How do I update my Rescue Mode's version of e2fsck?
Linode
Linode Staff
I need to perform a file system check of my Linode's drive, but e2fsck cannot read my disk:
~# e2fsck -f /dev/sda
e2fsck 1.42.13 (17-May-2015)
/dev/sda has unsupported feature(s): metadata_csum
e2fsck: Get a newer version of e2fsck!
The Finnix repositories do not have a newer version of e2fsprogs. How do I update my Rescue Mode's version of e2fsck?
1 Reply
andrewm
Linode Staff
You can bring in version 1.43.x of e2fsck by adding the latest Debian Stretch repository to your Rescue Mode's apt sources file, updating your repositories, and installing the new version. You can achieve all of these tasks by running the following set of commands in sequence from Rescue Mode:
sed -i '1ideb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian stretch main' /etc/apt/sources.list
apt update
apt install e2fsprogs
As of this writing, these instructions will give you the following version of e2fsck:
# e2fsck -V
e2fsck 1.43.4 (31-Jan-2017)
Using EXT2FS Library version 1.43.4, 31-Jan-2017
While this is not the latest version of e2fsck, this newer version of e2fsck should be sufficient to perform the file system check based on the advice from this StackExchange question:
In other words update e2fsprogs and e2fslibs to 1.43.X - do not go all the way up to 1.44.X.
The 1.43.X packages are sufficient to remove the "metadata_csum" error and allow you to use GParted or e2fsck at the command line in order to service your ubuntu 18.04 HDDs byway of your ubuntu 16.04 system.
Although Finnix is not Ubuntu, both of these distributions derive from Debian, so this advice should still be applicable to Finnix.
With this version of e2fsck on your Rescue Mode, you should be able to proceed with the file system check after performing these actions. Since Rescue Mode is a temporary operating environment, this workflow will have no lasting impact on your Linode or its operations, but you will need to repeat these steps any time you encounter this issue.
Please feel free to follow up on this question if you run into any issues!