man > FSCK.MINIX(8)

FSCK.MINIX(8)                           System Administration                          FSCK.MINIX(8)

NAME
       fsck.minix - check consistency of Minix filesystem

SYNOPSIS
       fsck.minix [options] device

DESCRIPTION
       fsck.minix performs a consistency check for the Linux MINIX filesystem.

       The program assumes the filesystem is quiescent. fsck.minix should not be used on a mounted
       device unless you can be sure nobody is writing to it. Remember that the kernel can write to
       device when it searches for files.

       The device name will usually have the following form:
          ┌────────────────┬─────────────┐
          │                │             │
          │ /dev/hda[1-63] │ IDE disk 1  │
          ├────────────────┼─────────────┤
          │                │             │
          │ /dev/hdb[1-63] │ IDE disk 2  │
          ├────────────────┼─────────────┤
          │                │             │
          │ /dev/sda[1-15] │ SCSI disk 1 │
          ├────────────────┼─────────────┤
          │                │             │
          │ /dev/sdb[1-15] │ SCSI disk 2 │
          └────────────────┴─────────────┘


       If the filesystem was changed, i.e., repaired, then fsck.minix will print "FILE
       SYSTEM HAS BEEN CHANGED" and will sync(2) three times before exiting. There is no
       need to reboot after check.

WARNING
       fsck.minix should not be used on a mounted filesystem. Using fsck.minix on a mounted
       filesystem is very dangerous, due to the possibility that deleted files are still in
       use, and can seriously damage a perfectly good filesystem! If you absolutely have to
       run fsck.minix on a mounted filesystem, such as the root filesystem, make sure
       nothing is writing to the disk, and that no files are "zombies" waiting for deletion.

OPTIONS
       -l, --list
           List all filenames.

       -r, --repair
           Perform interactive repairs.

       -a, --auto
           Perform automatic repairs. This option implies --repair and serves to answer all
           of the questions asked with the default. Note that this can be extremely
           dangerous in the case of extensive filesystem damage.

       -v, --verbose
           Be verbose.

       -s, --super
           Output super-block information.

       -m, --uncleared
           Activate MINIX-like "mode not cleared" warnings.

       -f, --force
           Force a filesystem check even if the filesystem was marked as valid. Marking is
           done by the kernel when the filesystem is unmounted.

       -h, --help
           Display help text and exit.

       -V, --version
           Print version and exit.

DIAGNOSTICS
       There are numerous diagnostic messages. The ones mentioned here are the most commonly
       seen in normal usage.

       If the device does not exist, fsck.minix will print "unable to read super block". If
       the device exists, but is not a MINIX filesystem, fsck.minix will print "bad magic
       number in super-block".

EXIT STATUS
       The exit status returned by fsck.minix is the sum of the following:

       0
           No errors

       3
           Filesystem errors corrected, system should be rebooted if filesystem was mounted

       4
           Filesystem errors left uncorrected

       7
           Combination of exit statuses 3 and 4

       8
           Operational error

       16
           Usage or syntax error

AUTHORS
       Linus Torvalds <torvalds AT cs.fi>. Exit status values by Rik Faith
       <faith AT cs.edu> Added support for filesystem valid flag: Dr. Wettstein
       <greg%wind.uucp AT plains.edu>. Check to prevent fsck of mounted filesystem added
       by Daniel Quinlan <quinlan AT yggdrasil.com>. Minix v2 fs support by Andreas Schwab
       <schwab AT issan.de>, updated by Nicolai Langfeldt
       <janl AT math.no>. Portability patch by Russell King <rmk AT ecs.uk>.

SEE ALSO
       fsck(8), fsck.ext2(8), mkfs(8), mkfs.ext2(8), mkfs.minix(8), reboot(8)

REPORTING BUGS
       For bug reports, use the issue tracker at
       https://github.com/util-linux/util-linux/issues.

AVAILABILITY
       The fsck.minix command is part of the util-linux package which can be downloaded from
       Linux Kernel Archive <https://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/>.

util-linux 2.39.3                            2023-10-23                                FSCK.MINIX(8)