Usage Note 31401: "ERROR: Write to libref.sasdata.DATA failed. File is full and may be damaged" when creating SAS files in in the UNIX environment
When you create SAS data sets or other files (including SQL tables) in the UNIX environment, you might receive an error similar to the following:
ERROR: Write to libref.sasdata.DATA failed. File is full and may be damaged.
There are several reasons this error can occur:
- The UNIX file-size limit for the userid that is running the job has been met.
To check UNIX user limits, submit the following at a UNIX prompt
using the same userid you used when you received the error:
unix_prompt> ulimit -a
You should see information similar to the following:
time(seconds) unlimited
file(blocks) unlimited
data(kbytes) 2015464
stack(kbytes) 81584
memory(kbytes) unlimited
coredump(blocks) 4194303
nofiles(descriptors) 200
Note the setting for file(blocks). If file(blocks) is set
to a value other than unlimited, then the file size is limited
to that setting. Your UNIX system administrator can change this
setting for you.
- The directory referenced by the libref in the error might in
fact be full. This is especially likely if the directory is the WORK
directory.
When SAS jobs run successfully to completion, any temporary files are removed when the job ends. However, if a SAS job fails, sometimes this is not possible. For this reason, SAS provides you with
the cleanwork utility.
The cleanwork utility should be run by the root user, so your UNIX
system administrator must help you with this.
If the directory referenced in the error is a directory other than WORK,
make sure that there is sufficient space to write your file.
- Make certain that the directory referenced by the libref in the error
resides on a file system that is mounted with largefiles enabled.
Your UNIX system administrator can confirm this for you.
Operating System and Release Information
SAS System | Base SAS | 64-bit Enabled AIX | 9.1 TS1M3 | |
64-bit Enabled HP-UX | 9.1 TS1M3 | |
64-bit Enabled Solaris | 9.1 TS1M3 | |
HP-UX IPF | 9.1 TS1M3 | |
Linux | 9.1 TS1M3 | |
OpenVMS Alpha | 9.1 TS1M3 | |
Solaris for x64 | 9.1 TS1M3 | |
Tru64 UNIX | 9.1 TS1M3 | |
*
For software releases that are not yet generally available, the Fixed
Release is the software release in which the problem is planned to be
fixed.
Date Modified: | 2010-11-18 18:25:53 |
Date Created: | 2008-03-06 13:00:05 |