man > xfs_repair(8)

xfs_repair(8)                          System Manager's Manual                         xfs_repair(8)

NAME
       xfs_repair - repair an XFS filesystem

SYNOPSIS
       xfs_repair  [  -dfLPv ] [ -n | -e ] [ -m maxmem ] [ -c subopt=value ] [ -o subopt[=value] ] [
       -t interval ] [ -l logdev ] [ -r rtdev ] device
       xfs_repair -V

DESCRIPTION
       xfs_repair repairs corrupt or damaged XFS filesystems (see xfs(5)).  The filesystem is speci‐
       fied using the device argument which should be the device name of the disk partition or  vol‐
       ume  containing  the filesystem. If given the name of a block device, xfs_repair will attempt
       to find the raw device associated with the specified block device and will use the raw device
       instead.

       Regardless, the filesystem to  be  repaired  must  be  unmounted,  otherwise,  the  resulting
       filesystem may be inconsistent or corrupt.

OPTIONS
       -f     Specifies that the filesystem image to be processed is stored in a regular file at de‐
              vice  (see  the  mkfs.xfs  -d  file  option).  This might happen if an image copy of a
              filesystem has been copied or written into an ordinary file.  This option implies that
              any external log or realtime section is also in an ordinary file.

       -L     Force Log Zeroing.  Forces xfs_repair to zero the log even if it  is  dirty  (contains
              metadata  changes).   When  using  this option the filesystem will likely appear to be
              corrupt, and can cause the loss of user files and/or data.  See the DIRTY LOGS section
              for more information.

       -l logdev
              Specifies the device special file where the filesystem's external  log  resides.  Only
              for  those filesystems which use an external log.  See the mkfs.xfs -l option, and re‐
              fer to xfs(5) for a detailed description of the XFS log.

       -r rtdev
              Specifies the device special file where the  filesystem's  realtime  section  resides.
              Only  for those filesystems which use a realtime section.  See the mkfs.xfs -r option,
              and refer to xfs(5) for a detailed description of the XFS realtime section.

       -n     No modify mode. Specifies that xfs_repair should not modify the filesystem but  should
              only  scan  the filesystem and indicate what repairs would have been made. This option
              cannot be used together with -e.

       -P     Disable prefetching of inode and directory blocks. Use this option if you find xfs_re‐
              pair gets stuck and stops proceeding. Interrupting a stuck xfs_repair is safe.

       -m maxmem
              Specifies the approximate maximum amount of memory, in megabytes, to use  for  xfs_re‐
              pair.   xfs_repair  has  its  own  internal block cache which will scale out up to the
              lesser of the process's virtual address limit or about 75% of  the  system's  physical
              RAM.  This option overrides these limits.

              NOTE:  These  memory  limits  are only approximate and may use more than the specified
              limit.

       -c subopt=value
              Change filesystem parameters.  Refer  to  xfs_admin(8)  for  information  on  changing
              filesystem parameters.

       -o subopt[=value]
              Override  what  the program might conclude about the filesystem if left to its own de‐
              vices.

              The suboptions supported are:

                 bhash=bhashsize
                        overrides the default buffer cache hash size. The  total  number  of  buffer
                        cache entries are limited to 8 times this amount. The default size is set to
                        use up the remainder of 75% of the system's physical RAM size.

                 ag_stride=ags_per_concat_unit
                        This creates additional processing threads to parallel process AGs that span
                        multiple  concat units. This can significantly reduce repair times on concat
                        based filesystems.

                 force_geometry
                        Check the filesystem even if geometry information could  not  be  validated.
                        Geometry  information can not be validated if only a single allocation group
                        exists and thus we do not have a backup superblock available,  or  if  there
                        are  two  allocation  groups  and  the  two  superblocks do not agree on the
                        filesystem geometry.  Only use this option if  you  validated  the  geometry
                        yourself  and  know  what  you are doing.  If In doubt run in no modify mode
                        first.

                 noquota
                        Don't validate quota counters at all.  Quotacheck will  be  run  during  the
                        next mount to recalculate all values.

       -t  interval
              Modify  reporting  interval, specified in seconds. During long runs xfs_repair outputs
              its progress every 15 minutes. Reporting is only activated when ag_stride is enabled.

