Limbo-state Files after backing up .config

Issues & Assistance
1

Hey there,
I am currently facing an issue, where I backed up my .config directory (Timeshift + BTRFS + multiple partitions = I don't even know anymore) and now I can't delete the backup. All files inside seem to be in some limbo state, as they don't exist in dolphin, but can kinda be listed via ls, but at the same time I can create them in dolphin to have 2-3 of the same file in the directory.
I have tried deleting the folder with and without root perms, from a live environment, and I tried to move it to /tmp/, but moving it to other partitions is not possible.
I have also tried btrfs balancing my partitions, but I had no luck yet.

ls .
[./kwinrc.lock: No such file or directory (os error 2)]
[./kwinrc: No such file or directory (os error 2)]
[./kwinrc.lock: No such file or directory (os error 2)]
[./plasmashellrc: No such file or directory (os error 2)]
[./chromium-backup: No such file or directory (os error 2)]
[./mimeapps.list: No such file or directory (os error 2)]
[./mimeapps.list: No such file or directory (os error 2)]
[./chromium-backup: No such file or directory (os error 2)]
[./chromium-backup: No such file or directory (os error 2)]
[./chromium-backup: No such file or directory (os error 2)]
[./chromium-backup: No such file or directory (os error 2)]
[./chromium-backup: No such file or directory (os error 2)]

sudo ls .
 chromium-backup  chromium-backup  chromium-backup  kwinrc       kwinrc.lock    mimeapps.list  chromium-backup  chromium-backup  chromium-backup  kwinrc.lock  mimeapps.list  plasmashellrc

How could this happen? Am I forever going to be stuck with this scuffed directory? Is there a file/folder shredder program?

(Don't worry, I set up snapper for my home directory now. No more scuffedness - Does the garuda grub config possibly support snapper backups? I would love to switch from Timeshift to Snapper. It's cool and has a pleasing and simple gui)

Thanks!

inxi -Fza
System:    Kernel: 5.13.13-zen1-1-zen x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.1.0  
parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/@/boot/vmlinuz-linux-zen root=UUID=2a555427-5d35-463f-8011-b023a855b928  
rw rootflags=subvol=@ loglevel=3 quiet splash lsm=lockdown,yama,apparmor,bpf
Desktop: KDE Plasma 5.22.5 tk: Qt 5.15.2 info: latte-dock wm: kwin_x11 vt: 1 dm: SDDM  
Distro: Garuda Linux base: Arch Linux  
Machine:   Type: Desktop System: Gigabyte product: AX370-Gaming 3 v: N/A serial: <filter>  
Mobo: Gigabyte model: AX370-Gaming 3-CF v: x.x serial: <filter>  
UEFI-[Legacy]: American Megatrends v: F50a date: 11/27/2019  
CPU:       Info: 6-Core model: AMD Ryzen 5 2600X bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Zen+ family: 17 (23)  
model-id: 8 stepping: 2 microcode: 800820D cache: L2: 3 MiB  
flags: avx avx2 lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm bogomips: 86224  
Speed: 3728 MHz min/max: 2200/3600 MHz boost: enabled Core speeds (MHz): 1: 3728 2: 3371  
3: 4156 4: 4107 5: 3496 6: 4150 7: 4156 8: 4128 9: 3763 10: 3348 11: 3023 12: 4159  
Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected  
Type: l1tf status: Not affected  
Type: mds status: Not affected  
Type: meltdown status: Not affected  
Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp  
Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization  
Type: spectre_v2  
mitigation: Full AMD retpoline, IBPB: conditional, STIBP: disabled, RSB filling  
Type: srbds status: Not affected  
Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected  
Graphics:  Device-1: AMD Baffin [Radeon RX 550 640SP / RX 560/560X] vendor: ASUSTeK driver: amdgpu  
v: kernel bus-ID: 08:00.0 chip-ID: 1002:67ff class-ID: 0300  
Device-2: Logitech Webcam C270 type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo bus-ID: 3-4:4  
chip-ID: 046d:0825 class-ID: 0102 serial: <filter>  
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.13 compositor: kwin_x11 driver: loaded: amdgpu,ati  
unloaded: modesetting alternate: fbdev,vesa display-ID: :0 screens: 1  
Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3600x1200 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 952x317mm (37.5x12.5") s-diag: 1003mm (39.5")  
Monitor-1: HDMI-A-0 res: 1680x1050 hz: 60 dpi: 90 size: 474x296mm (18.7x11.7")  
diag: 559mm (22")  
Monitor-2: DVI-D-0 res: 1920x1200 hz: 60 dpi: 99 size: 495x310mm (19.5x12.2") diag: 584mm (23")  
OpenGL: renderer: Radeon RX 560 Series (POLARIS11 DRM 3.41.0 5.13.13-zen1-1-zen LLVM 12.0.1)  
v: 4.6 Mesa 21.2.1 direct render: Yes  
Audio:     Device-1: AMD Baffin HDMI/DP Audio [Radeon RX 550 640SP / RX 560/560X] vendor: ASUSTeK  
driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus-ID: 08:00.1 chip-ID: 1002:aae0 class-ID: 0403  
Device-2: AMD Family 17h HD Audio vendor: Gigabyte driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel  
bus-ID: 0a:00.3 chip-ID: 1022:1457 class-ID: 0403  
Device-3: C-Media USB Microphone type: USB driver: hid-generic,snd-usb-audio,usbhid  
bus-ID: 1-2:3 chip-ID: 0d8c:9700 class-ID: 0300 serial: <filter>  
Device-4: Logitech Webcam C270 type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo bus-ID: 3-4:4  
chip-ID: 046d:0825 class-ID: 0102 serial: <filter>  
Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.13.13-zen1-1-zen running: yes  
Sound Server-2: sndio v: N/A running: no  
Sound Server-3: JACK v: 1.9.19 running: no  
Sound Server-4: PulseAudio v: 15.0 running: no  
Sound Server-5: PipeWire v: 0.3.34 running: yes  
Network:   Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Gigabyte driver: r8169  
v: kernel port: f000 bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200  
IF: eno1 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>  
IF-ID-1: docker0 state: down mac: <filter>  
IF-ID-2: virbr0 state: down mac: <filter>  
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 2.96 TiB used: 1.23 TiB (41.5%)
SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 860 EVO 1TB size: 931.51 GiB block-size:
physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 4B6Q scheme: GPT
ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 860 EVO 250GB size: 232.89 GiB
block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 1B6Q
scheme: GPT
ID-3: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 vendor: Western Digital model: WD20EFRX-68EUZN0 size: 1.82 TiB
block-size: physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s type: HDD rpm: 5400
serial: <filter> rev: 0A82 scheme: GPT
Partition: ID-1: / raw-size: 195.31 GiB size: 195.31 GiB (100.00%) used: 65.16 GiB (33.4%) fs: btrfs
dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
ID-2: /home raw-size: 736.18 GiB size: 736.18 GiB (100.00%) used: 71.12 GiB (9.7%) fs: btrfs
dev: /dev/sda3 maj-min: 8:3
ID-3: /var/log raw-size: 195.31 GiB size: 195.31 GiB (100.00%) used: 65.16 GiB (33.4%)
fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
ID-4: /var/tmp raw-size: 195.31 GiB size: 195.31 GiB (100.00%) used: 65.16 GiB (33.4%)
fs: btrfs dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
Swap:      Kernel: swappiness: 133 (default 60) cache-pressure: 100 (default)
ID-1: swap-1 type: zram size: 31.3 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: 100 dev: /dev/zram0
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 41.2 C mobo: N/A gpu: amdgpu temp: 48.0 C
Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: amdgpu fan: 1444
Info:      Processes: 390 Uptime: 33m wakeups: 0 Memory: 31.3 GiB used: 6.04 GiB (19.3%) Init: systemd
v: 249 tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 11.1.0 clang: 12.0.1 Packages: 2120 apt: 0 pacman: 2114
lib: 470 snap: 6 Shell: fish v: 3.3.1 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.06
2

