SQLITE_IOERR_SEEKFATALTier 3 — Handle with care⚠️ MEDIUM confidenceI/O error during file seek
Category: I/O ErrorVersions: 3.0+
🔴 Production Risk Error
Critical — hardware failure; restore from backup.
What this means
SQLITE_IOERR_SEEK (5642) is returned when the OS reports an error during an lseek() call on the database file. Usually indicates a hardware or filesystem failure.
Why it happens
- 1Hardware failure on the storage device.
- 2File offset exceeds device capacity.
- 3Filesystem corruption.
How to reproduce
Random-access reads and writes that use lseek() to position the file cursor.
trigger — this will ERROR
# Triggered by hardware failure; surfaces as:
# sqlite3.DatabaseError: disk I/O errorsqlite3.DatabaseError: disk I/O error
Fix 1
Why this works
Check disk health with SMART diagnostics.
Fix 2
Why this works
Run filesystem check (fsck).
Fix 3
Why this works
Restore database from backup.
Sources
📚 Official docs: https://www.sqlite.org/rescode.html#ioerr_seek
🔧 Source ref: sqlite3.h — SQLITE_IOERR_SEEK = 5642
Confidence assessment
⚠️ MEDIUM confidence
Stable.
See also
⚙️ This error reference was generated with AI assistance and reviewed for accuracy. Examples are provided to illustrate common scenarios and may not cover every case. Always test fixes in a development environment before applying to production. Spotted an error? Suggest a correction →