Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2008 03:13:13 +0200 From: "Jon Theil Nielsen" <jontheil@gmail.com> To: "Nejc Skoberne" <nejc@skoberne.net> Cc: User Questions <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: RAID 5 - serious problem Message-ID: <8f82c35c0810151813p3f31f5bfx50a15da190e9f37a@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <48F624AC.3070208@skoberne.net> References: <8f82c35c0810150532o52ae50b5kef7c685fd23a0af4@mail.gmail.com> <48F624AC.3070208@skoberne.net>
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2008/10/15 Nejc Skoberne <nejc@skoberne.net> > Hello, > > > the drives to the other machine and try to make them online again. Do you > > think I should try? > > If I were you, I would first buy/get a XXX GB SATA drive, create a > filesystem there > and copy all three disks block-by-block as three separate files (which will > be > the size of the disks). This way you'll still have the backup of your > screwed up > drives somewhere in case something goes even more wrong. > > However, I don't think your data is *physically* lost. I am almost sure > that it > is still on that drives, only the metadata could be fscked up. Now how to > get the > data back is another thing. In worst case scenario you could analyze the > specification of the metadata format for you controller and then write a C > program > which would somehow put the bits together again using syscalls. > > Bye, > Nejc > Hi again, There are a lot of interesting statements and arguments in this thread. I am impressed. But you have to understand that I am not a very advanced user of FreeBSD and especially Linux. So I have to try to keep it simple. Thanks to the low dollar course and the technological development, I think it is reasonable for me to buy an extra disk just to try to fix my problems. Actually, a 300 GB Raptor will do. And then I can install some Linux flavour (which one should I prefer) to copy the contents of my "sick" disks bit-by-bit. And then I can somehow try to bring the disks back online again. Could you please spell it out for me, which tools I should use for that? My board has both the Intel controller and a Marvell one. Can I just keep the disks on the Intel one and disregard the offline status (if I understand you right, I might lose all metadata if I try to change anything)? AFAIK, the discussion of hardware vs. software RAID has been going on for a very long time. And it really seems to be complicated. I recognise the argument of having to stick with the same hardware. At the same time, it seems at little pessimistic that a lot of people will end up with lots of useless disks because the vendors decide to cut backward compatability. I don't know. Best regards, Jon
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