[SOLVED] Missing 'FS' ext3 on 90GB /home partiton

NightSky · 10-22-2013, 03:29 AM

Searching similar threads while I psot because I don't have days to fix this by myself.
Here is /etc/fstab:

Code:

/dev/sda2     /swap       /swap  
/dev/sda5      /                ext3
/dev/sda1      /boot         ext3
/dev/sda3      /home
/dev/sda6      /usr            ext3
/dev/sda7      /tmp          ext3

#df -h  
Displays everything except /home

During Boot Time Screen reports /home has no ext3 barrier. I formated each partition during the Slackware Install Process. The labels are as they should be.
Question is can I just format /home, it's a clean partition, haven't tried to run kde desktop for the new user, caught the missing extension format during post install configuration as root . Redoing this slackware64-13.37 install would just take too much time on top of the days I've already spent for neighbor's ThinkPad.
Has anyone had this happen to them? Can someone tell me how they fixed it? Thanks

pan64 · 10-22-2013, 04:44 AM

If you have never used that filesystem and there is no important data on it you may try mkfs, but I think the user's home dir(s) should have been created (but probably the installation was unable to do that).

NightSky · 10-22-2013, 12:05 PM

Code:

#dmesg | less
 EXT3-fs: barriers not enabled
 kjournald starting.  Commit interval 5 seconds
 EXT3-fs (sda5): mounted filesystem with ordered data mode

The above output displays for sda1, sda2, [sda3 does not appear mounted during boot], sda4 Extended<sda5, sda6, sda7

Can anyone explain what is wrong & what to do exactly for sda3 /home partition? Can I run setup to just get /home ... or will that wipe out the rest of the install??? I only did adduser but have not tried to open /home for fear of what it will do? Thanks

How long should it take for 90G /home to format with mkfs ? How do I know the program is not stuck?

NightSky · 10-22-2013, 11:26 PM

Did the following trying to figure out howto get /dev/sda3 -> /home to reflect ext3 in /etc/fstab. I used ext3 thinking it would be more stable than ext4 was it a mistake? Thinking that before all the auto configuration of install setups. So there must be a manual way to fix the missing ext3 FS. Conceptually it seems a simple fix but I looking to learn the technical specifics. Do I unmount /dev/sda3, then mkfs ext3 , & then mount /dev/sda3?

Code:

#ls /dev|grep sd
sda
sda1
sda2
sda3
sda4
sda5
sda6
sda7

NightSky · 10-23-2013, 01:05 AM

Found these instructions that include code for Manually building a Gentoo Network. Will these codes and commands work in Slackware64-13.37?

http://pastebin.com/i7Z7im37

NightSky · 10-23-2013, 01:10 AM

Did the following trying to figure out howto get /dev/sda3 -> /home to reflect ext3 in /etc/fstab. I used ext3 thinking it would be more stable than ext4 was it a mistake?

Code:

#ls /dev|grep sd
sda
sda1
sda2
sda3
sda4
sda5
sda6
sda7

NightSky · 10-23-2013, 01:29 AM

What are the commands to check if /dev/sda3 is mounted? Can I unmount /dev/sda3 as root without hurting anything ? Is 'umount' the correct command to unmount a device or is it 'unmount'?

syg00 · 10-23-2013, 01:43 AM

"df" tells you what filesystem[s] is/are mounted - if you want to see everything try "mount". Not a lot of reason to use that in this case.
If /dev/sda3 isn't mounted you can't umount it.

Try adding the filesystem type to fstab - "parted -l /dev/sda" as root will tell you that.

*Edit:* be aware that this will overlay mount the /home you have already setup - all your users (except root) will effectively disappear. Better (from single user mode) to mount /dev/sda3 somewhere else and copy the current /home (including hidden files) to where you mount /dev/sda3. Then umount /dev/sda3, fix fstab and reboot.
Should all work.

NightSky · 10-23-2013, 02:15 AM

by default disabled on ext3 and enabled on ext4. Further more someone said :

Quote:

It is only an info-level message. IIRC write barriers are disabled by default on EXT3 (but are enabled on EXT4) and this message shows up during boot time on recent kernels. If either your PC is plugged on an UPS or runs on battery like a laptop, write barriers are quite useless.

Found on Linux Mint Forum 6/12... I'm working on ThinkPad

NightSky · 10-23-2013, 10:29 PM

Thank you syg00 - Don't quite understand your instructions though.

Code:

#df -h
/dev/root 6.0G     /root
/dev/sda1 372M  /boot
/dev/sda6  35G    /usr
/dev/sda7    5G    /tmp

So /dev/sda5 is suposed to be /
/dev/sda3 " " " " /home Linux or 83 but no ext3 format.

So home is not mounted. Correct? I under how to goto runlevel 1. Don't understand,

Quote:

will overlay mount the /home you have already setup

I just added one user and don't care if it disappears, I can just add the user again. What do you mean by overlay the /home I already setup, apparently its not setup.
Thought I would just see a list like when I fdisk -l
Surprise

Code:

#parted -l /dev/sda 
 Error: /dev/md0: unrecognized disk label
Warning: Error fsyncing/closing /dev/mdo: Input/output error
Retry/Ignore?

How do I cancel out of this? I used Ignore and got out of there. Going to runlevel 1.

syg00 · 10-24-2013, 06:52 AM

It looks like you are transcribing the listings - if you can't highlight and then post here, post files as attachments so we can see what actually exists. For example

Code:

cat /etc/fstab > fstab.lst
df -hT > df.lst
parted -l > parted.lst

then attach the files on a post here.

Didier Spaier · 10-24-2013, 02:37 PM

Just wondering... Maybe at time of installation you told the installer to use /dev/sda3 for /home but not to format that partition, so it didn't create a filesystem in it.

If my guess is correct you can just do that afterwards typing as root:

Code:

mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda3

Better double check your typing before pressing [Enter], not to wipe out another partition...

Then edit /etc/fstab to indicate ext3ts in the file system field.

PS to know the type of filesystem installed in each partition, just type:

Code:

df -hT

NightSky · 10-24-2013, 08:21 PM

syg00 I am communicating on my laptop.. so I just copy the output from the ThinkPad... I'm working in root and am in runlevel1.
Didier Spaier, during install I chose /dev/sda3 for home and slow format- but its 90GB and I could not see the progress of format and I think it didn't work. Plus I used a DVD disk they spin too fast. Think Install failed to format ext3. Thank you so much. So I do this in runlevel1 as root and do I have to mount /dev/sda3 first?
Don't think /dev/sda3 is mounted is mounted?

Code:

#df -hT    - lists everything correctly Except It does not list  /dev/sda3

Didier Spaier · 10-24-2013, 10:43 PM

if it doesn't show in df, probably /dev/sda3 was not properly created. You can check with

Code:

cat /proc/partitions

Does it show there?

If it doesn't, do:

Code:

cfdisk /dev/sda/

and please post the output as accurately as you can.

You'll probably have to (maybe delete then) create the partition again, choosing partition type 83 for "linux", then type

Code:

mkfs.ext3 /dev/sda3

. Of course if after running cfdisk there is a change in partitions numbering you should adapt that command accordingly, and edit /etc/fstab accordingly as well.

rknichols · 10-25-2013, 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Didier Spaier

PS to know the type of filesystem installed in each partition, just type:

Code:

df -hT

The df command only shows results for filesystems that are currently mounted. To see information for all partitions and devices, use blkid.

Code:

blkid              # All devices and partitions
blkid /dev/sda*    # All partitions on sda
blkid /dev/sda3    # Just sda3