NTFS $MFT corruption

[djohnston]

I dunno. I set up dual booting with WindowsXP SP2 on a single virtual hard drive. The Windows boot partition was already formatted as NTFS, and I formatted the Data D: drive as NTFS from WindowsXP. Here are the mount points and fstab:

[darrel@localhost ~]$ mount
/dev/sda4 on / type ext3 (rw)
none on /proc type proc (rw)
none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw)
/dev/sda1 on /mnt/C_drive type fuseblk (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,blksize=4096,default_permissions)
/dev/sda2 on /mnt/D_drive type fuseblk (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,blksize=4096,default_permissions)
none on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/darrel/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=darrel)

[darrel@localhost ~]$ cat /etc/fstab
# Entry for /dev/sda4 :
LABEL=Linux / ext3 defaults 1 1
# Entry for /dev/sda1 :
LABEL=XP /mnt/C_drive ntfs-3g defaults,umask=000 0 0
# Entry for /dev/sda2 :
LABEL=Data /mnt/D_drive ntfs-3g defaults,umask=000 0 0
none /proc proc defaults 0 0
# Entry for /dev/sda3 :
LABEL=SWAP swap swap defaults 0 0
none /dev/pts devpts defaults 0 0
[darrel@localhost ~]$

I've copied several graphic files and flash videos from PCLinuxOS to the Data (/dev/sda2) partition. I created two text files from Linux and, other than missing line feeds in the text files, which causes the lines to run together on Windows, I've had no errors and no chkdsk running on Windows boot.

The only differences I see in the fstab I'm using and yours, (aside from using LABEL= instead of UUID=), is:
(1) I set the mount points under the /mnt directory.
(2) I have an additional user mask (defaults,umask=000).

Of course, I have lots of free disk space, too.

[darrel@localhost ~]$ df
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda4              19G  2.0G   16G  12% /
/dev/sda1              11G  2.6G  7.5G  26% /mnt/C_drive
/dev/sda2              10G   98M   10G   1% /mnt/D_drive

[janasx1]

Djohnston,
Thanks a lot for doing this test.

I did clean up the C: to have more than 10% and ran chkdsk on both drives.
Its didnt report an errors from c: and did report errors from e:

Is there anyother way to have a shared partition between xp and linux?
or any xp software to read ext* fs?

Let me also try to do some more test like manually unmount before log off etc.

Thanks

[djohnston]

As per your earlier question,

Is it possible to check (system logs or some thing) to see if the unmount at the time of logout is giving any error?

Try /var/log/messages (need to be root to view) and ~/.xsession-errors.

Is there anyother way to have a shared partition between xp and linux?

Other than using a FAT or ntfs-3g filesystem, I don't know of any. With FAT32, you have a 2GB file size limit on copying files.

or any xp software to read ext* fs?

Yes, there are Windows apps. For a list and some user comments, see here. As I understand it, all of those programs are pretty unreliable in writing to an ext journaling filesystem from Windows, as they don't properly update the journal. That leaves only ext2. I don't know of anything that is supposed to work with ext4. That leaves reading as the only reliable option from Windows on ext3.

From what I have read, the ntfs-3g filesystem seems to be the best overall option for reading and writing from both OSes to the same partition. I have never tried it, so I'll be reformatting my data partition (Windows drive D:) from its native NTFS to the other filesystem. Then I'll see how both OSes react to another one modifying files.

Do you have any external drives large enough to back up the data on your "shared" partition?

[djohnston]

janasx1,

After researching it, it seems I was mistaken. There is no difference between the ntfs-3g filesystem and traditional NTFS. The partition types are both x07. The only difference, where Linux is concerned, is how the filesystem is handled. I don't know why the PCLinuxOS partitioning tool (diskdrake) shows them as two different filesystems.

[AS]

janasx1,

After researching it, it seems I was mistaken. There is no difference between the ntfs-3g filesystem and traditional NTFS. The partition types are both x07. The only difference, where Linux is concerned, is how the filesystem is handled. I don't know why the PCLinuxOS partitioning tool (diskdrake) shows them as two different filesystems.

