large ramdisk based filesystem corruption in 2.4.18?

I have an SMP, 2.4.18, system, with 1GB of RAM.

I initially started by trying to have a 750MB ramdisk for a virtual filesystem; I defined the size in the boot parm line via grub.

The dmesg output indicated each ramdisk would be 750MB, and when I do a mke2fs on /dev/ramdisk, it indicates it formats a 750MB ext2 file system, but when I try to mount, it says the partition has a bad block descriptor, or a non-supported filesystem.

I then made the ramdisk definition 512MB and reboot. Again, mke2fs is successful, and formats a 512MB filesystem, but this time I am successful in mounting. However, after creating a few files, I get write errors such as described by another developer:

"Somehow I have filled the /ramdisk partition. The thing that confuses me is that a df -k shows:
/dev/ramdisk 507748 481538 0 100% /ramdisk
but a du -sk shows:
119666 ."

I worked with her, and we found no hidden files, and the manual count of adding up all the files on the file system was 120MB - even though the df reported 481MB. We unmounted, did a new mke2fs on /dev/ramdisk, but this time, it wouldn't mount with the same errors as when I tried a 750MB ramdisk.

Rebooted, and redid the same 512MB ramdisk, but this time it mounted, and ran for almost a day before it gave the same conflicting information that it was full, even though the du -ks showed differently. Ideas?

Stonie R. Cooper
Planetary Data, Incorporated
ph. (402) 782-6611