Re: which package contains mkfs.vfat

["Daniel B." <dsb@smart.net>]

Mathias Brodala wrote:
> Hi.
>
> Matus UHLAR - fantomas, 02.06.2007 23:26:
> > > Serena Cantor, 31.05.2007 23:48:
> > > > I have trouble using logical vfat partition
> > > > so I intend to try mkfs.vfat
> > On 01.06.07 00:00, Mathias Brodala wrote:
> > > My suggestion: avoid that one and use a Windows system to format with FAT32.
> > > This tool thrashed the filesystem of my digital camera twice that much, that not
> > > even a Windows system could recover it. Fortunately the camera of a friend was
> > > able to rescue the card in my camera.
> > man mkdosfs(8) has some advices concerning digital cameras...
>
> Yep, already read that but it doesn’t concern me since I don’t use CF but SD cards.


Be careful if you install a package that contains fsck.vfat.

It corrupts filesystems, and it ignore the /etc/fstab setting
that should tell it to not run.


fsck.vfat turns a small VFAT corruption into a big one.  (When it finds
and tries to fix a small problem, it causes a large one.)

Be afraid.  Be very afraid.

I suffered _multiple_ (repeated) massive corruptions of my Windows
(C:) filesystem.  For example, the file allocation table's sectors
and the root directory's sectors were overwritten.  Given that,
nothing was recovered by it or Window's CHKDSK.  (I ended up with
40000 C:/FOUNDnnn/FILEnnnn.CHK files (literally--4 directories of
files FILE0000.CHK through FILE9999.CHK).)


What was really strange was that the data that was written over
the FAT and the root directory's sectors was data from a file on a
_different_ FAT partition.

And a later time it corrupted my C: disk, it was the _same_ file
(from a different filesystem (partition)) whose contents was written
all over the FAT and the root directory (at the exact same sector
offset).

I wonder whether fsck.vfat tried to check two different filesystems
in parallel (I don't recall for sure whether they were on different
disks), didn't keep its data straight, and wrote onto the first
partition data from the second partition.  No, I don't see how that
would happen--I don't see why fsck.vfat would read the contents
of a file.


As I mentioned, another problem is that fsck.vfat ignores the
/etc/fstab setting (a zero in the checking-order column) that is
supposed to mean to not check the partition.

That means that, without further hacking, you can't both have it
installed on your system and have it _not_ run automatically
(if you have any vfat partitions listed in /etc/fstab).


Unless it has been fixed (the Sarge version has not), fsck.vfat
SUCKS.


(Not if I could only figure out what part of my kernel still
sucks and keeps causing more filesystem corruption...)


Daniel
--
Daniel B.
dsb@smart.net