch (35GB and 80GB) in 2 steps successfully.
Next try was with internal hard disk only and NTFS mounted. Same thing.

Next try with MC (in ctrl-alt-F5 session without gnome login)- it took much longer to freeze (about 8GB) with whole dir.
Next try with MC (in ctrl-alt-F5 ...as above) and copy single files which were <2GB. Worked for some of them but then freeze again.

A top running in parallel (gnome session) never showed suspicious output (froze also). (I time I saw "gnome" on top with 25% CPU)

I know, without these messages (when flooding) its hard to examine further...

Thanks for any help warmly welcome.
Kind regards, Stefan

I'll try the "dmesg -w" when I'm back at the box (in the afternoon)

I tried both suggestions (dmesg & photo)
a tee showed in file only mesg preceeding the copy, but in gnome session there were some before the box froze - I was able to move the output (gnome only) and hit the shutdown icon, some windows closed, but mc-win still showed title (only) and box didn't shutdown. Needed to power off.

I read from USB external disk. Attached pics show dmesg -w output (1+2) and a shot of the flooding msgs.

Thanks in advance, Stefan

have seen VMMON in dmesg... seemed to be from VMware-Player, which i installed,
because these files are images for it....

Now on internal disk on ext4 only! (no ntfs-3g)
removed the player - retry. Box got stuck but not completely. Power off.

after reboot retried with dmesg in other window - output attached. the box responded after the msgs only in gnome, could copy text from dmesg-term., started vi but insert failed. could start gnome-text.editor and copy from pasted text - but no write (dialog froze - as with vi: neither "ZZ" mor ":q" worked)
Could click shutdown icon, screen went black but box didn't shut down. power-off needed.

I've oracle virtualbox installed longer time ago - never seen problems when copying larger files, but max. was not more than a DVD but several in a row without problem.

Since VMware player install (so it seems) these effect appeared.
and with uninstall of VMWplayer the box gets stuck in write-only-op's.

TIA stefan

That is a seriously sick system - all those images are kernel oops'. And it looks like it's in a "oops loop" - I'm surprised it can do anything else at all. It's possible there's a conflict in VBox and VMWare kernel modules - and yes, it's quite likely the VMWare one is still there; check lsmod.

If blacklisting any VMWare you find doesn't work, I'd re-install. There's no evidence of a hardware problem, but it would be worth trying the big file copy (NTFS) from a liveCD just to be sure.

i wholeheartedly agree with syg00.

Many thanks for your advices - have to think about reinstall...
lsmod showed nothing indicating VMware.
Removal of a vagrant package (installed for VirtualBox-Try) didn't help either...
Have to try to rescue the VB-VMs I created (also very big ~40GB)
Thanks for your help, kind regards, Stefan