The difference is not the "partition type" but the different modules managing the filesystem:
ntfs module will work as read-only (because the write feature is still experimental and will never become "stable",
ntfs-3g is the "alternative" modules that work read-write, right now it is the "stable" solution.

Choices about ntfs/ntfs-3g in diskdrake will affect the /etc/fstab "filesystem type", not the "partition type".

AS

[djohnston]

janasx1,

After researching it, it seems I was mistaken. There is no difference between the ntfs-3g filesystem and traditional NTFS. The partition types are both x07. The only difference, where Linux is concerned, is how the filesystem is handled. I don't know why the PCLinuxOS partitioning tool (diskdrake) shows them as two different filesystems.

The difference is not the "partition type" but the different modules managing the filesystem:
ntfs module will work as read-only (because the write feature is still experimental and will never become "stable",
ntfs-3g is the "alternative" modules that work read-write, right now it is the "stable" solution.

Choices about ntfs/ntfs-3g in diskdrake will affect the /etc/fstab "filesystem type", not the "partition type".

AS

Thanks. That's what I was trying to say. It's not a difference in filesystem or partition types. It's a difference in the filesystem handlers, or drivers, if you will.

[hal8000]

Djohnston,
Thanks a lot for doing this test.

I did clean up the C: to have more than 10% and ran chkdsk on both drives.
Its didnt report an errors from c: and did report errors from e:

Is there anyother way to have a shared partition between xp and linux?
or any xp software to read ext* fs?

Let me also try to do some more test like manually unmount before log off etc.

Thanks

I don't know of any other ways to share a partition, but there are alternative ways to share
data between windows and linux.
One is  setup a dropbox account (this is web based storage so data is secure even if you have problems with your local hard drive).
Other offline storage and cloud storage like Adrive http://www.adrive.com/ may also be an alternative for you.
If you no longer have problems with the MFT then you need to mark your post as solved.
Windoze needs swap space to operate and the fact that it was 97% full may well have been
the problem.

[janasx1]

Hi all,
Thanks for the help and suggestions.
Sorry for being quiet for few days. I was not able to concentrate because of work days and also every re-boot takes so much time in xp.

djohnston,
I am not very worried about the data in the shared partition as I have not started using linux fully because of the issue.
I do have external drives and thanks for the suggestion to back up.

I did find something interesting thats different between my home laptop and that seems to be the source of the issue.
I have eclipse workspaces in C: in office laptop that I copied to my shared partition E: (Since I didnt mention the drive letter, some of you mentioned it as D:).
I dont have any eclipse workspace in my home laptop.
I have seen errors from XP, in different machines, about file path and name being too large. The folder structure are complex and filenames are long in eclipse workspace.
After correcting the error with chkdsk, I created a folder and a file under it both from xp and linux. These new folders and files are accessible and editable across without errors.
Then I tried copying the workspace from C: to E: from within linux (the first time I did it from xp and opened, used workspace from linux).
The copy itself didnt have any error. I opened the workspace from linux and executed a simple java program, closed the workspace.
Then rebooted to xp and tried opening the workspace and started seeing the same errors.

Let me get the messages from logs and post it here.

Thanks

[djohnston]

I have eclipse workspaces in C: in office laptop that I copied to my shared partition E: (Since I didnt mention the drive letter, some of you mentioned it as D:).
I dont have any eclipse workspace in my home laptop.
I have seen errors from XP, in different machines, about file path and name being too large. The folder structure are complex and filenames are long in eclipse workspace.

I guess you're a java developer? Eclipse IDE is something I have zero experience with. I do know it's installable in PCLinuxOS from Synaptic.

[janasx1]

djohnston,
Yes, I am a java developer.

Here are some log messages related to ntfs-3g. Not sure if it gives any clue.

