HD validation error (possible cause?)

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3 total messages Started by Roger Nelson - Grad Student Sun, 13 Jan 1991 21:36

#8008

Author: Roger Nelson - Grad Student
Date: Sun, 13 Jan 1991 21:36

44 lines
2650 bytes

------

Considering the number of people that have been complaining about the
header corruption/validation error, it would appear that there is a real
problem with the File System.

I usually get the error when ever two applications access the HD at the 
same time.  For example, I always get this error whenever I unarchive two 
files simultaneously with lharc to the HD. 

I now do everything in ram and copy to the HD; this is unacceptable.
I got the Amiga for its multitasking abilities which I need for my
research.  My research project requires several processes writting to
the hard drive.

Has anyone else noticed a pattern of validation errors other than those
cause by programs terminating or crashing without closing files?

Did the old file system have this problem, and is it fixed in 2.0?

Without anything else to go by, I would venture to guess that under
certain circumstances two different files are allocated that same block;
as if the task that allocates the file block switchs out before it can
finish marking the block as allocated.
I would be especially suspicious if blocks are allocated sequentially.
That is, if two tasks are writing to two files simultaneously, would the
allocated blocks be interleaved something like:

-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+--
file1|file1|file2|file1|file1|file2|file1|file2|file1|file2|file2|file2|
-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+--

If this is the case, wouldn't it make more sense to start block allocation
in a sector where there currently isn't any disk activity when the file is
opened?  This would probably also help alleviate fragmentation.

_____________________________________________________________________
      ______________
____  | ^          |    Roger Nelson          rnelson@yoda.eecs.wsu.edu
\^^ |*| ^          |    Agricultural Engineering Department     ///
 |^^//  ^^         |    Computer Science Department            ///
 |  '  ^          +|    Washington State University        \\\///
 \_  ^    _________|    Pullman, WA 99164                   \XX/
   `-----'

Re: HD validation error (possible cause?)

#8033

Author: Randell Jesup
Date: Tue, 15 Jan 1991 07:44

21 lines
1506 bytes

In article <1991Jan13.213610.16726@eecs.wsu.edu> rnelson@yoda.UUCP (Roger Nelson - Grad Student) writes:
>I usually get the error when ever two applications access the HD at the 
>same time.  For example, I always get this error whenever I unarchive two 
>files simultaneously with lharc to the HD. 

	Are you certain lharc doesn't conflict with itself?  A number of
ported utilities are known to assume that only one copy of their program is
running (or running in a given directory).  Someone here has indicated to
me that lharc probably has this problem.

	The FS is quite reliable against large numbers of simultaneous
operations.  Unlike OFS, even re-use of the blocks of deleted files in a
directory while it's currently exnexting over them will not hurt FFS (the
classic design problem with ExNext).

-- 
Randell Jesup, Keeper of AmigaDos, Commodore Engineering.
{uunet|rutgers}!cbmvax!jesup, jesup@cbmvax.commodore.com  BIX: rjesup  
The compiler runs
Like a swift-flowing river
I wait in silence.  (From "The Zen of Programming")  ;-)

Re: HD validation error (possible cause?)

#8040

Author: gregg.g.wonderly
Date: Thu, 17 Jan 1991 22:06

22 lines
1566 bytes

From article <1991Jan13.213610.16726@eecs.wsu.edu>, by rnelson@eecs.wsu.edu (Roger Nelson - Grad Student):
> ------
> 
> Considering the number of people that have been complaining about the
> header corruption/validation error, it would appear that there is a real
> problem with the File System.

I used to have continual problems and frustration with having to backup
and restore my development partition.  Now, I too have moved to a
smaller partition which only requires a minimum of effort to backup and
restore.  There was a comment from one of the CA people that the
"Read/Write error" requester is only generated on a media error.  When
I diskdoctor such a partition, I get "multiple files reference block",
but after restoring (I backed up before diskdoctoring with a file by
file type backup program), not one single file is corrupted or
missing.  The data checks out flawlessly when I just read off of that
partition using my media checking program.  My personal opinion is that
the problem is in the FFS handler!

-- 
-----
gregg.g.wonderly@att.com   (AT&T bell laboratories)

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