Re: fsck error on boot: /dev/sda1: UNEXPECTED INCONSISTENCY and Partition 1 does not start on physical sector boundary

["Alexander V. Makartsev" <avbetev@gmail.com>]

On 20.03.2021 13:50, David wrote:

> On Fri, 19 Mar 2021 at 19:53, Alexander V. Makartsev <avbetev@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > To perform surface scans you can use SMART short and long scans, and also a program called "badblocks" from the package "e2fsprogs".
> > Be sure to unmount "/dev/sda1" before performing the scans.
> >       
> Hi, I wonder why you give this advice to unmount.
> Are you aware of a smartmontools reference document
> that gives this advice?
>
> If not using captive mode --captive option then
> I feel it is unnecessary.
>
> If using captive mode then I would suggest to unmount
> the entire drive, not just one partition.
>
> This is my casual understanding, corrections with
> authoritative sources are welcome.
>
>     
    Normally, a SMART scans are non-destructive and would finish with an
    error as soon as first bad block is found.
    But if HDD would encounter a real bad block or a long sequence of
    them during test scans, there is always a chance that HDD won't
    recover right away and as a consequence, kernel will remount
    partitions as read-only making OS unresponsive, even if later HDD's
    controller will return to normal state after processing bad blocks.
    For me it is simply a proactive measure, to prevent tests from
    interrupting mid-scan and any external interference. This might
    prevent a huge time waste when you scan a multi-terrabyte drives.
    Additionally, a manpage for "badblocks" program strongly recommends
    to unmount partitions before performing non-destructive read-write
    or destructive write tests on the device.
    
    If you look through information OP gathered for us, you should
    notice "/dev/sda" has only one partition with NTFS filesystem.
    
-- 
With kindest regards, Alexander.

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