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    Also, if accidentally deleted fsck may re-create it the next time it finds the filesystem clean (which will probably be the next boot). Commented Aug 6, 2011 at 5:05
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    Is this folder something that should be checked and cleaned from time to time? Commented Aug 7, 2011 at 8:24
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    @TheLQ Only if your filesystem has suffered extensive corruption, fsck was required, and it mentioned finding files and linking them in lost+found. In 20 years with various filesystems, I've only seen this once. And that was before journalling was the norm. Commented Jan 12, 2012 at 8:06
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    I think it also appears if you format your HDD (I switched from NTFS to ext4 and it appeared) Commented Nov 20, 2013 at 8:43
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    @puk The lost+found directory is created whenever you create an ext4 filesystem (as with many other filesystems), whether it's done as part of the system installation or not. “Format your HDD” is just one case of that. What fsck does is to possibly add files there. Commented Nov 20, 2013 at 10:17