Knowledge Base:What is the lost+found directory?

Synopsis
After creating a file system, a directory called lost+found is created as well.

Environment
Any Gentoo Linux system with an ext2, ext3 or ext4 file system.

Analysis
The lost+found directory is used by file system check tools (fsck). When a system crashes and there is some inconsistency, fsck might be able to (partially) recover lost information (files or directories). As it might not know where these files should reside, it places these files in the lost+found directory so that the administrator can move them back to their original place.

The directory is not vital, but if you delete it, the next run of fsck will recreate it anyhow.

Resolution
This is to be expected.