       -v     Verbose output.  May be specified multiple times to increase verbosity.

       -d     Repair dangerously. Allow xfs_repair to repair an XFS filesystem  mounted  read  only.
              This  is  typically  done on a root filesystem from single user mode, immediately fol‐
              lowed by a reboot.

       -e     If any metadata corruption was repaired, the status returned is 4 instead of the usual
              0. This option cannot be used together with -n.

       -V     Prints the version number and exits.

   Checks Performed
       The correctness of the crc32c checksum implementation will be  tested  before  examining  the
       filesystem.  If the test fails, the program will abort.

       Inconsistencies corrected include the following:

       1.     Inode  and  inode  blockmap  (addressing) checks: bad magic number in inode, bad magic
              numbers in inode blockmap blocks, extents out of order, incorrect number of records in
              inode blockmap blocks, blocks claimed that are  not  in  a  legal  data  area  of  the
              filesystem, blocks that are claimed by more than one inode.

       2.     Inode  allocation map checks: bad magic number in inode map blocks, inode state as in‐
              dicated by map (free or in-use) inconsistent with state indicated by the inode, inodes
              referenced by the filesystem that do not appear in the inode allocation map, inode al‐
              location map referencing blocks that do not appear to contain inodes.

       3.     Size checks: number of blocks claimed by inode inconsistent with inode size, directory
              size not block aligned, inode size not consistent with inode format.

       4.     Directory checks: bad magic numbers in directory blocks, incorrect number  of  entries
              in  a  directory  block,  bad  freespace  information in a directory leaf block, entry
              pointing to an unallocated (free) or out of range inode, overlapping entries,  missing
              or  incorrect dot and dotdot entries, entries out of hashvalue order, incorrect inter‐
              nal directory pointers, directory type not consistent with inode format and size.

       5.     Pathname checks: files or directories not referenced by a pathname starting  from  the
              filesystem root, illegal pathname components.

       6.     Link  count  checks: link counts that do not agree with the number of directory refer‐
              ences to the inode.

       7.     Freemap checks: blocks claimed free by the freemap  but  also  claimed  by  an  inode,
              blocks unclaimed by any inode but not appearing in the freemap.

       8.     Super  Block  checks:  total free block and/or free i-node count incorrect, filesystem
              geometry inconsistent, secondary and primary superblocks contradictory.

       Orphaned files and directories (allocated, in-use but unreferenced) are reconnected by  plac‐
       ing them in the lost+found directory.  The name assigned is the inode number.

   Disk Errors
       xfs_repair  aborts on most disk I/O errors. Therefore, if you are trying to repair a filesys‐
       tem that was damaged due to a disk drive failure, steps should be taken to  ensure  that  all
       blocks in the filesystem are readable and writable before attempting to use xfs_repair to re‐
       pair the filesystem. A possible method is using dd(8) to copy the data onto a good disk.

   lost+found
       The directory lost+found does not have to already exist in the filesystem being repaired.  If
       the directory does not exist, it is automatically created if required.  If it already exists,
       it  will  be checked for consistency and if valid will be used for additional orphaned files.
       Invalid lost+found  directories  are  removed  and  recreated.  Existing  files  in  a  valid
       lost+found are not removed or renamed.

   Corrupted Superblocks
       XFS  has  both primary and secondary superblocks.  xfs_repair uses information in the primary
       superblock to automatically find and validate the primary superblock  against  the  secondary
       superblocks  before proceeding.  Should the primary be too corrupted to be useful in locating
       the secondary superblocks, the program scans the filesystem until it finds and validates some
       secondary superblocks.  At that point, it generates a primary superblock.

   Quotas
       If quotas are in use, it is possible that xfs_repair will clear some or all of the filesystem
       quota information.  If so, the program issues a warning just before it  terminates.   If  all
       quota  information  is lost, quotas are disabled and the program issues a warning to that ef‐
       fect.

       Note that xfs_repair does not check the validity of quota limits. It is recommended that  you
       check  the  quota limit information manually after xfs_repair.  Also, space usage information
       is automatically regenerated the next time the filesystem is mounted with quotas  turned  on,
       so the next quota mount of the filesystem may take some time.

