Data not being saved to filesystem [Solved]

B-Con · 2010-07-02 21:00:05

It seems that, at random, my filesystem regresses a day or so. I'll delete 10 files out of a directory, and the next day they're back. I'll download 10 files, use them all day, and the next day they're gone. Sometimes, though, but not always.

Even my Truecrypt partitions have had this happen. I do a filesystem sync, dismount the Truecrypt file, re-mount it, confirm the changes are there, and a few days later the Truecrypt container has regressed back a couple days. I've seen it where I booted and a file showed changes, then days later reversed back to the original file.

My Firefox bookmarks and RSS feeds also regress. It's as if the entire filesystem gets it's clock turned back. I have absolutely no automated backup or or filesystem management tools installed.

Here is my /etc/fstab:

# 
# /etc/fstab: static file system information
#
# <file system>        <dir>         <type>    <options>          <dump> <pass>
none                   /dev/pts      devpts    defaults            0      0
none                   /dev/shm      tmpfs     nodev,nosuid        0      0
none                   /tmp          tmpfs     rw,nosuid,size=1G   0      0
none        /home/b-con/.thumbnails  tmpfs     rw,nosuid,size=50M  0      0

#/dev/cdrom             /media/cd   auto    ro,user,noauto,unhide   0      0
#/dev/dvd               /media/dvd  auto    ro,user,noauto,unhide   0      0
#/dev/fd0               /media/fl   auto    user,noauto             0      0

#/dev/sda1 /media/sda1 ext2 defaults 0 0
/dev/sda2 / ext4 defaults,noatime,nodiratime 0 1
#/dev/sda3 /media/sda3 ntfs-3g defaults,ro,noatime,nodiratime,nosuid,noexec,nodev,uid=1000,gid=100 0 0

Has anyone heard of something like this? It's really annoying. At first I thought it was just mistakes on my part, but it's definitely not.

Last edited by B-Con (2010-11-30 20:42:53)

B-Con · 2010-07-07 19:08:48

I continue to see bizarre effects.

A while ago I deleted a bunch of files from my desktop. When I rebooted they were back. For the next couple days they were there. Today they are gone. WTF?

My Truecrypt containers are not even immune. I made a TC container, put files in it, rebooted, confirmed they were there, made more changes and removed the first files, rebooted, and confirmed the changes. Then I rebooted and found the original files and the changes were gone. Another reboot and the changes were back. Another reboot and the changes were gone.

I made a backup copy of the TC container. I rebooted and the file was no longer there. I rebooted again and it showed up.

I'm at a loss for words. I've never even come close to seeing anything like this. It's almost like there are two copies of my filesystem that are randomly chosen between each time I boot and changes to them are randomly ignored. I dare not save any data I actually want to keep on here, although sometimes data does actually persist.

I wondered if it was a failing hard disk, but

$ sudo smartctl -d ata -H /dev/sda
Password:
smartctl 5.39.1 2010-01-28 r3054 [x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-10 by Bruce Allen, http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

=== START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION ===
SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

SMART doesn't think so.

Has anyone heard of anything remotely like this? I'm neither schizophrenic nor a trolling liar. :-S

Last edited by B-Con (2010-07-07 19:11:10)

MoonSwan · 2010-07-07 23:02:29

SMART doesn't always "trip" properly when a disk is ailing. It can say the disk is perfectly fine when in reality it is not. Check your manufacturer's website for a firmware update perhaps. I had to do this with a Seagate a year or so ago or it bricked itself with somewhat similar symptoms as you've described. Not trying to scare you here, I'm just telling you my experience.

Grab the tools your hdd uses (SeaTools or WD's tools) as a Live CD and use that to diagnose any physical ailments. Relying on just the SMART output is not good enough for what you're describing.

B-Con · 2010-11-30 20:42:39

Just for the record, I was unable to get any tools to show any problems with the hard drive, but I replaced it and everything works fine now. So, it was definitely the hard drive.

Arch Linux

#1 2010-07-02 21:00:05

Data not being saved to filesystem [Solved]

#2 2010-07-07 19:08:48

Re: Data not being saved to filesystem [Solved]

#3 2010-07-07 23:02:29

Re: Data not being saved to filesystem [Solved]

#4 2010-11-30 20:42:39

Re: Data not being saved to filesystem [Solved]

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