USB stick shows lock, how do I get 'Check filesystem' to work?

[Governor]

Code: Select all

 • PUPMODE=13
 • PDEV1='nvme0n1p2'
 • DEV1FS='ext3'
 • PUPSFS='nvme0n1p2,ext3,/Bookworm64_10.0.6/puppy_dpupbw64_10.0.6.sfs'
 • PUPSAVE='nvme0n1p3,ext3,/Bookworm_save/dpupbw64save-2024-06-25-basic'
 • PMEDIA='ataflash'

Why does this USB stick show a lock?

USB stick shows lock, how to get check filesystem to work.png (117.83 KiB) Viewed 816 times

How do I get 'check filesystem' to work?
When I right click on the sf1 or sf2 drive icon and choose 'check filesystem', nothing happens.
And in terminal, nothing happens and I instantly go back to the CLI:

Code: Select all

# fsck -A -V
fsck from util-linux 2.38.1
Checking all file systems.
# 

I can check the sdf1 partition on a Windows computer, but not the sdf2. Is there another way to check these partitions?

[stevie pup]

I probably can't answer your question, but what exactly are you wanting to check? What aspect of the filesystem?

But I will mention one thing that may or may not be relevant. I have only ever used a Sandisk Cruzer USB stick once, a few years ago. It was nothing but trouble in more ways than I can remember, so I said never again!

[Governor]

I probably can't answer your question, but what exactly are you wanting to check? What aspect of the filesystem?

But I will mention one thing that may or may not be relevant. I have only ever used a Sandisk Cruzer USB stick once, a few years ago. It was nothing but trouble in more ways than I can remember, so I said never again!

I got suspicious because when I right-click on the partition in pmount and choose show location, nothing happens. And when I tried to copy a file from the internal nvme drive onto the second partition, nothing appears to happen, but the activity indicator is lighting continuously.

Ok, then maybe the USB stick is the problem. I will try changing to another boot stick. Is it ok to partition a new boot stick and copy the files from the original to the new partitions, or is necessary to clone it?
Thanks.

[Governor]

'Check filesystem' is not working on any drive.

How to fix?

[williwaw]

what does the -A option do when run with fsck?

[d-pupp]

'Check filesystem' is not working on any drive.

The drive must be unmounted for fsck to run. This is by design to prevent the os making changes while fsck is running. Can cause data corruption.
Also be careful with fsck is can really mess up a drive if you don't know what you are doing and just let it make changes. Run fsck -N do not execute, just show what would be done first.

[TerryH]

'Check filesystem' is not working on any drive.

The drive must be unmounted for fsck to run. This is by design to prevent the os making changes while fsck is running. Can cause data corruption.
Also be careful with fsck is can really mess up a drive if you don't know what you are doing and just let it make changes. Run fsck -N do not execute, just show what would be done first.

Adding to d-pupp's advice, you should run for the drive you want to check, which from you post above would be /dev/sdf2. So fsck -N /dev/sdf2.
When running fsck without the -N option, from memory if errors are found you are asked to confirm if it is to be corrected.

[Governor]

what does the -A option do when run with fsck?

-A check all filesystems

[williwaw]

all what filesystems?
Have you read the man page?

[Governor]

'Check filesystem' is not working on any drive.

The drive must be unmounted for fsck to run. This is by design to prevent the os making changes while fsck is running. Can cause data corruption.
Also be careful with fsck is can really mess up a drive if you don't know what you are doing and just let it make changes. Run fsck -N do not execute, just show what would be done first.

Adding to d-pupp's advice, you should run for the drive you want to check, which from you post above would be /dev/sdf2. So fsck -N /dev/sdf2.
When running fsck without the -N option, from memory if errors are found you are asked to confirm if it is to be corrected.

I find it very disconcerting when I suddenly learn that the fsck command is risky to use.

[Governor]

In bookworm, I get nothing.

This is what I get after running fsck from pmount on /dev/sdd In fossapup:.

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fsck from util-linux 2.34
fsck.fat 4.1 (2017-01-24)
Checking we can access the last sector of the filesystem
Boot sector contents:
System ID "mkfs.fat"
Media byte 0xf8 (hard disk)
       512 bytes per logical sector
       512 bytes per cluster
        32 reserved sectors
First FAT starts at byte 16384 (sector 32)
         2 FATs, 32 bit entries
   1032704 bytes per FAT (= 2017 sectors)
Root directory start at cluster 2 (arbitrary size)
Data area starts at byte 2081792 (sector 4066)
    258078 data clusters (132135936 bytes)
62 sectors/track, 247 heads
      2048 hidden sectors
    262144 sectors total
Checking for unused clusters.
Checking free cluster summary.
/dev/sdd1: 305 files, 25342/258078 cluster

[Governor]

all what filesystems?
Have you read the man page?

"what does the -A option do when run with fsck?" Was that a trick question? Hmm.

