Help - corrupted files on my minix partitions

[Christian Lynbech <lynbech@daimi.aau.dk>]

I do not know of a shutdown/halt/sync command, though I seem to
remember that the problem has been discussed here on the list.

When shutting down myself, I have a habit of logging out and then wait
for a couple of seconds to allow the sync to happen (it happens at
regular intervals, at least in my somewhat old version of the
systems). This has worked for quite some time without noteworthy
problems. As you seem to be aware of: the system is somewhat sensitive
to the way it is shutdown. Cache/disk inconsistency is the mother of a
*lot* of *serious* problems.

However, I once found out that certain programs ddo strange things to
the minx partition. I can no longer remember which, but it was some
GEM programs, and I usually runs exclusively at the tty, for various
reasons. So you might want to go over the utilities you are using and
checking whether it is specific programs that are in fact corrupting
your disk. 

And I would also recommend sticking fsck into rc.local, even if it
makes it a pain to reboot, but it will probably give you warnings in
earlier stages. Fsck is also a way of testing programs: do your stuff
and run fsck, giving you some rapid feedback. 

I hope this helps a bit.


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Christian Lynbech               | Hit the philistines three times over the 
office: R0.33 (phone: 3217)	| head with the Elisp reference manual.
email: lynbech@daimi.aau.dk	|        - petonic@hal.com (Michael A. Petonic)
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