large file problem in rh7.1

[ken at kg293.net (Ken Gosier)]

So just to follow up on what happened with this file--

For the 80 MB of the mp3, I was able to get most all of it. I got out the
last 30 MB by using the tail command.

I checked messages in /var/log/messages and by dmesg, and found only
normal boot-time-type messages.

I ran fsck on the partition, and got back:

[root at kg293 rc.d]# /sbin/fsck -f -t ext2 -C /dev/hda5
Parallelizing fsck version 1.18 (11-Nov-1999)
e2fsck 1.18, 11-Nov-1999 for EXT2 FS 0.5b, 95/08/09
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
Pass 2: Checking directory structure
Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
Pass 4: Checking reference counts
Pass 5: Checking group summary information
/: 104153/320640 files (1.5% non-contiguous), 496291/640584 blocks

So as far as I can tell, everything seems fine with the disk.

The sysadmin at work seemed to think it might be some funky command char
sitting in the file. He suggested using truss when trying to cp the file.
He's a Solaris guy :) but we found out we could use strace in rh. The
command we used was:

strace cp ali.mp3 alinew.mp3

The last bits of the strace output were:

read(3, "6\212o\7\204(fw\36\315\367O\336e\255E\321a\27ppU\313\201"...,
4096) = 4096
write(4, "6\212o\7\204(fw\36\315\367O\336e\255E\321a\27ppU\313\201"...,
4096) = 4096
read(3, "\23.\tN\n\16!\6\253\270T\262\30\241\325]\363\362\307\f"..., 4096)
= 4096
write(4, "\23.\tN\n\16!\6\253\270T\262\30\241\325]\363\362\307\f"...,
4096) = 4096
read(3, 0xbfffe420, 4096)               = -1 EIO (Input/output error)
open("/usr/share/locale/en_US/LC_MESSAGES/fileutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1
ENOENT (No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale/en/LC_MESSAGES/fileutils.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1
ENOENT (No such file or directory)
write(2, "cp: ", 4cp: )                     = 4
write(2, "reading `ali.mp3\'", 17reading `ali.mp3')      = 17
open("/usr/share/locale/en_US/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT
(No such file or directory)
open("/usr/share/locale/en/LC_MESSAGES/libc.mo", O_RDONLY) = -1 ENOENT (No
such file or directory)
write(2, ": Input/output error", 20: Input/output error)    = 20
write(2, "\n", 1
)                       = 1
close(4)                                = 0
close(3)                                = 0
_exit(1)                                = ?

(Preceded by many more read/write statements.) The sysadmin seemed to
think that some char was somehow sending a message to open the file
/usr/share/locale/en_US/LC_MESSAGES/fileutils.mo. I don't have this file,
so things were getting confused.

So like I said, I've been able to get out all the stuff I need from this
file, so it's mostly academic interest at this point. Just kind of
curious. Many thanks to everyone for all the help and expertise--






On 27 Feb 2002, Derek Atkins wrote:

> Do you have any log messages?  Perhaps you have a hardware
> (disk) problem?  Are there any messages in your log files?
> What about in "dmesg"?   Does your disk make funny noises?
>
> For fsck:
>         boot to single-user
>         fsck /dev/hdaN  (where N in your partition, assuming this is hda)
>
> If it's an fs/disk problem, then you might not be able to
> save the file.
>
> Also note that 80MB is _NOT_ a large file...  I've got a 900MB file
> sitting around (I was using in on RH 6.2), and I've been able to move
> it around just fine.
>
> -derek
>
> Ken Gosier <ken_gosier at yahoo.com> writes:
>
> > So, I'm not able to cp the file into another dir on the
> > same partition, it stops at the 50 MB. I'll try creating a
> > 80 MB file on another partition.
> >
> > Also: it's the local hard disk. It's using whichever fs
> > comes with rh7.1, sorry don't know off-hand if that makes
> > it ext2 or 3. (The PC is at home and I'm at work.)
> >
> > The memory I have is 128 MB RAM, 256 MB swap space.
> >
> > Many thanks for all the help. I had read man largefile
> > before, and knew about the gigabyte limits. I thought maybe
> > rh was doing something non-standard.
> >
> > I would just download this mp3 again, but the server
> > doesn't seem to be working anymore. I can read man fsck to
> > see how to check the consistency of the fs where this file
> > is sitting, when I get back from work this evening.
> >
> > Question: Do you guys think it's possible to save the file
> > if it's an fs problem?
> >
> >
> >
> > --- Scott Prive <Scott.Prive at storigen.com> wrote:
> > > You have a (disk) hardware or software (fs) problem.
> > > Check your fs consistency.
> > > You should be able to read files that are gigs in size,
> > > with no problem.
> > >
> > > Also, try creating another file that large on a different
> > > partition, if possible, and see what happens. You're
> > > using ext2 or ext3, correct?
> > >
> > > -Scott
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: Ken Gosier [mailto:ken at kg293.net]
> > > Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2002 5:06 AM
> > > To: discuss at blu.org
> > > Subject: large file problem in rh7.1
> > >
> > >
> > > Hi, I have a large (80 MB) mp3 on my rh7.1 system , and
> > > it keeps giving me
> > > problems.
> > >
> > > If I try to gzip, compress, cp, rcp, ftp, basically do
> > > anything with it, I
> > > get back 'Input/output error', after about 50 MB of the
> > > activity is
> > > completed.
> > >
> > > I also downloaded the lxsplit utility to break it into
> > > several small
> > > files. This also worked till about 50 MB, but then hung
> > > indefinitely.
> > >
> > > If it's helpful:
> > > lxsplit hung after 50253824 bytes
> > > cp      died after 50257920 bytes.
> > > gzip -1 died after 50053120 bytes.
> > > gzip -9 died after 49971200 bytes.
> > >
> > > Problem with rh, or possibly something funny about the
> > > file? Many thanks
> > > for any help--
> > >
> > > --
> > > Ken Gosier
> > > ken at kg293.net
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Discuss mailing list
> > > Discuss at blu.org
> > > http://www.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> > =====
> > Ken Gosier
> > ken_gosier at yahoo.com
> >
> > __________________________________________________
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>

-- 
Ken Gosier
ken at kg293.net