How can i fix it: EXT4-fs warning (device sda3): ext4_dx_add_entry: Directory index full

Question

I have noticed that in dmesg and syslog i have something like that:

EXT4-fs warning (device sda3): ext4_dx_add_entry: Directory index full!

I have checked df -i too:

Filesystem            Inodes   IUsed   IFree IUse% Mounted on
/dev/sda3            182943744 27534820 155408924   16% /

And i see that IUse% is 16%. I rebooted that server but it's happened again. I check where i have too much files and the biggest number was 3200 files in one folder. Is it to much?

I have found in Google - that i can try fsck but how can i do it on mount system. Is not possible i think or it could crash my data.

Do you have some idea?

Thank you very much for help.

Rafal

Solution

I have found in Google - that i can try fsck but how can i do it on mount system. Is not possible i think or it could crash my data.

Yes, this is what I would recommend. Sounds like you might have filesystem corruption.

fsck cannot repair a filesystem which is mounted. You'll need to either boot and stop the boot process before your filesystem gets mounted to run fsck (this may or may not be possible depending on your configuration) or boot from different media (like an installer disc or LiveCD) to check and repair your root filesystem.

Comments

[poige]

Take a look at XFS's developer Dave Chinner presentation of delaylog option (available @ utube), and mkfs.xfs then. ;)

[Rafał Kamiński]

I've found it (youtube.com/watch?v=FegjLbCnoBw) i will look. Do you think xfs will not have problem with that?

[poige]

Chinner does at least. I can't guarantee it but since the moment "delaylog" appeared, there almost weren't any reason to not use XFS. For EXT4 they were, indeed: poige.livejournal.com/584439.html

[Rafał Kamiński]

Poige - have you changed ext4 to xfs? It has better perfomance for big numbers of files?

[poige]

Yeah, quite a long ago. Actually I use XFS primarily since it's the best one for concurrent write pattern, but I also use Btrfs and others, cause there's no one ideal FS that would suit all needs. But XFS is close to it now, yep. ;)

[Rafał Kamiński]

Do you know why i have log like Disk is full, but df -i show only 16%?

[poige]

Directory index != Disk.

[poige]

See my contact info, if you need assistance.