Running fsck

  1. Unmount the filesystem to be checked. The only way I was able to do this was to remove the disk from the fstab and then reboot
  2. Run the command on your hard drive (/dev/sdd1 for me). The -C 0 option prints a progress bar. The -y option answers yes to all questions. This will auto-fix:

    sudo sudo fsck.ext4 -C 0 -f -v -y /dev/sdd1

Breakdown:

  • -C 0 - Shows a progress bar on the terminal
  • -f - Force checking even if filesystem is clean
  • -v - Be verbose
  • -y - Assume yes to all questions (automatically fix errors)
  • /dev/sdd1 - The target filesystem

Forcing a Filesystem Check At Startup

Use this command:

sudo touch /forcefsck; sudo reboot

Breakdown:

  • sudo touch /forcefsck - Creates a an empty file called ‘forcefsck’ at the root of the filesystem (‘/’)
  • sudo reboot - Reboots in order to effect the changes

Note: The first time that I did this an interactive prompt came up that I need to clear from a local terminal (i.e., using a monitor and keyboard)

Resources

Stackoverflow answer - How do you get e2fsck to show progress information?