man > fsck.minix(8)

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📛 NAME

fsck.minix - check consistency of Minix filesystem

🚀 Quick Reference

Use Case	Command	Description
Check filesystem (read-only)	fsck.minix /dev/sda1	🔍 Perform a consistency check without repairs
Interactive repair	fsck.minix -r /dev/sda1	🛠️ Repair interactively, prompting for each fix
Automatic repair	fsck.minix -a /dev/sda1	⚡ Repair automatically (dangerous on damaged filesystems)
Force check	fsck.minix -f /dev/sda1	⚠️ Force check even if marked valid
List all filenames	fsck.minix -l /dev/sda1	📋 List all files on the filesystem
Show superblock info	fsck.minix -s /dev/sda1	📄 Display superblock details

📋 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:

Device	Description
/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 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.
• -V, --version ℹ️ Display version information and exit.
• -h, --help ❓ Display help text 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 Codes

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/karelzak/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/>.

📛 NAME 🚀 Quick Reference 📋 SYNOPSIS 📝 DESCRIPTION ⚠️ WARNING ⚙️ OPTIONS 🔬 DIAGNOSTICS 🚪 Exit Codes 👤 AUTHORS 📚 SEE ALSO 🐛 REPORTING BUGS 📦 AVAILABILITY