Disk error - infinitely repeating directory

[Paul]

I have a disk error on SDA1, one of my directories repeats itself pretty well indefinitely, in other words when you open the directory there is one of the same name, which when opened has one of the same name, which when opened .......... you get the picture.
When I try to fix the drive through Snake OS by logging in with my browser, it complains that it it is being used.
If I unmount it there is no option to scan the drive or fix it.
I have Debian installed, so is there any way to fix the drive through a Debian command or by means of Snake OS, or another utility?
Thanks,
Paul.

[Douglas Gazineu]

Paul:

What is the format of the disk? ( ext2, ext3, ntfs)?

Generally speaking, you can use fsck command to check/repair the filesystem. 

For an automatic attempt (not really recommended), use this command: "fsck -y /dev/sdX" , where sdX is your affected partition.

(Should take a very long time depending on disk size/occupation/luck).

Best regards,

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Douglas Gazineu

[Paul Hysen]

The format is ext3. To affect the repair, do I need to be in Snake OS via Putty or do I have to log into Debian?

In Snake OS the command "fsck" is not recognised.

In Debian it comes up with: "fsck: fsck.swap not found"

"fsck: Error 2 while executing fsck.swap for /dev/sda1"

So where am I going wrong here?

Paul.

[Douglas Gazineu]

Hi:
The correct command on Debian is fsck.ext3 for your filesystem, as it does not have detected.

Sent by phone
Douglas Gazineu

[Paul Hysen]

Hello Douglas,

Thanks for that; tried that, and it does all the right things (apart from the warning it can damage the data on the disk because it is mounted).

But it does not fix the problem.

As I am logged into Debian maybe it only does the Debian root and Debian directories and sub-directories; in which case it will not see the directories that are located on another part of the drive, e.g.: Debian is one directory on the drive and the affected directory is a sub-directory of a directory called "update" on the same drive; it is not a sub-directory of Debian.

The real problem is that there is a facility in Snake OS to fix a drive, but of course you first have to unmount the drive; after which the drive is no longer accessible and the option for fixing the drive no longer appears. A bit of a catch-22 situation.

Paul.

[Douglas Gazineu]

Hi,

In this case, as the Debian you are trying to use is on the NAS, you will have to mount the disk on another computer to run fsck.ext3 with the disk unmounted.
I would suggest you to use a bootable Linux live CD, like Ubuntu, if you don't have another Linux machine handy.

Sent by phone
Douglas Gazineu

[Paul Hysen]

Thanks for that Douglas,

Tried this on my Ubuntu machine, but it came up as a directory, viz.: /media/paul/SNAKEDISK and I was unable to work out how to scan the drive with fsck.

I was however able to delete the infinitely repeating directories while connected to the Ubuntu machine without problems, so this particular issue is now fixed.

As I have been unable to find a utility with a graphical interface that can fix directories and scan drives for Ubuntu, I would probably have been better of using a boot disk to fix the problem, as there still may be errors on the drive. I may get keen and try that later. Paul.