From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Nov 26 23:16:52 2004 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id AC2E716A4CE for ; Fri, 26 Nov 2004 23:16:52 +0000 (GMT) Received: from smtp103.rog.mail.re2.yahoo.com (smtp103.rog.mail.re2.yahoo.com [206.190.36.81]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 286CE43D2D for ; Fri, 26 Nov 2004 23:16:52 +0000 (GMT) (envelope-from mardoc-inc@rogers.com) Received: from unknown (HELO rogers.com) (mardoc-inc@69.193.143.97 with plain) by smtp103.rog.mail.re2.yahoo.com with SMTP; 26 Nov 2004 23:16:51 -0000 Message-ID: <41A7B95F.9090507@rogers.com> Date: Fri, 26 Nov 2004 18:16:47 -0500 From: Mardoc Inc User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.4) Gecko/20030624 Netscape/7.1 (ax) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: "freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.org" , mardoc-inc@rogers.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.1 Subject: fsck inadequacies X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 26 Nov 2004 23:16:52 -0000 I run a FreeBSD system at a remote site. It costs me over $4000 to visit the site (northern arctic). It, along with some other equipment, runs off 2 x 50 kW diesel generators which are swapped by a mechanic once per week. The swap-over takes less than a minute. The computer runs off a UPS, which easily holds its charge during the swap. But, unlike the other windows systems that run up there, the FreeBSD system seems incredibly prone to disk corruption. Often the system will not reboot, and hangs while it asks for a file check. I can't do that remotely - it has to be a person. I frequently need to run fsck, and that does not always work. It is hard to instruct a diesel mechanic on such matters from such a distance. "fsck -y" usually does not work either. Is there any way I can make the disk a bit less sensitive? e.g. some clever additional command when I mount it in the fstab file which says "don't be too fussy - boot up even if I don't feel that well'. It seems someone only needs to sneeeze and it goes into panic mode. I would happily live with the odd corrupt disk track or so if it means I can keep it running and at least be able to access it remotely. Please don't advise me to be more careful and get a better power supply etc - it simply is not possible. This is a very remote site, the humidity is low, static electricity is always a problem. thanks Wayne Hocking