DIAGNOSTICS
       xfs_repair  issues  informative  messages as it proceeds indicating what it has found that is
       abnormal or any corrective action that it has taken.  Most of the messages are completely un‐
       derstandable only to those who are knowledgeable about the structure of the filesystem.  Some
       of the more common messages are explained here.  Note that the language of  the  messages  is
       slightly different if xfs_repair is run in no-modify mode because the program is not changing
       anything  on disk.  No-modify mode indicates what it would do to repair the filesystem if run
       without the no-modify flag.

       disconnected inode ino, moving to lost+found

              An inode numbered ino was not connected to the filesystem directory tree and  was  re‐
              connected  to  the  lost+found  directory. The inode is assigned the name of its inode
              number (ino).  If a lost+found directory does not exist, it is automatically created.

       disconnected dir inode ino, moving to lost+found

              As above only the inode is a directory inode.  If a directory  inode  is  attached  to
              lost+found,  all of its children (if any) stay attached to the directory and therefore
              get automatically reconnected when the directory is reconnected.

       imap claims in-use inode ino is free, correcting imap

              The inode allocation map thinks that inode ino is free whereas examination of the  in‐
              ode  indicates  that  the  inode may be in use (although it may be disconnected).  The
              program updates the inode allocation map.

       imap claims free inode ino is in use, correcting imap

              The inode allocation map thinks that inode ino is in use whereas  examination  of  the
              inode  indicates  that the inode is not in use and therefore is free.  The program up‐
              dates the inode allocation map.

       resetting inode ino nlinks from x to y

              The program detected a mismatch between the number of valid directory  entries  refer‐
              encing  inode ino and the number of references recorded in the inode and corrected the
              the number in the inode.

       fork-type fork in ino ino claims used block bno

              Inode ino claims a block bno that is used (claimed) by either  another  inode  or  the
              filesystem  itself for metadata storage. The fork-type is either data or attr indicat‐
              ing whether the problem lies in the portion of the inode that tracks regular  data  or
              the portion of the inode that stores XFS attributes.  If the inode is a real-time (rt)
              inode,  the  message  says so.  Any inode that claims blocks used by the filesystem is
              deleted.  If two or more inodes claim the same block, they are both deleted.

       fork-type fork in ino ino claims dup extent ...

              Inode ino claims a block in an extent known to be claimed more than once.  The  offset
              in  the  inode, start and length of the extent is given.  The message is slightly dif‐
              ferent if the inode is a real-time (rt) inode and the extent is therefore a  real-time
              (rt) extent.

       inode ino - bad extent ...

              An  extent record in the blockmap of inode ino claims blocks that are out of the legal
              range of the filesystem.  The message supplies the start, end, and file offset of  the
              extent.  The message is slightly different if the extent is a real-time (rt) extent.

       bad fork-type fork in inode ino

              There  was  something structurally wrong or inconsistent with the data structures that
              map offsets to filesystem blocks.

       cleared inode ino

              There was something wrong with the inode that was uncorrectable so the  program  freed
              the  inode.   This  usually  happens  because the inode claims blocks that are used by
              something else or the inode itself is badly corrupted. Typically, this message is pre‐
              ceded by one or more messages indicating why the inode needed to be cleared.

       bad attribute fork in inode ino, clearing attr fork

              There was something wrong with the portion of the inode  that  stores  XFS  attributes
              (the  attribute  fork)  so the program reset the attribute fork.  As a result of this,
              all attributes on that inode are lost.

       correcting nextents for inode ino, was x - counted y

              The program found that the number of extents used to store the data in  the  inode  is
              wrong  and corrected the number.  The message refers to nextents if the count is wrong
              on the number of extents used to store attribute information.

       entry name in dir dir_ino not consistent with .. value (xxxx) in dir ino ino,  junking  entry
       name in directory inode dir_ino

              The  entry name in directory inode dir_ino references a directory inode ino.  However,
              the .. entry in directory ino does not point back to directory dir_ino, so the program
              deletes the entry name in directory inode dir_ino.  If the directory inode  ino  winds
              up becoming a disconnected inode as a result of this, it is moved to lost+found later.

       entry name in dir dir_ino references already connected dir ino ino, junking entry name in di‐
       rectory inode dir_ino

              The  entry  name  in  directory  inode dir_ino points to a directory inode ino that is
              known to be a child of another directory.  Therefore, the  entry  is  invalid  and  is
              deleted.   This message refers to an entry in a small directory.  If this were a large
              directory, the last phrase would read "will clear entry".

       entry references free inode ino in directory dir_ino, will clear entry

              An entry in directory inode dir_ino references an inode ino that is known to be  free.
              The  entry is therefore invalid and is deleted.  This message refers to a large direc‐
              tory.  If the directory were small, the message would read "junking entry ...".