When commands are made readily available to every user, one must assume that they are safe to use. This is obvious. If they are not safe to use, they should not be offered. If the commands partially work, this must be clearly stipulated in plain view, so every user can read the caveats before executing the command.

Before executing the fsck command in pmount, I read nothing except "Check filesystem" because that is all it says.

This is what I read before executing the command at the prompt:

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root# fsck --help

Usage:
 fsck [options] -- [fs-options] [<filesystem> ...]

Check and repair a Linux filesystem.

Options:
 -A         check all filesystems
 -C [<fd>]  display progress bar; file descriptor is for GUIs
 -l         lock the device to guarantee exclusive access
 -M         do not check mounted filesystems
 -N         do not execute, just show what would be done
 -P         check filesystems in parallel, including root
 -R         skip root filesystem; useful only with '-A'
 -r [<fd>]  report statistics for each device checked;
            file descriptor is for GUIs
 -s         serialize the checking operations
 -T         do not show the title on startup
 -t <type>  specify filesystem types to be checked;
            <type> is allowed to be a comma-separated list
 -V         explain what is being done

 -?, --help     display this help
     --version  display version

See the specific fsck.* commands for available fs-options.
For more details see fsck(8).

I have no idea what the last two lines mean.
See...
For more....

[Governor]

I probably can't answer your question, but what exactly are you wanting to check? What aspect of the filesystem?

But I will mention one thing that may or may not be relevant. I have only ever used a Sandisk Cruzer USB stick once, a few years ago. It was nothing but trouble in more ways than I can remember, so I said never again!

Copying files from one USB stick to another didn't work, so I used e3stickpup, and that worked. However, there is no change; 'Check filesystem' does not work in bookworm, but works in fossapup.

[fredx181]

The -A option works only if /etc/fstab is in use (which is not on Puppy, AFAIK)
From manual:

-A – Used for checking all filesystems. The list is taken from /etc/fstab.

So you must specify the partition to check, e.g. /dev/sdd1 . (unmount it first, if mounted)

See the specific fsck.* commands for available fs-options.
For more details see fsck(8).

I have no idea what the last two lines mean.
See...
For more....

Means commands like fsck.ext4 or fsck.fat

[Semme]

Governor,

If you have another Pup and usb port free, you could free the Bookworm stick and run fsck.

Then there's the possiblity the filesystem aboard Bookworm has a glitch somewhere and you've found a bug.

Your inability to run fsck is more likely because the system you're trying to check is mounted, hence the lock.

Here I *don't* have the ability to check sdb3, the partition I currently boot from.

[Governor]

Bookworm
I replaced all the .sfs files on my boot stick with those in the .iso, but that did not help.
Also, in pmount, when I right-click and choose "Show location" (for a mounted drive which is not being accessed), nothing happens.
Thanks.

[williwaw]

Fred nailed it. a peek into /etc/fstab should tell you why your command executed succesfully but did nothing.

Was that a trick question? hmmm

not at all, find out what it does

one must assume..........

hmmm

For more details see fsck(8).

I have no idea what the last two lines mean.
See...
For more....

the --help option provides a minimal guide to the basics options and a reference to the actual documentation. if you google "fsck(8)" your first result will be
https://linux.die.net/man/8/fsck

Puppy does not traditionally include man pages as most distributions do, something to do with an older pratice of trying to keep the iso small enough to put on a CD.
This exclusion by no means suggests man pages are not useful or should not be checked when in doubt.

show location in pmount should work,
perhaps a mention in the bookworm subforum?

[bigpup]

Using Pmount program.

It seems to be all about what mouse click you use to bring up the selection menu and also use to select.
Bring up the selection menu with a left click, then select file system check, by also using the left click.
It works.

If you use a right click to bring up the selection menu.
Left click on the file system check does nothing.
Right click on file system check and it works.

So the same mouse click you use to bring up the selection menu, has to be the same one you use to select from the menu.

File system check will still only be available on a partition that is not mounted.

If there is a lock indicator on a specific drive.
That indicates one of the partitions on it is mounted.
So the drive is in a mounted condition.
Actually a warning to not shutdown the drive, until all partitions on it are not mounted.

Like if it was a external drive you wanted to unplug.

During normal Puppy OS shutdown.
All mounted partitions, on all drives, are first unmounted, and then the drive is shutdown.

The file system on a drive, is the format, of it's partitions.
Each partition is formatted, with a file system. The format is a file system.
So checking the file system, is checking the format (file system), on a specific partition, on the drive.

Note:

It is reported by Radky (developer of BookwormPup64) that this way of using mouse clicks is a (Bug) feature of programs using GTK3 to operate.
GTK devs are adamant about the usefulness of features added (or removed) as GTK2 transitioned to GTK3. However, I think we all agree that GTK3 lacks many of the convenient capabilities of GTK2, and additional restrictions are implemented in GTK4. It seems these functional quirks (bugs) are considered new features by the GTK devs.

Use the same mouse click to bring up a selection menu and also select from it.