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FSCK.FAT(8)			  dosfstools			   FSCK.FAT(8)

NAME
       fsck.fat - check and repair MS-DOS filesystems

SYNOPSIS
       fsck.fat|fsck.msdos|fsck.vfat [-aAflnprtvVwy] [-d PATH -d ...] [-u PATH
       -u ...] DEVICE

DESCRIPTION
       fsck.fat verifies the consistency of MS-DOS filesystems and  optionally
       tries to repair them.

       The following filesystem problems can be corrected (in this order):

       *   FAT contains invalid cluster numbers. Cluster is changed to EOF.

       *   File's cluster chain contains a loop. The loop is broken.

       *   Bad	clusters  (read	 errors). The clusters are marked bad and they
	   are removed from files owning them. This check is optional.

       *   Directories with a large number of bad entries (probably  corrupt).
	   The directory can be deleted.

       *   Files . and .. are non-directories. They can be deleted or renamed.

       *   Directories . and .. in root directory. They are deleted.

       *   Bad filenames. They can be renamed.

       *   Duplicate directory entries. They can be deleted or renamed.

       *   Directories with non-zero size field. Size is set to zero.

       *   Directory  .	 does not point to parent directory. The start pointer
	   is adjusted.

       *   Directory .. does not point to  parent  of  parent  directory.  The
	   start pointer is adjusted.

       *   Start cluster number of a file is invalid. The file is truncated.

       *   File contains bad or free clusters. The file is truncated.

       *   File's  cluster  chain is longer than indicated by the size fields.
	   The file is truncated.

       *   Two or more files share the same cluster(s). All  but  one  of  the
	   files  are  truncated.  If  the file being truncated is a directory
	   file that has already been read, the filesystem check is  restarted
	   after truncation.

       *   File's  cluster chain is shorter than indicated by the size fields.
	   The file is truncated.

       *   Clusters are marked as used but are not owned by a file.  They  are
	   marked as free.

       Additionally, the following problems are detected, but not repaired:

       *   Invalid parameters in boot sector.

       *   Absence of . and .. entries in non-root directories

       When fsck.fat checks a filesystem, it accumulates all changes in memory
       and performs them only after all checks are complete. This can be  dis‐
       abled with the -w option.

OPTIONS
       -a  Automatically repair the filesystem. No user intervention is neces‐
	   sary. Whenever there is more than one method to  solve  a  problem,
	   the least destructive approach is used.

       -A  Use	Atari  variation  of the MS-DOS filesystem. This is default if
	   fsck.fat is run on an Atari, then this option turns off Atari  for‐
	   mat.	 There	are  some minor differences in Atari format: Some boot
	   sector fields are interpreted slightly different, and  the  special
	   FAT entries for end-of-file and bad cluster can be different. Under
	   MS-DOS 0xfff8 is used for EOF and Atari employs 0xffff by  default,
	   but	both  systems  recognize  all  values  from 0xfff8...0xffff as
	   end-of-file. MS-DOS uses only 0xfff7 for  bad  clusters,  where  on
	   Atari values 0xfff0...0xfff7 are for this purpose (but the standard
	   value is still 0xfff7).

       -b  Make read-only boot sector check.

       -d  Delete the specified file. If more that one	file  with  that  name
	   exists, the first one is deleted.

       -f  Salvage unused cluster chains to files. By default, unused clusters
	   are added to the free disk space except in auto mode (-a).

       -l  List path names of files being processed.

       -n  No-operation mode: non-interactively check for  errors,  but	 don't
	   write anything to the filesystem.

       -p  Same as (-a), for compatibility with other *fsck.

       -r  Interactively  repair  the filesystem. The user is asked for advice
	   whenever there is more than one approach to fix an inconsistency.

       -t  Mark unreadable clusters as bad.

       -u  Try to undelete the specified file. fsck.fat tries  to  allocate  a
	   chain  of  contiguous unallocated clusters beginning with the start
	   cluster of the undeleted file.

       -v  Verbose mode. Generates slightly more output.

       -V  Perform a verification pass. The filesystem check is repeated after
	   the	first  run.  The  second  pass should never report any fixable
	   errors. It may  take	 considerably  longer  than  the  first	 pass,
	   because  the	 first	pass may have generated long list of modifica‐
	   tions that have to be scanned for each disk read.

       -w  Write changes to disk immediately.

       -y  Same as -a (automatically repair filesystem) for compatibility with
	   other fsck tools.

       Note:  If -a and -r are absent, the filesystem is only checked, but not
       repaired.

EXIT STATUS
       0   No recoverable errors have been detected.

       1   Recoverable errors have been detected or fsck.fat has discovered an
	   internal inconsistency.

       2   Usage error. fsck.fat did not access the filesystem.

FILES
       fsck0000.rec, fsck0001.rec, ...
	   When	 recovering from a corrupted filesystem, fsck.fat dumps recov‐
	   ered data into files named 'fsckNNNN.rec' in the top	 level	direc‐
	   tory of the filesystem.

BUGS
       Does  not  create  .  and  ..  files  where  necessary. Does not remove
       entirely empty  directories.  Should  give  more	 diagnostic  messages.
       Undeleting files should use a more sophisticated algorithm.

SEE ALSO
       fatlabel(8)
       mkfs.fat(8)

HOMEPAGE
       More  information  about	 fsck.fat  and	dosfstools  can	 be  found  at
       <http://daniel-baumann.ch/software/dosfstools/>.

AUTHORS
       dosfstools  were	  written   by	 Werner	  Almesberger	<werner.almes‐
       berger@lrc.di.epfl.ch>,	Roman Hodek <Roman.Hodek@informatik.uni-erlan‐
       gen.de>,	 and  others.  The  current  maintainer	 is   Daniel   Baumann
       <mail@daniel-baumann.ch>.

3.0.26				  2014-03-07			   FSCK.FAT(8)
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