Recovering files after a crash

[Ruben de Groot]

> Erik Norgaard wrote:
> >
> >Ok, maybe I didn't make myself clear: I wish to protect my filesystem 
> >against corruption in case of a crash such that it will boot.
> >
> >- How can I configure my system to reduce the probability that a crash 
> >will cause file system inconsistencies that require single user mode 
> >intervention?
> >
> >backups does not answer that question, they are great for recovering 
> >lost data but don't prevent the crash.
> >
> >KVM and serial console don't answer the question either. Certainly, it 
> >makes it easier to work headless. But neither prevent disk corruption.
> >
> >UPS reduces the likelyhood of a crash in case of a power failure, but 
> >that doesn't answer the question either.
> >
> >Asume that a crash will happen, how do I prevent or reduce the risk of 
> >a crash causing disk corruption such that the system will boot up 
> >nicely again?

You could mount all system partitions ro (using memory fs for /tmp and /var)
Setting the "noauto" option for your data partitions in fstab will 
allmost guarantee the system to boot to multiuser after a crash. You can then 
mount these partitions from a script in for example rc.local. If these
mounts fail, the system will then not drop to single user mode.

Ruben