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blockid error

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2017 3:36 am
by kilaueabart
The prognosis for help is bad, judging from what google brings up for this subject. And there are only three posts containing the phrase on Hyperion Entertainment Message Boards. But hope against hope...

Three times booting my renovated SAM460ex the process has stopped with a Smart Data Filesystem Request.

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Data
has a blockid error in block 13888.
Expected was blockid 0x4F424A43,
but the block says it is blockid 0x00000000."
When I select "Cancel," booting continues without further incident. But I have no idea what this means.

The third time was a few minutes ago, when I had "cancelled" and finished booting and decided to run Directory Opus 5. That process was also interrupted by this same error message, but continued to a working DOpus5 screen when I cancelled.

I wonder about that "Data" first line. My disk (borrowed from my late X1000) has a partition named Data:. Could that perhaps be the reference? Any good way to find out for sure? I belatedly think the first step is to make sure I can open that partition OK, but having written this much, I'm going to go ahead and post before I take a chance on crashing the system.

OK, I opened Data: and looked at a few files and nothing bad happened. So what gives?

Re: blockid error

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2017 6:04 am
by sundown
You need to copy all the data from that partition before you lose it, The only fix is a re-format. Others have had this problem with SFS, very rare, but there is no other fix but a re-rormat & copy back.

Ken

Re: blockid error

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2017 5:03 pm
by nbache
I agree with Ken.

And yes, the error message must be referring to the partition name Data. So that is the partition you need to backup, reformat and restore.

The reason for such an error can simply be that a write to the filesystem went wrong at some point (maybe the machine was turned off or crashed hard before the write was finished), or because of a rare situation hitting a bug in SFS, but it could also be a symptom of a physical error on the hard disk itself, in which case it might occur again. If so, the best you could do is to get a new hard disk and copy everything to it, and retire the old one. Hard disks do have a limited life, and towards the end of it, such errors will often get more and more frequent. You want to be prepared and have everything on a fresh disk before that progresses to a fatal end.

Best regards,

Niels

Re: blockid error

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2017 7:35 pm
by sundown
I use C:smartctl to check the health of my HDs, if it shows errors, then its a good sign it needs replacing soon. Linux has a simular command.
Each HD has its own # in the chain, I have 2, 0 & 2.

c:smartctl -a sb600sata.device:<sata drive #>

Ken

Re: blockid error

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2017 11:08 pm
by kilaueabart
Thank you, Ken and Niels. Much better help than I was expecting. I am copying Data: to a new, much smaller, partition as I type. Unfortunately it is on the same hard drive as the current data, which is my newest non-SSD hard drive, the 1Tb monster that came with my X1000. I realize now that the flash drive I use for my SAM boot disk has seven times as much room as I need, so I will recopy there, a fresh disk, sometime when I'm not using the machine, just to be doubly safe. But I guess I'll have to buy a new hard drive, or maybe another SSD.

I used to use smartctl fairly regularly, but I can't get it to work today. Possibly because I don't know my HD's chain numbers? I don't even know how to find out what they are but I guess I used to know. Here's what I get when I use 0, 1, or 2 at the end of the command:

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Smartctl open device: sb600sata.device failed: Function not implemented
***Command 'c:smartctl' returned with unfreed signals 80000000!
(Hmmm. It seems I no longer have a R^A key to copy and paste with!)
I used to check my drives in Linux, too. No telling when I'll get Ubuntu MATE set up again.

Bart

Re: blockid error

Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2017 11:13 pm
by nbache
kilaueabart wrote:

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Smartctl open device: sb600sata.device failed: Function not implemented
***Command 'c:smartctl' returned with unfreed signals 80000000!
The problem is the device name; Ken gave you the name of the sata device driver on the X1000, you need to replace it with the name of the driver you use on the Sam with your SiI3114 controller.

So try something like: c:smartctl -a sii3114ide.device:<sata drive #>

Best regards,

Niels

Re: blockid error

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 1:43 am
by kilaueabart
nbache wrote:... try something like: c:smartctl -a sii3114ide.device:<sata drive #>
Yes, that looks much more familiar!

I don't think I was ever very confident in my ability to understand the VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE columns, or the following three, for that matter. For example, Raw_Read_Error_Rate and Start_Stop_Count have

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VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE       UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
119     099      006        Pre-fail   Always             -              202132616
099     099      020        Old_age  Always             -             1535
with a total of 5 "Pre-fail" and 19 "Old_age." It sounds like I'm awfully lucky that the thing even bothers to come on, and I'd better get a new drive in a hurry.

Meanwhile, no further blockid errors have been announced.

OK, I just belatedly looked for info and have learned that I don't want to go under Thresh. So maybe not so bad. I should probably do a self-test routine, sometime when I have a couple spare hours.

Ciao for nao,
Bart

Re: blockid error

Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 8:15 am
by tonyw
I should probably do a self-test routine, sometime when I have a couple spare hours.
Stop wasting time. The drive is dying and pretty soon you'll lose everything on it.
Get yourself a new drive today and don't turn the machine back on until you are ready to save what you can.

Every time you turn it on or shut it down is another nail in the coffin.

Re: blockid error

Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2017 2:04 am
by daveyw
I have had this error on every single HDD I have bought since I got my A1XE, which is 1 PATA (bought sometime around 2009), and 2 SATA (bought about 2 years ago). These are brand new drives that very quickly get this fault.

Either I have the worst luck buying drives, or I am doing something wrong in installing them.

The PATA showed this error on the very day I bought it. I took it back to the shop, the guy ran a Windows diagnostic, shrugged and handed it back saying it had nothing wrong with it.

My current remedy is to copy to a new partition (thankfully having alot of space on these drives gives me redundant room for partitions), reformat, and make sure my back-ups are up to date.

I have found smartctrl to be virtually useless. When the original PATA drive that came with my A1 was dying (and making a very audible wail as it left this world), smartctrl happily reported nothing wrong with it.

Re: blockid error

Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2017 1:16 am
by kilaueabart
I have copied my important stuff to another, outside, location. (Too bad it would take many hours to eliminate the many MBs of junk first.) I haven't had a recurrence of the blockid error notice since those three on a single boot, and I suspect they may have been a fluke, like so much else that happens on my computers and tablets and smart phone.

Meanwhile, I will continue to use this HDD until it gives me further reason to worry.

One thing I find useful about smartctrl is that its report of no problems on the hard drive sets my mind at ease. As long as I'm already backed up, that's good.