[TriLUG] fsck.ext4 vs e2fsck

[Stephen Bryant via TriLUG]

Hey Brian!

If I remember right, `fsck` is just a wrapper than calls the right
filesystem-specific variant (eg. `fsck.ext4`); do you get the same result
when calling the specific variant directly? Also, I imagine you've already
checked this, but - /dev/sda1 on SBCs is usually a vfat boot partition in
my experience, so are you sure it's calling `fsck.ext4`/`e2fsck` and not
`fsck.vfat`?

Hope this is helpful, and good luck!
Stephen
--
Stephen Bryant


On Tue, Nov 11, 2025 at 5:35 PM Brian via TriLUG <trilug at trilug.org> wrote:

> Here's one I have run out of patience for googling.
>
> I've been working with writing some images to microSD cards.
> Invariably, after data is written, an unqualified "sudo fsck -fy
> /dev/sda1" (not mounted!) spews lots of errors that it claims to fix,
> and then spews and claims to fix the same exact errors when I run it again.
>
> Compare that to running "sudo e2fsck -fy /dev/sda1" which finds no
> errors at all.
>
> Why do they disagree?
>
> I do notice that the two report very different versions:
>
> $ fsck --version
> fsck from util-linux 2.33.1
> $ sudo e2fsck -fy /dev/sda1   # (e2fsck does not recognize --version)
> e2fsck 1.44.5 (15-Dec-2018)
>
>
> Yeah, very old I know, it's an SBC that doesn't have support with the
> latest and greatest (I tried!).
>
> Anyway, just wondering if anyone has some knowledge they can pass along
> to me.
>
> Thanks!
> -Brian
> --
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