Thanks

/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 00:12:01 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[706]: ntfs_mst_post_read_fixup: magic: 0x00000001  size: 1024  usa_ofs: 0  usa_count: 65535: Invalid argument
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 00:12:01 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[706]: ntfs_mst_post_read_fixup: magic: 0x00000001  size: 1024  usa_ofs: 0  usa_count: 65535: Invalid argument
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 00:12:01 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[706]: ntfs_mst_post_read_fixup: magic: 0x00000000  size: 1024  usa_ofs: 0  usa_count: 65535: Invalid argument
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:26:17 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[3945]: blkid gave: ntfs-3g 88CC6AE7CC6ACF4E
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:26:17 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[3945]: blkid gave: ntfs-3g D6FE4D1AFE4CF471 lin-win-shr
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:26:17 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[3945]: err, fstab and partition table do not agree for sda1 type: ntfs-3g vs fuseblk
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:26:17 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[3945]: err, fstab and partition table do not agree for sda3 type: ntfs-3g vs fuseblk
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:28:18 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[700]: Unmounting /dev/sda3 (lin-win-shr)
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:28:42 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[3945]: mounting UUID=D6FE4D1AFE4CF471 on /e as type ntfs-3g, options defaults
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:28:43 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[3945]: running: mount -t ntfs-3g UUID=D6FE4D1AFE4CF471 /e -o defaults
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:28:43 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[5020]: Version 2011.1.15 external FUSE 28
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:28:43 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[5020]: Mounted /dev/sda3 (Read-Write, label "lin-win-shr", NTFS 3.1)
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:28:43 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[5020]: Cmdline options: rw
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:28:43 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[5020]: Mount options: rw,allow_other,nonempty,relatime,fsname=/dev/sda3,blkdev,blksize=4096
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:28:43 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[5020]: Ownership and permissions disabled, configuration type 1
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:28:58 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[5109]: blkid gave: ntfs-3g 88CC6AE7CC6ACF4E
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:28:58 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[5109]: blkid gave: ntfs-3g D6FE4D1AFE4CF471 lin-win-shr
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:28:58 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[5109]: err, fstab and partition table do not agree for sda1 type: ntfs-3g vs fuseblk
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:28:58 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[5109]: err, fstab and partition table do not agree for sda3 type: ntfs-3g vs fuseblk
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:29:02 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[5020]: Unmounting /dev/sda3 (lin-win-shr)
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:29:16 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[5109]: mounting UUID=D6FE4D1AFE4CF471 on /e as type ntfs-3g, options sync
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:29:16 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[5109]: running: mount -t ntfs-3g UUID=D6FE4D1AFE4CF471 /e -o sync
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:29:16 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[5272]: Version 2011.1.15 external FUSE 28
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:29:16 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[5272]: Mounted /dev/sda3 (Read-Write, label "lin-win-shr", NTFS 3.1)
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:29:16 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[5272]: Cmdline options: rw,sync
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:29:16 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[5272]: Mount options: rw,sync,allow_other,nonempty,relatime,fsname=/dev/sda3,blkdev,blksize=4096
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:29:16 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[5272]: Ownership and permissions disabled, configuration type 1
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:30:08 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[5272]: Trying to read non-allocated mft records (161600 > 161424): Illegal seek
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:30:09 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[5272]: Trying to read non-allocated mft records (161495 > 161424): Illegal seek


/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:30:48 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[5272]: ntfs_mst_post_read_fixup: magic: 0x00000002  size: 1024  usa_ofs: 0  usa_count: 65535: Invalid argument


/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:31:29 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[5272]: Trying to read non-allocated mft records (161499 > 161440): Illegal seek
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:33:20 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[7228]: blkid gave: ntfs-3g 88CC6AE7CC6ACF4E
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:33:20 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[7228]: blkid gave: ntfs-3g D6FE4D1AFE4CF471 lin-win-shr
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:33:20 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[7228]: err, fstab and partition table do not agree for sda1 type: ntfs-3g vs fuseblk
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:33:20 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[7228]: err, fstab and partition table do not agree for sda3 type: ntfs-3g vs fuseblk
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:33:35 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[7343]: blkid gave: ntfs-3g 88CC6AE7CC6ACF4E
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:33:35 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[7343]: blkid gave: ntfs-3g D6FE4D1AFE4CF471 lin-win-shr
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:33:35 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[7343]: err, fstab and partition table do not agree for sda1 type: ntfs-3g vs fuseblk
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:33:35 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[7343]: err, fstab and partition table do not agree for sda3 type: ntfs-3g vs fuseblk
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:36:03 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[5272]: Unmounting /dev/sda3 (lin-win-shr)




