Possible data loss with ext4 and kernel-6.8 - how to investigate?

Ask Fedora
1

I am on Fedora 39 and was using kernel-6.8.5 with thiese boot options: preempt=full threadirqs
I discovered that a directory had lost all its files and only empty directories were left.
I inspected the history of commands I used since the last time the directory had file and the time I discovered the data loss and there were no problematic commands. I checked the history as a user and as a root user too.
How can I investigate what triggered this data loss ?

2

Look in the journal for logs, especially from the kernel.

Did you power fail the system between having the files and later finding they where gone?

Do you see any logs suggesting hardware problems on your system?
Is the disk failing for example?

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3

There was no power failure. I will check the log tonight and keep you informed.

4

I found this in the kernel logs:

avril 16 18:11:07 fedora smartd[1373]: Device: /dev/sdb [SAT], WARNING: There are known problems with these drives,
avril 16 18:11:07 fedora smartd[1373]: THIS DRIVE MAY OR MAY NOT BE AFFECTED,
avril 16 18:11:07 fedora smartd[1373]: see the following web pages for details:
avril 16 18:11:07 fedora smartd[1373]: http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/207931en
avril 16 18:11:07 fedora smartd[1373]: http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/207951en
avril 16 18:11:07 fedora smartd[1373]: https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=632758

So, yes, certainly a data loss, but related to a firmware problem. I will update the firmware …

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