Re: md5sum input/output errors with large files

[Marty <martyb@ix.netcom.com>]

Pollywog wrote:
> When I do a md5sum check on large files (500MB or larger), I get this sort of 
> error:
>
> pollywog@slider:~/RO$ md5sum RO_Beta_v3.2_Full.zip
> error processing RO_Beta_v3.2_Full.zip: failed in buffer_read(fd): mdfile: 
> Input/output error
>
>
> Does anyone know what is going on?
>
> thanks
>
> 8)

Based on my own experience, it's most likely one of two things:
flaky hardware (i.e. hot components, marginal DRAM, etc.) or disk
problems.  If it's not on a root partition (or using a rescue
floppy) run fsck -c on the unmounted filesystem.  This will
check it for bad blocks.

(I used to get scsi errors with older kernels, probably due to flaky
scsi drivers, but I haven't seen this problem for a while.)

When I see this kind of problem I assume that the disk has run out
of replacement sectors and is therefore a good candidate for retirement.
I tend to keep using old hardware, and I've seen it a lot on older
drives (more than 10 years).