#58 Recursion Problem - VeraCrypt Drive

[raywood]

In Ubuntu 21.10, I use rhash to obtain hash values for each file on an NTFS partition encrypted with VeraCrypt and mounted as veracrypt1. The command I use is as follows:

rhash --sha512 --uppercase -r /media/veracrypt1/ | pv > hashlist.txt

When the partition in question is one of several VeraCrypt partitions on a hard disk drive (HDD), the output onscreen and in hashlist.txt seem to be incremented constantly, with steady reports that rhash is transferring a certain number of KiB per second, and with steady growth in the reported size of hashlist.txt.

That is not the situation when the VeraCrypt partition in question is the only partition, filling the HDD. In that case, rhash appears to hang: onscreen, pv reports a rate of zero bytes per second, and hashlist.txt seems to accrue no additional output. (Or, if I truncate the command after "veracrypt1," nothing new appears onscreen.)

I think rhash is not actually hung at that time. The HDD light continues to flash. I think, rather, that rhash may be gathering hashes for all files and folders within each top-level folder before reporting any results.

When I run the command on a subfolder within such a partition (i.e., one VeraCrypt partition, filling the HDD), rhash similarly appears to pause at times. Possibly, at such times, it is accumulating the hashes for all files within a subfolder.

To avoid the impression that rhash is hung, it would be better if it would provide continuous progress reports in either case.

rhash may or may not behave differently where the drive is not VeraCrypt encrypted. I don't presently have a non-encrypted drive to test with.