Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!cornell!batcomputer!hurf From: hurf@batcomputer.UUCP Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards Subject: Re: uVaxII/Ultrix1.2 - SI/Sigma & Maxtor4380 problem Message-ID: <2053@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> Date: Tue, 18-Aug-87 10:10:37 EDT Article-I.D.: batcompu.2053 Posted: Tue Aug 18 10:10:37 1987 Date-Received: Thu, 20-Aug-87 01:45:25 EDT References: <2037@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> Reply-To: hurf@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu (Hurf Sheldon) Distribution: world Organization: Cornell Theory Center, Cornell University, Ithaca NY Lines: 45 Keywords: chpt swap disk ultrix In article <2037@batcomputer.tn.cornell.edu> hurf@tcgould.tn.cornell.edu (Hurf Sheldon) writes: > > Our uVaxII - Ba123/Ultrix1.2 system with decqna,9meg > > We have had a disk problem after a power outage - Our > SI/Sigma RQD11-EC/Maxtor 4380 failed fsck on autoreboot. > Running fsck manually got "Unable to read blk#nnnnnnn where > nnnnnnn was any alternate superblock in any partition except > the 'b' partition. The 'b' partition could find superblock 32 > but found all the inodes to be in error. There were some processes > running at the time and the 'a' partition is used as swap space. It seems that the only pointers to the disk partition structure were in the 'a' partition which were written over by swapping. After the crash the driver couldn't find the partition table and decided based on what I am not sure to use ra81 default partition tables. Restoring the partition table with chpt(8) on the 'a' partition solved the problem and we were able to run fsck(8) successfully. > > The disk was partitioned according to the following table using chpt(8) > and has worked without error for several months. Both rqdx3/rd53 systems > we have survived without error with swap on the 'a' partition on the > second rd53 in both cases. (One on this uVaxII one on another uVaxII) Question: Why do the rd53's work ok and why does fsck not get lost on a normal shutdown? Does synching the disk write the partition table somewhere? > > Observation: It is not a grand idea to swap to the 'a' partition despite the (small) performance gain. Question: How would one most appropriately set up for a new disk description? By altering the driver? But then you need sources. >-- -- Hurf Sheldon Network: hurf@ionvax.tn.cornell.edu Lab of Plasma Studies Bitnet: hurf@CRNLION 369 Upson Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. 14853 ph:607 255 7267 I sold my Elan, got a job in science; Now, no one takes me seriously.