EXIT STATUS
       xfs_repair -n (no modify mode) will return a status of 1 if  filesystem  corruption  was  de‐
       tected  and 0 if no filesystem corruption was detected.  xfs_repair run without the -n option
       will always return a status code of 0 if it completes without problems, unless the flag -e is
       used. If it is used, then status 4 is reported when any issue with the filesystem was  found,
       but could be fixed. If a runtime error is encountered during operation, it will return a sta‐
       tus  of  1. In this case, xfs_repair should be restarted.  If xfs_repair is unable to proceed
       due to a dirty log, it will return a status of 2.  See below.

DIRTY LOGS
       Due to the design of the XFS log, a dirty log can only be replayed by the kernel,  on  a  ma‐
       chine  having the same CPU architecture as the machine which was writing to the log.  xfs_re‐
       pair cannot replay a dirty log and will exit with a status code of 2 when it detects a  dirty
       log.

       In  this  situation,  the  log  can  be  replayed  by mounting and immediately unmounting the
       filesystem on the same class of machine that crashed.  Please make sure  that  the  machine's
       hardware is reliable before replaying to avoid compounding the problems.

       If mounting fails, the log can be erased by running xfs_repair with the -L option.  All meta‐
       data  updates  in progress at the time of the crash will be lost, which may cause significant
       filesystem damage.  This should only be used as a last resort.

BUGS
       The filesystem to be checked and repaired must have been unmounted cleanly using normal  sys‐
       tem  administration procedures (the umount(8) command or system shutdown), not as a result of
       a crash or system reset.  If the filesystem has not been unmounted cleanly, mount it and  un‐
       mount it cleanly before running xfs_repair.

       xfs_repair  does  not do a thorough job on XFS extended attributes.  The structure of the at‐
       tribute fork will be consistent, but only the contents of attribute forks that will fit  into
       an inode are checked.  This limitation will be fixed in the future.

       The no-modify mode (-n option) is not completely accurate.  It does not catch inconsistencies
       in the freespace and inode maps, particularly lost blocks or subtly corrupted maps (trees).

       The  no-modify  mode can generate repeated warnings about the same problems because it cannot
       fix the problems as they are encountered.

       If a filesystem fails to be repaired, a metadump image can be generated with  xfs_metadump(8)
       and be sent to an XFS maintainer to be analysed and xfs_repair fixed and/or improved.

SEE ALSO
       dd(1), mkfs.xfs(8), umount(8), xfs_admin(8), xfs_metadump(8), xfs(5).

                                                                                       xfs_repair(8)
xfs_repair(8) □✕
NAME SYNOPSIS
-t interval ] [ -l logdev ] [ -r rtdev ] device xfs_repair -V
DESCRIPTION OPTIONS
-f Specifies that the filesystem image to be processed is stored in a regular file at de‐ -L Force Log Zeroing. Forces xfs_repair to zero the log even if it is dirty (contains -l logdev -r rtdev -n No modify mode. Specifies that xfs_repair should not modify the filesystem but should -P Disable prefetching of inode and directory blocks. Use this option if you find xfs_re‐ -m maxmem -c subopt=value -o subopt[=value] -t interval -v Verbose output. May be specified multiple times to increase verbosity. -d Repair dangerously. Allow xfs_repair to repair an XFS filesystem mounted read only. -e If any metadata corruption was repaired, the status returned is 4 instead of the usual -V Prints the version number and exits. Checks Performed Disk Errors lost+found Corrupted Superblocks Quotas
DIAGNOSTICS EXIT STATUS DIRTY LOGS BUGS SEE ALSO

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