I found this info: https://www.suse.com/support/kb/doc/?id=000018769 as, i have never had that issue ( os error 2 )

have you tried checking the btrfs subvolume (btrfs check) ?

make external backups before running btrfs check --repair , it can be dangerous.

2 Likes
3

There we go.
I wonder, how I can back up my system though - BTRFS backups won't work, if --repair damages the file system I suppose

4

A lot seems to have been broken after this. I can't create or write any more files in my home directory (I just repaired my home partition), even though I have the permissions....
I can't take a screenshot right now, you know...

After rechecking I now see a lot of

root 495 inode 176411913 errors 2001, no inode item, link count wrong
        unresolved ref dir 378 index 7867 namelen 9 name FOOBAR filetype 2 errors 4, no inode ref
5

It turns out, that btrfs check --repair is the LAST EVER thing I should have done. Bruh.

6

Would working with a live USB help anyhow to backup your stuff?

7

Ding that rn but w/o live env. 268 gig and counting with dd

8

yeah !! it can be dangerous !!! I don’t know how dangerous it can be, but I always read it could be very

to be honest, the only issue I ever had with btrfs was when I was trying winbtrfs for windows.

To make backups you have alot of ways:
easy: rsync or cp -a :slight_smile:
easy: mksquashfs

more complex but how I do my backups:
borg + borgmatic ! highly recomend it
( vorta is an easy GUI for borg )

9

obligatory dd backup note you should read: → command line - compressing and decompressing dd image - zstd instead of gzip - Unix & Linux Stack Exchange

10

I already have an rsync backup of my ho.e directly, but I don't think it's as easy as just copying my files back over after making a new btrfs fs - I saw a suse forum post that did this with dd

11

btw if you make a backup with dd ( or a cat /dev/$fisk > disk_backup ), you can then mount -o loop disk_backup /folder and just browser/copy the files you need

12

THe backup still takes ages. I might just make the home folder myself and copy my files into there from my rsync backup.

13

in these cases .... whatever gets you files safe in a "safe ready to use" place :slight_smile:

14

I vgive up nothing works - Can I just format my home lartition with btrfs and copy my home folder into it? I should be able to, shouldn't I?

15

yeah sure ! I thought that was what you were doing!

just to recap: get your files safe externally. when safe, reformat/reinitialize/create a new btrfs file system ! that is the best solution, since the previous one is compromised !

just be sure, when restoring by cp or rsync or whatever, the file permissions ( if you are cp -a or rsync with root, to then give the permissions back to the user )

16

Oh come on, this just happened again - wtf

ah thanks. Dolphin cache going crazy this time

17

weird … you mean on a new btrfs system, the same error ?

can you check your disk with badblocks or smartctl ? ( btrfs is also picky with bad ram )

18

Huh did the edit not display?
Anyways, It was the dolphin cache messing up this time. I had to restart it, now everything is perfect again

19

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