The NTFS-3G driver used by Ubuntu may cause input/output error while transferring large (4.3Gb +) files. NTFS-3G version 1.2216 is the default NTFS driver in Ubuntu 8.04.2 and later. The latest STABLE Version is 2009.1.1 (January 22, 2009). Synaptic Package Manager or apt-get remove can be used to uninstall the default version.
There are no deb packages for the latest version yet, so ./configure -> make -> make install must be used to install the latest driver. Instructions and download link are here. No problems were detected after installing the latest NTFS-3G driver.
Interesting fact is that some drives may work just fine with the default drivers and some will fail and end up with the corrupt NTFS partition. Maxtor OneTouch II (300GB) worked just fine and Maxtor OneTouch III (500GB) got corrupted when I tried to write to it a few large files. Windows chkdsk with /f switch should fix the problem and make the drive accessible again.
The latest Helix3 Live CD is based on Ubuntu and also using NTFS-3G version 1.2216. When it is used to acquire an image or large files, it is probably a good idea to have some spare external storage for saving the data.
There are no deb packages for the latest version yet, so ./configure -> make -> make install must be used to install the latest driver. Instructions and download link are here. No problems were detected after installing the latest NTFS-3G driver.
Interesting fact is that some drives may work just fine with the default drivers and some will fail and end up with the corrupt NTFS partition. Maxtor OneTouch II (300GB) worked just fine and Maxtor OneTouch III (500GB) got corrupted when I tried to write to it a few large files. Windows chkdsk with /f switch should fix the problem and make the drive accessible again.
The latest Helix3 Live CD is based on Ubuntu and also using NTFS-3G version 1.2216. When it is used to acquire an image or large files, it is probably a good idea to have some spare external storage for saving the data.
5 comments:
Did you check this out?
http://www.ntfs-3g.org/support.html#ioerror
Yes, I have.
"The Input/Output errors mean unexpected, low-level errors. They are caused by hardware errors (disk, RAM, cable, power supply, motherboard, etc), device driver faults, corrupted file system, software fault or incorrect hardware use. The most typical reasons:
Hardware or DEVICE DRIVER FAULTS."
There are lots of bug fixes implemented between Version 1.2216 (February 16, 2008) and Version 2009.1.1 (January 22, 2009).
Ntfs-3g is not a device driver but a filesystem driver.
Device drivers are the USB storage driver, USB controller, USB hub driver, disk firmware, etc. There are many software and hardware components dealing with user data, not only ntfs-3g. Most often THEY are reporting the I/O errors and ntfs-3g only forwards them to the user.
The problems could be also caused by not safely detaching or powering down the drive.
The kernel log may tell more.
Thanks Kolombo,
Ntfs-3g is a file system driver, there is no argument here. I also agree that it could be a problem with the device driver, and Ntfs-3g is just passing I/O errors. What I can tell for sure is that the hardware works fine and was not unplugged during the operation.
Upgrading Ntfs-3g driver solved the problem and as I mentioned before, there are many bug fixes prior to Version 2009.1.1.
To be precise there are nine 'stable' releases prior to the latest version, most of them containing bug fixes.
Version 1.2310
Version 1.2412
Version 1.2506
Version 1.2531
Version 1.2712
Version 1.2812
Version 1.2918
Version 1.5012
Version 1.5130
Of course I absolutely agree upgrading to 2009.1.1 was a very good idea. No older versions should be used.
The problem may have been in the filesystem driver or somewhere else. The log files under /var/logs/ (messages, daemon.log, etc) could tell more about where the real problem happened.
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