Kernel panic and hard disk failure

[CyberLeo Kitsana]

On 11/16/2015 09:22 AM, Will Senn wrote:
> Hi,

<snip>

> Out of this exercise, I have the following questions that I hope someone
> can help with:
> 
> 1. Is bounds the number of crashes in /var/crashes, or what?

You'll notice the crashdump files are named with .0, .1, .2 suffixes.
This file contains the next available number. If you leave the bounds
file with a '3' in it, but delete the crashdump files, the next
crashdump will have the suffix .3 . This ensures it will not
inadvertently overwrite a previous crashdump.

Consult the savecore manpage for further information.

> 2. What is minfree?

>From savecore(8):

 The savecore utility also checks the available disk space before
 attempting to make the copies.  If there is insufficient disk space in
 the file system containing directory, or if the file directory/minfree
 exists and the number of free kilobytes (for non-superusers) in the
 file system after the copies were made would be less than the number in
 the first line of this file, the copies are not attempted.

> 3. What does it mean that the device went missing?

The hard drive stopped responding and the controller decided it was no
longer connected.

> 4. Does the information above sound like a faulty hard drive or are
> there additional tests that will tell me more about the failure?

Could be a failing hard drive; but it could also be a bad data cable or
weak or failing power supply.

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