Recently I have been seeing this in my syslog: FAT-fs (vda15): Volume was not properly unmounted. Some data may be corrupt. Please run fsck.
This shows up in my logs before my recent OS upgrade.
I thought it was speaking about my main disk, but after checking in Virtualmin:
VirtIO device A
Partition Details
Location /dev/vda Device file /dev/vda15
Type Windows FAT32 Extent 21 - 446 of 205603
Status Mounted on /boot/efi as vfat Size 108.58 MiB
Partition name msftdata
This partition cannot be changed as it is currently in use or configured for use.
The oldest file in there is dated around the time the droplet was created.
e.g. /boot/efi/boot/grub/grub.cfg
# CLOUD_IMG: This file was created/modified by the Cloud Image build process
search.fs_uuid cd899ca9-1943-46c8-9c55-42fc136ef940 root hd0,gpt1
set prefix=($root)'/boot/grub'
configfile $prefix/grub.cfg
I wrote to digitalocean and they are playing dumb about the existence of such a mount.
Does this mount have something to do with Virtualmin?
And what should I do about the warning message?
msftdata – This flag identifies a Microsoft Basic Data partition. It normally holds a Microsoft filesystem, like FAT or NTFS, so such partitions will include your C: partition and perhaps recovery or data partitions. You should not delete or change them unless you understand precisely what type of data is on the partition and want to delete it. Note that Linux used to use the same type code for its own partitions, so you might see this flag on a Linux partition, too. Two years ago a new Linux-specific type code was created, and Linux partitions with that type code will show up as having no flag set. Versions of libparted that recognize the new Linux-specific type code are only just becoming available. The “msftdata flag” appeared with that same new version of libparted.
Note also that libparted uses the same “flag” concept to identify two entirely different data structures: partition type codes and partition attributes. Type codes are mutually exclusive; a partition can be an ESP or a Microsoft Basic Data partition, but not both. Thus, if you remove the “boot flag” on an ESP, it will likely pop up with an “msftdata flag,” since ESPs use FAT, and FAT partitions get the “msftdata flag” by default. (In older versions of libparted, the “msftdata flag” doesn’t exist, so the partition would have no flag.)
Looks to me like some mistake/mis-recognition of the partition?
So I went ahead and just … fsck.vfat -v /dev/vda15
and now it is clean and not complaining.
At least finally I got a decent reply from digitalocean support. As I thought it seems to be a mis-labeled partition…
Yes, this partition is a part of the Ubuntu installation. It is the boot partition for your Ubuntu Droplet. This is created when the Droplet is created. I am not sure why fdisk shows this partition as “Microsoft basic data” but that is not accurate as it is necessary to boot Ubuntu.
If you received errors for this disk, I would recommend trying to find a way to repair them as it could impact your Droplet bootup in the future.
Created by their build. These are automated. Their feedback sounds reasonable. Image may have got corrupted during install or later. Its rare but can happen. Either way you solved it yourself and that must be a good feeling. Happy days