/var/log/messages:Apr  8 04:05:59 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[707]: ntfs_mst_post_read_fixup: magic: 0x00000000  size: 1024  usa_ofs: 0  usa_count: 65535: Invalid argument
/var/log/messages:Apr  8 04:05:59 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[707]: Record 161427 has no FILE magic (0x0)
/var/log/messages:Apr 12 00:08:10 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[714]: ntfs_mst_post_read_fixup: magic: 0x00000002  size: 1024  usa_ofs: 0  usa_count: 65535: Invalid argument
/var/log/messages:Apr 12 00:08:30 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[714]: ntfs_mst_post_read_fixup: magic: 0x00000002  size: 1024  usa_ofs: 0  usa_count: 65535: Invalid argument
/var/log/messages:Apr 12 00:08:30 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[714]: ntfs_mst_post_read_fixup: magic: 0x00000000  size: 1024  usa_ofs: 0  usa_count: 65535: Invalid argument
/var/log/messages:Apr 12 00:09:12 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[4019]: blkid gave: ntfs-3g 88CC6AE7CC6ACF4E
/var/log/messages:Apr 12 00:09:12 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[4019]: blkid gave: ntfs-3g D6FE4D1AFE4CF471 lin-win-shr
/var/log/messages:Apr 12 00:09:13 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[4019]: err, fstab and partition table do not agree for sda1 type: ntfs-3g vs fuseblk
/var/log/messages:Apr 12 00:09:13 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[4019]: err, fstab and partition table do not agree for sda3 type: ntfs-3g vs fuseblk
/var/log/messages:Apr 12 00:09:24 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[714]: Unmounting /dev/sda3 (lin-win-shr)
/var/log/messages:Apr 12 00:23:11 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[690]: ntfs_mst_post_read_fixup: magic: 0x00000000  size: 1024  usa_ofs: 0  usa_count: 65535: Invalid argument
/var/log/messages:Apr 12 00:25:23 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[690]: ntfs_mst_post_read_fixup: magic: 0x00000005  size: 1024  usa_ofs: 0  usa_count: 65535: Invalid argument
/var/log/messages:Apr 12 00:25:36 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[690]: ntfs_mst_post_read_fixup: magic: 0x00000005  size: 1024  usa_ofs: 0  usa_count: 65535: Invalid argument
/var/log/messages:Apr 12 00:50:29 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[690]: ntfs_mst_post_read_fixup: magic: 0x00000005  size: 1024  usa_ofs: 0  usa_count: 65535: Invalid argument
/var/log/messages:Apr 12 00:57:05 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[690]: ntfs_mst_post_read_fixup: magic: 0x00000000  size: 1024  usa_ofs: 0  usa_count: 65535: Invalid argument
/var/log/messages:Apr 12 00:57:06 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[690]: ntfs_mst_post_read_fixup: magic: 0x00000001  size: 1024  usa_ofs: 0  usa_count: 65535: Invalid argument
/var/log/messages:Apr 12 00:57:06 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[690]: ntfs_mst_post_read_fixup: magic: 0x00000000  size: 1024  usa_ofs: 0  usa_count: 65535: Invalid argument
/var/log/messages:Apr 12 00:58:26 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[690]: ntfs_mst_post_read_fixup: magic: 0x00000000  size: 1024  usa_ofs: 0  usa_count: 65535: Invalid argument
/var/log/messages:Apr 12 09:13:22 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[16515]: blkid gave: ntfs-3g 88CC6AE7CC6ACF4E
/var/log/messages:Apr 12 09:13:22 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[16515]: blkid gave: ntfs-3g D6FE4D1AFE4CF471 lin-win-shr
/var/log/messages:Apr 12 09:13:22 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[16515]: err, fstab and partition table do not agree for sda1 type: ntfs-3g vs fuseblk
/var/log/messages:Apr 12 09:13:22 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[16515]: err, fstab and partition table do not agree for sda3 type: ntfs-3g vs fuseblk
/var/log/messages:Apr 12 09:13:25 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[690]: Unmounting /dev/sda3 (lin-win-shr)
/var/log/messages:Apr 13 23:18:05 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[4657]: blkid gave: ntfs-3g 88CC6AE7CC6ACF4E
/var/log/messages:Apr 13 23:18:05 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[4657]: blkid gave: ntfs-3g D6FE4D1AFE4CF471 lin-win-shr
/var/log/messages:Apr 13 23:18:05 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[4657]: err, fstab and partition table do not agree for sda1 type: ntfs-3g vs fuseblk
/var/log/messages:Apr 13 23:18:05 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[4657]: err, fstab and partition table do not agree for sda3 type: ntfs-3g vs fuseblk
/var/log/messages:Apr 13 23:18:09 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[703]: Unmounting /dev/sda3 (lin-win-shr)
/var/log/messages:Apr 13 23:19:18 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[4657]: mounting UUID=D6FE4D1AFE4CF471 on /e as type ntfs-3g, options defaults
/var/log/messages:Apr 13 23:19:18 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[4657]: running: mount -t ntfs-3g UUID=D6FE4D1AFE4CF471 /e -o defaults
/var/log/messages:Apr 13 23:19:18 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[5060]: Version 2011.1.15 external FUSE 28
/var/log/messages:Apr 13 23:19:18 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[5060]: Mounted /dev/sda3 (Read-Write, label "lin-win-shr", NTFS 3.1)
/var/log/messages:Apr 13 23:19:18 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[5060]: Cmdline options: rw
/var/log/messages:Apr 13 23:19:18 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[5060]: Mount options: rw,allow_other,nonempty,relatime,fsname=/dev/sda3,blkdev,blksize=4096
/var/log/messages:Apr 13 23:19:18 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[5060]: Ownership and permissions disabled, configuration type 1
/var/log/messages:Apr 13 23:19:27 SBK013638L1CMG ntfs-3g[5060]: Trying to read non-allocated mft records (161681 > 161504): Illegal seek

