"Read-only" errors trying to backup

[jackson byers]

4dec2011
I am getting major "Read-only" errors trying to backup
my f14 system [on external USB partition sda8],
which still seems to behave ok,
to my 2nd scsi disk onto partition sdc7.


I imagine this means the scsi sdc is going bad,
but how to determine that vs a trashed system file?


 sdc7 write errors:"Read-only file system"
1) using rbu [an rsync based backup tool-Vincent Stemen]

[root at f14 /]# rbu d=/mnt/sdc7 home

Backup directory: /mnt/sdc7

rsync: readlink_stat("/home/byers/.gvfs") failed: Permission denied (13)
/home/
rsync: recv_generator: mkdir "/mnt/sdc7/home" failed: Read-only file system (30)
*** Skipping any contents from this failed directory ***
rsync error: some files/attrs were not transferred (see previous
errors) (code 23) at main.c(1052) [sender=3.0.8]

[root at f14 /]#


2) similar "Read-only"  using  cp:
[root at f14 /]# cp -a home /mnt/sdc7
cp: cannot create directory `/mnt/sdc7/home': Read-only file system
[root at f14 /]#


But ls -ld shows sdc7 as rw:
[root at f14 /]# ls -ld /mnt/sdc7
drwxr-xr-x. 6 root root 4096 Dec  3 07:53 /mnt/sdc7


3) other evidence from /var/log messages:

Dec  3 07:54:29 f14 kernel: [ 4196.587526] sd 3:0:1:0: rejecting I/O
to offline device
Dec  3 07:54:29 f14 kernel: [ 4196.587686] sd 3:0:1:0: rejecting I/O
to offline device
Dec  3 07:54:29 f14 kernel: [ 4196.587737] sd 3:0:1:0: rejecting I/O
to offline device
Dec  3 07:54:29 f14 kernel: [ 4196.589427] JBD: Detected IO errors
while flushing file data on sdc7
Dec  3 07:55:20 f14 kernel: [ 4247.277639] EXT3-fs (sdc7): error:
ext3_journal_start_sb: Detected aborted journal

[root at f14 /]# mount
/dev/sda8 on / type ext3 (rw)
proc on /proc type proc (rw)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,gid=5,mode=620)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,rootcontext="system_u:object_r:tmpfs_t:s0")
none on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw)
sunrpc on /var/lib/nfs/rpc_pipefs type rpc_pipefs (rw)
fusectl on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/byers/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon
(rw,nosuid,nodev,user=byers)
/dev/sda7 on /media/c2f44d00-09e6-45b2-9a14-a0a765716005_ type ext4
(rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=udisks)
/dev/sda2 on /media/rootusb2_ type ext3 (rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=udisks)
/dev/sda6 on /media/rootusb6_ type reiserfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=udisks)
/dev/sda5 on /media/rootusb5_ type reiserfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=udisks)
/dev/sda1 on /media/rootusb_ type reiserfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=udisks)
/dev/sda3 on /media/54c84c0a-040b-43bd-8887-202519baaae2_ type ext3
(rw,nosuid,nodev,uhelper=udisks)
/dev/sdc7 on /mnt/sdc7 type ext3 (rw)
/dev/sdb1 on /f10sda1 type ext3 (rw)
[root at f14 /]#



Yet after rebooting my mainf14 acts ok

# df -kh
Filesystem            Size  Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda8              17G  8.3G  7.3G  54% /
tmpfs                1007M  420K 1006M   1% /dev/shm
/dev/sdb1              21G   12G  7.3G  62% /f10sda1
/dev/sdc9              16M  1.5M   13M  11% /grubp
/dev/sda1              24G   18G  5.4G  78% /media/rootusb_
/dev/sda3              21G  9.2G   11G  48%
/media/54c84c0a-040b-43bd-8887-202519baaae2_
/dev/sda5             8.0G  5.2G  2.8G  66% /media/rootusb5_
/dev/sda6             8.1G  7.0G  1.1G  87% /media/rootusb6_
/dev/sda7              16G  7.3G  7.4G  50%
/media/c2f44d00-09e6-45b2-9a14-a0a765716005_
/dev/sda2              21G  7.5G   13G  38% /media/rootusb2_
#

my disks layout:
  sda, external usb   sda8 holds my orig f14, was trying to backup to sdc7
  sdb, internal scsi  sdb1 holds f10
  sdc, internal scsi  sdc7 now 'trashed';
  I can reformat sdc7  w gparted, but same 'read-only' errors if repeat copy.

  sdc9 is my grub-only partition, containing only stage* files, grub.conf

So my additional concern here is
fixing, moving my grub partition sdc9[to sdb], if sdc is going bad.
Presently if I don't try to copy to sdc7, my f14sda8
boots, and acts ok, so the grub partition sdc9 evidently still ok.



My old notes on how I installed GRUB:
# grub.conf  modified from sda1 f10  for grubpartn saikee sdb9  hd1,8
#from knoppix  find / -name stage1;  cp to sdb9  /boot/grub
#from knoppix   root (hd1,8), setup (hd0) to install to mbr of sda

(this was before obtaining the external USB, hence sdb9 then is now sdc9)

My grub partition on sdb9, but evidently GRUB installed to MBR on sda.
This has worked for years,
but I am not clear why ok to mix sdb for grub partion, sda for MBR.

Any advice more than welcome

Jack