Novell Documentation: NetWare 6

VREPAIR

Purpose

For traditional NetWare volumes, use at the server console to

Correct volume problems

Remove name space entries from Directory Entry Tables

NOTE: You can't use VREPAIR on a mounted volume.

Also, VREPAIR is not used to repair NSS volumes. For NSS volumes, you must use the REBUILD utility. See REBUILD.

Syntax

[LOAD] [path] VREPAIR [volume_name] [log_filename]

Parameter	Use to
path	Specify the path to VREPAIR.NLM if you moved it from the default directory.
volume_name	Specify the name of a volume to repair.
log_filename	Specify a text filename to log errors into.

Using VREPAIR

For an explanation of the VREPAIR main menu, see VREPAIR Options .

If a volume fails to mount when the server is brought up, VREPAIR loads automatically and tries to repair the failed volume.
If you don't want VREPAIR to automatically repair a volume that won't mount, load MONITOR, select Server Parameters > File System, and set the Automatically Repair Bad Volume parameter to OFF. (For more information, see MONITOR.)

Use the version of VREPAIR that matches the operating system.

The majority of all problems fixed by VREPAIR are caused by hardware failures. If a volume frequently needs repair, consider replacing the hard disk or controller.
HINT: Copy vrepair.nlm and the VREPAIR name space support modules (v_namespace.nlm) to the boot partition of your server. Then, if volume SYS: fails to mount, you can load and run VREPAIR from the DOS boot directory.

How VREPAIR Works

Minor problems can occur on a volume if the primary File Allocation Table (FAT) or Directory Entry Table (DET) becomes corrupted.

VREPAIR compares the primary tables with their mirrored counterparts. (The operating system keeps two copies of all tables. If hard disks are mirrored, then four copies are kept.)

VREPAIR checks the sets of mirrored tables for errors. If it finds inconsistencies, it uses the most correct table entry as the corrected entry. VREPAIR then writes the corrected entry to both the primary and mirrored tables.

VREPAIR may have to delete some corrupted files or tables. For more information, see Viewing Deleted Files.

VEPAIR will log bad block information into a file if you specify a log filename when you load VREPAIR. You can also specify a log filename after you load VREPAIR, when VREPAIR displays an error.

When to Use VREPAIR

VREPAIR can repair a bad volume that you have dismounted while other NetWare^® server volumes are functioning. After you finish running VREPAIR, you can mount the repaired volume (in most cases).

Use VREPAIR when

A hardware failure either prevented a volume from mounting or caused a disk read error.

NOTE: Although VREPAIR can't fix hardware problems, it can sometimes fix related volume damage.

A power failure corrupted a volume.

The server displays memory errors and can't mount a volume after a name space (such as Macintosh*) is added to the volume.
For this type of problem, either add more memory to the server or use VREPAIR to remove the newly added name space.

The volume has bad blocks.
The following kinds of errors in FATs or Directory tables signal bad blocks:
HINT: This information is reported in the log file.

VREPAIR Options

The VREPAIR main screen displays the following menu:

Options:1 - Repair a volume2 - Set VRepair options3 - Exit

Main Menu Selection	Use to
Repair a volume	Begin or continue with volume repair. You can also use this option to stop a volume repair in process or change the method of displaying errors during the repair.
Set VRepair options	Set VREPAIR configuration options.
Exit	Exit VREPAIR.

In the Set VRepair Options menu, there are two settings for each option, a default option and an alternate option. When VREPAIR autoloads and tries to repair a volume that will not mount, the default settings are used.

You can configure the VREPAIR alternate options by selecting the associated option number to toggle between the alternate and default options.

For example, Option 2 settings are Write All Directory and FAT Entries Out to Disk and Write Only Changed Directory and FAT Entries Out to Disk.

The default for Option 2 is Write Only Changed Directory and FAT Entries Out to Disk. If you select Option 2, your current VREPAIR configuration reflects the change from the default to the new setting: Write All Directory and FAT Entries Out to Disk.

The VREPAIR configuration options are described in Table 22.

Table 22. VREPAIR Configuration Options

Default Option	Alternate Option	Explanation
1. Quit if a VREPAIR Name Space Support NLM^TM Is Not Loaded	Remove Name Space Support From The Volume	These options control whether name space support for non-DOS files is retained in the volume tables. If you add a name space to a volume and the system doesn't have enough memory, select Remove Name Space Support From the Volume. Then select a name space to delete. If you remove a name space, the accompanying extended file information is destroyed. For example, if you remove Macintosh name support, the Macintosh long names, the finder icons, and the resource forks are destroyed. (The DOS name and its data file are kept and are accessible from DOS workstations.) Important: To repair a volume with non-DOS name space entries, VREPAIR must find the corresponding name space support modules. (For example, to repair a volume with the Macintosh name space, you need to load V_MAC.NLM; to repair a volume with the OS/2, Windows 95, or Windows NT* name space, load V_LONG.NLM.) For more information, see Repairing a Traditional Volume.
2. Write Only Changed Directory And FAT Entries Out To Disk	Write All Directory And FAT Entries Out To Disk	These options control the changes that are made to the FATs and Directory tables. If you repair a mirrored or duplexed volume, select the alternate option to force an update of all tables on both hard disks.
3. Write Changes Immediately To Disk	Keep Changes In Memory For Later Update	NetWare defaults to writing changes immediately to disk. In most cases, this default option speeds the repair. Disks requiring very few changes will repair faster if the alternate option is used.
4. Retain Deleted Files	Purge All Deleted Files	These options control whether deleted files are purged or retained. If a file is deleted, but not purged, it can be salvaged. Purge deleted files if you are concerned about the amount of disk space being used to retain deleted files or if you don't want users to salvage files (for example, for security reasons).
5. Return to Main Menu		After you select the VREPAIR configuration options, press menu item 5 to return to the VREPAIR main menu.

Displaying Errors during Repair

There are run-time options you can modify during the VREPAIR process to change the way errors are displayed. To view the options, select the main menu option, Repair a Volume.

Select Option 1 if you do not want VREPAIR to pause after each error.

Select Option 2 if you want VREPAIR to log errors in a text file.

Select Option 3 to stop the repair of the volume.

Select Option 4 to continue with a volume repair after you have temporarily suspended the repair.

Viewing Deleted Files

The repair operation can create new files containing data that VREPAIR deleted. You can access these files if you select the default configuration option, Retain Deleted Files. The files are numbered and named VRNNNNNN.FIL where N is any number.

These numbered files are created in any of the following circumstances:

VREPAIR found a filename that has an invalid DOS name. The filename might contain invalid characters or might be too long.

VREPAIR found that the filename is not unique. (Another file exists with the same name.)

VREPAIR found a FAT chain without a file showing ownership of it.
NOTE: A file is divided into a series of data blocks that are linked together in a FAT chain.

No files in the Directory Entry Table (DET) claimed ownership of the data, so a new filename was generated to point to this data.

VREPAIR might create as many as several thousand of these files. These numbered files are created in the directory where they were found during the volume repair operation.

Recovering Files

You might be able to recover some or all of the files deleted by VREPAIR. Contact Technical Support for more information.

Additional Information

Topic	See
Repairing a volume	Repairing a Traditional Volume or Rebuilding NSS Storage Pools and Volumes