Ubuntu 10.04: disk check at boot takes a long time

bootUbuntu

Every so often at boot time the disk checker runs. It completes ~70% very rapidly, and then takes about an hour to complete the remaining 30%. I know I can cancel it, but presumably it runs for a reason so I'd rather let it complete.

Is it normal to take so long? Is there anything I can do to speed it up?

Specs: 250GB HD, 1GB RAM, 1.8GHz single-core Athlon

Thanks

Best Answer

As with most programs that show a progress percentage, this percentage is only a rough approximation. In the specific case of e2fsck (it's the same program for ext2, ext3 and ext4), the completion percentage is computed per pass and arbitrarily expressed in a range:

  1. sequential scan of the inode table: 0–70%
  2. check directory structure: 70–90%
  3. check for directory connectivity: 90–92%
  4. check reference counts: 92–95%
  5. check block and inode bitmaps against on-disk bitmaps: 95–100%

So in your case the scan of the inode table is very fast, and the check of the directory structure takes a long time. I don't think this is cause for worry.

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