MKLOST+FOUND(8)

💖 MKLOST+FOUND 💖

okay so bestie, welcome to mklost+found — section 8 of the System Manager's Manual, the admin girly corner of the manual pages. this is the whole entire page, every last crumb of it, just... cuter. 🎀

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✨ NAME ✨

mklost+found — create a lost+found directory on a mounted ext2/ext3/ext4 file system

like. that's the whole job. she makes a lost+found dir. icon behavior. 👑

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

mklost+found

that's it. no flags, no arguments, no drama. she simply is. 💅

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so here's the tea, bestie: mklost+found creates a lost+found directory in the current working directory, on an ext2/ext3/ext4 file system. and ngl, there's normally a lost+found directory sitting in the root directory of every file system — that's just the standard setup, that's the vibe. 🌈

now for the part that's actually the whole point: mklost+found pre-allocates disk blocks to the lost+found directory. why tho? because when e2fsck(8) is running and trying to recover a file system, she should not have to go allocate blocks in the file system just to store a big pile of unlinked files. that's so much extra work for a girl who's already doing the most. 😭

so by pre-allocating those blocks ahead of time, this guarantees that e2fsck will not have to allocate data blocks in the file system during recovery. no scrambling, no last-minute allocation, just smooth recovery. slay. ✨

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🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

• There are none.

literally zero. she's unburdened. she's free. the way that she needs absolutely no configuration... obsessed. 🫶

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👑 AUTHOR 👑

mklost+found has been written by Remy Card <Remy.Card@linux.org>. she is currently being maintained by Theodore Ts'o <tytso@alum.mit.edu>.

shoutout to the devs fr fr, maintaining a whole utility that needs literally no options. that's main character energy. 💜

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💀 BUGS 💀

• There are none :-)

not a single one. zero bugs, bestie. she's perfect, she's flawless, she's that girl. and yes the smiley face is canon, i'm not adding anything, it's right there in the original. 🙈

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⭐ AVAILABILITY ⭐

mklost+found is part of the e2fsprogs package and is available from http://e2fsprogs.sourceforge.net.

go get her if you don't have her already. 🍓

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🧚 SEE ALSO 🧚

• e2fsck(8)
• mke2fs(8)

(the whole friend group. iykyk. 💖)

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💅 quick vibe check: mklost+found makes the lost+found dir in your current working directory on an ext2/ext3/ext4 file system, and it pre-allocates blocks so e2fsck(8) doesn't have to allocate data blocks during recovery. that's the whole thing. that's the post. no cap.

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and that's a wrap on this page from the E2fsprogs version 1.47.4, dated March 2025 — manual page MKLOST+FOUND(8), signing off. mwah. 😘🌸