read-only hd3

foobar:~# e2fsck /dev/hd3
e2fsck 1.40.11 (17-June-2008)
re-open, hd3 count 5
re-open, hd3 count 6
/dev/hd3 was not cleanly unmounted, check forced.
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
Pass 2: Checking directory structure
Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
Pass 4: Checking reference counts
Pass 5: Checking group summary information
/dev/hd3: 2729/262144 files (0.2% non-contiguous), 34116/524288 blocks
Error writing block 1 (Attempt to write block from filesystem resulted in short write).  Ignore error<y>? yes

foobar:~# e2fsck /dev/hd3
e2fsck 1.40.11 (17-June-2008)
re-open, hd3 count 7
re-open, hd3 count 8
e2fsck: Attempt to read block from filesystem resulted in short read while trying to open /dev/hd3
Could this be a zero-length partition?