[Bio-linux-dev] bio-linux-backups 'sync' problem

[Tony Travis]

Hello, Bio-Linux and NBX developers.

I've encountered a potentially serious problem with "bio-linux-backups" 
because someone unplugged a USB device from one of our NBX's without 
'safely' removing it first. This left writes pending to the USB device 
making "sync" hang indefinitely waiting for the unplugged USB device to 
respond and effectively blocking "/etc/cron.daily/backup" from running.

Many people take a rather cavalier approach to unplugging USB devices, 
but especially if they have NTFS filesystems on them you *must* either 
unmount or "Safely Remove" them before unplugging USB storage devices 
(sticks, keys, drives etc.). I think it might be useful for "backup" to 
set an alarm before running "sync" so that it is possible to continue 
execution past this type of potential deadlock after issuing a warning.

   Tony.
-- 
Dr. A.J.Travis, University of Aberdeen, Rowett Institute of Nutrition
and Health, Greenburn Road, Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB21 9SB, Scotland, UK
tel +44(0)1224 712751, fax +44(0)1224 716687, http://www.rowett.ac.uk
mailto:a.travis at abdn.ac.uk, http://bioinformatics.rri.sari.ac.uk/~ajt