hfs+: unable to access random files (after a while)

hfs+: unable to access random files (after a while)

[Luc Pionchon]

Hi,

my system randomly fails to access (random) files on a HFS+ partition.

Could anybody help me to identify the issue?


I have a HFS+ partition shared between Linux and OSX.
I created it with OSX Disk Utility as HFS+, Case sensitive, Not Journaled.

After "some time" the system fails to access random files.
It gives various error messages, like:
- "Error when getting information for file 'foo': Cannot allocate memory"
- "Error when getting information for file 'foo': invalid argument"
- "Error when getting information for file 'foo': input/output error"

Sometimes it is enough to unmount/remount the partition,
then it works fine again "for a while".

I am having this issue since 3.13.
It is still present in 4.1.0-rc1.
3.12.24 used to work fine.

Can it be an issue on my specific partition? Or in the driver?
OSX Disk Utility reports no issue on the partition,
and OSX Finder never complains.
fsck.hfsplus reports no issue either.

I gave more information at https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=78761


Could anybody help me to identify the issue?

Re: hfs+: unable to access random files (after a while)

[Viacheslav Dubeyko]

On Wed, 2015-05-06 at 11:41 +0200, Luc Pionchon wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> my system randomly fails to access (random) files on a HFS+ partition.
> 
> Could anybody help me to identify the issue?
> 
> 
> I have a HFS+ partition shared between Linux and OSX.
> I created it with OSX Disk Utility as HFS+, Case sensitive, Not Journaled.
> 

Does this partition live on HDD or SSD? Are you sure that your SSD is
alive (if partition lives on SSD)?

If you'll move partition on another device the issue will be
reproducible?

Thanks,
Vyacheslav Dubeyko.

Re: hfs+: unable to access random files (after a while)

[Luc Pionchon]

On 6 May 2015 at 18:44, Viacheslav Dubeyko <slava@dubeyko.com> wrote:
> On Wed, 2015-05-06 at 11:41 +0200, Luc Pionchon wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> my system randomly fails to access (random) files on a HFS+ partition.
>>
>> Could anybody help me to identify the issue?
>>
>>
>> I have a HFS+ partition shared between Linux and OSX.
>> I created it with OSX Disk Utility as HFS+, Case sensitive, Not Journaled.
>>
>
> Does this partition live on HDD or SSD?

It's a SSD


> Are you sure that your SSD is alive (if partition lives on SSD)?

I do not know what means "alive". How can I check?

The whole system is on this SSD, in a MacBook 2.1:
/ and /home as ext4, linux swap, OSX partition, EFI partition,
and the faulty partition.



> If you'll move partition on another device the issue will be
> reproducible?

How can I move a partition?

Would it help if I create a partition of the same type on a USB drive,
and see if I get similar errors?

I just have another SSD, is it ok?
Or should I try to get a USB HDD?




>
> Thanks,
> Vyacheslav Dubeyko.

Thanks for taking your time on this!

Luc

Re: hfs+: unable to access random files (after a while)

[Viacheslav Dubeyko]

On Wed, 2015-05-06 at 19:33 +0200, Luc Pionchon wrote:
> On 6 May 2015 at 18:44, Viacheslav Dubeyko <slava@dubeyko.com> wrote:
> > On Wed, 2015-05-06 at 11:41 +0200, Luc Pionchon wrote:
> >> Hi,
> >>
> >> my system randomly fails to access (random) files on a HFS+ partition.
> >>
> >> Could anybody help me to identify the issue?
> >>
> >>
> >> I have a HFS+ partition shared between Linux and OSX.
> >> I created it with OSX Disk Utility as HFS+, Case sensitive, Not Journaled.
> >>
> >
> > Does this partition live on HDD or SSD?
> 
> It's a SSD
> 

Yes, I suppose that the reason of your issue is SSD drive itself. You
have very different HFS+ error messages. It looks like that you have I/O
errors after trying to generate the read/write requests. I assume that
your syslog contains such error messages too. And I think that it is the
primary reason of the issue.

My last SSD drive worked well one year only. Now I can read from
partitions on device but any write operations fail. So, sometimes a SSD
drive can behave itself in very tricky way.

> 
> > Are you sure that your SSD is alive (if partition lives on SSD)?
> 
> I do not know what means "alive". How can I check?
> 
> The whole system is on this SSD, in a MacBook 2.1:
> / and /home as ext4, linux swap, OSX partition, EFI partition,
> and the faulty partition.
> 

Usually, S.M.A.R.T should provide information about SSD drive's health.
You can use smartmontools (for example, smartctl utility). But, frankly
speaking, I think that it needs to treat a file system behavior in wise
way for understanding a drive healthiness very frequently. If a file
system emits error messages in a really crazy way then the most probable
reason of an issue can be a drive itself. 

> 
> 
> > If you'll move partition on another device the issue will be
> > reproducible?
> 
> How can I move a partition?
> 

You can use different specialized tools. I think you can use Gparted,
dd, rsync or cpio utilities under Linux. I think you can find the
description of using with tools for moving a partition in the Internet.

> Would it help if I create a partition of the same type on a USB drive,
> and see if I get similar errors?
> 
> I just have another SSD, is it ok?
> Or should I try to get a USB HDD?
> 

It is possible to use any valid device. But HDD sounds as more reliable
way for me. But, finally, it's up to you.

Thanks,
Vyacheslav Dubeyko.

Re: hfs+: unable to access random files (after a while)

[Luc Pionchon]

On 6 May 2015 at 22:06, Viacheslav Dubeyko <slava@dubeyko.com> wrote:
>
> On Wed, 2015-05-06 at 19:33 +0200, Luc Pionchon wrote:
> > On 6 May 2015 at 18:44, Viacheslav Dubeyko <slava@dubeyko.com> wrote:
> > > On Wed, 2015-05-06 at 11:41 +0200, Luc Pionchon wrote:
> > >> Hi,
> > >>
> > >> my system randomly fails to access (random) files on a HFS+ partition.
> > >>
> > >> Could anybody help me to identify the issue?
> > >>
> > >> I have a HFS+ partition shared between Linux and OSX.
> > >
> > > Does this partition live on HDD or SSD?
> >
> > It's a SSD
>
> Yes, I suppose that the reason of your issue is SSD drive itself. You
> have very different HFS+ error messages. It looks like that you have I/O
> errors after trying to generate the read/write requests. I assume that
> your syslog contains such error messages too. And I think that it is the
> primary reason of the issue.

for the record, this really was a kernel driver issue.

It took me some time, but now I have been using hfsplus with Sergei's
patch, and it worked flawlessly for the last few days.


Thanks you all for your time and for the fix!