[djohnston]

I think I see the problem.

/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:26:17 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[3945]: err, fstab and partition table do not agree for sda1 type: ntfs-3g vs fuseblk
/var/log/messages.1:Apr  6 18:26:17 SBK013638L1CMG diskdrake[3945]: err, fstab and partition table do not agree for sda3 type: ntfs-3g vs fuseblk

Let's also make sure everything's up to date. Post the results of these commands:

uname -r
rpm --version
blkid
mount

[janasx1]

Here are the outputs for these commands.


[janakiramans@SBK013638L1CMG ~]$ uname -r
2.6.38.8-pclos1.bfs
[janakiramans@SBK013638L1CMG ~]$ rpm --version
RPM version 4.8.1
[janakiramans@SBK013638L1CMG ~]$ blkid
/dev/loop0: TYPE="squashfs"
/dev/sda5: UUID="e52f4861-f5f0-4614-91a0-3a24893ed03b" TYPE="ext2"
/dev/sda6: UUID="b1c8f6e3-7b96-4da3-8620-42c9ee908f30" TYPE="swap"
/dev/sda1: UUID="88CC6AE7CC6ACF4E" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sda7: UUID="a75972bd-7e4b-408d-b086-0ecb9a6b1498" TYPE="ext2"
[janakiramans@SBK013638L1CMG ~]$ mount
/dev/sda5 on / type ext2 (rw)
none on /proc type proc (rw)
none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw)
/dev/sda1 on /c type fuseblk (ro,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,blksize=4096)
/dev/sda3 on /e type fuseblk (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,blksize=4096)
/dev/sda7 on /home type ext2 (rw)
none on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw)
/proc on /var/lib/named/proc type none (rw,bind)
[janakiramans@SBK013638L1CMG ~]$