*fsck.minix* performs a consistency check for the Linux MINIX filesystem.
The program assumes the filesystem is quiescent. *fsck.minix* should not be used on a mounted device unless you can be sure nobody is writing to it. Remember that the kernel can write to device when it searches for files.
The _device_ name will usually have the following form:
____
[cols=",",]
|===
|/dev/hda[1-63] |IDE disk 1
|/dev/hdb[1-63] |IDE disk 2
|/dev/sda[1-15] |SCSI disk 1
|/dev/sdb[1-15] |SCSI disk 2
|===
____
If the filesystem was changed, i.e., repaired, then *fsck.minix* will print "FILE SYSTEM HAS CHANGED" and will *sync*(2) three times before exiting. There is _no_ need to reboot after check.
== WARNING
*fsck.minix* should *not* be used on a mounted filesystem. Using *fsck.minix* on a mounted filesystem is very dangerous, due to the possibility that deleted files are still in use, and can seriously damage a perfectly good filesystem! If you absolutely have to run *fsck.minix* on a mounted filesystem, such as the root filesystem, make sure nothing is writing to the disk, and that no files are "zombies" waiting for deletion.
Perform automatic repairs. This option implies *--repair* and serves to answer all of the questions asked with the default. Note that this can be extremely dangerous in the case of extensive filesystem damage.
There are numerous diagnostic messages. The ones mentioned here are the most commonly seen in normal usage.
If the device does not exist, *fsck.minix* will print "unable to read super block". If the device exists, but is not a MINIX filesystem, *fsck.minix* will print "bad magic number in super-block".
== EXIT STATUS
The exit status returned by *fsck.minix* is the sum of the following:
mailto:torvalds@cs.helsinki.fi[Linus Torvalds]. Exit status values by mailto:faith@cs.unc.edu[Rik Faith] Added support for filesystem valid flag: mailto:greg%wind.uucp@plains.nodak.edu[Dr. Wettstein]. Check to prevent fsck of mounted filesystem added by mailto:quinlan@yggdrasil.com[Daniel Quinlan]. Minix v2 fs support by mailto:schwab@issan.informatik.uni-dortmund.de[Andreas Schwab], updated by mailto:janl@math.uio.no[Nicolai Langfeldt]. Portability patch by mailto:rmk@ecs.soton.ac.uk[Russell King].