From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Tue Jan 8 14:33:30 2013 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3BC879B6 for ; Tue, 8 Jan 2013 14:33:30 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from the.lists@mgm51.com) Received: from oneyou.mcmli.com (oneyou.mcmli.com [IPv6:2001:470:1d:8da::100]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id ED3F63E2 for ; Tue, 8 Jan 2013 14:33:29 +0000 (UTC) Received: from sentry.24cl.com (sentry.24cl.com [IPv6:2001:470:1f07:3fa::1]) by oneyou.mcmli.com (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 3YgbYh2knXz1DSp for ; Tue, 8 Jan 2013 09:33:28 -0500 (EST) Received: from BigBloat (bigbloat.24cl.home [10.20.1.4]) by sentry.24cl.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 0BBD4130CE for ; Tue, 8 Jan 2013 09:33:27 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <201301080933240940.004EE13B@sentry.24cl.com> In-Reply-To: <50E46A27.9000202@a1poweruser.com> References: <201301012202040487.028FC6F3@sentry.24cl.com> <20130102143853.754647c0@fabiankeil.de> <201301021035130285.00194F38@sentry.24cl.com> <50E46A27.9000202@a1poweruser.com> X-Mailer: Courier 3.50.00.09.1098 (http://www.rosecitysoftware.com) (P) Date: Tue, 08 Jan 2013 09:33:24 -0500 From: "Mike." To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: 9.1 won't install - GEOM/GRAID issues Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 08 Jan 2013 14:33:30 -0000 On 1/2/2013 at 12:11 PM Fbsd8 wrote: |Michael Powell wrote: |> Mike. wrote: |> [snip] |>> Thanks for the reply. The disk in question has never been used for |>> RAID, so if there is RAID metadata on the disk, I do not know how it |>> got there. The disk is (I believe --- it's been a while since I have |>> been inside that box) on a Promise SATA RAID controller, but RAID is |>> not used and has never been used (I have a 3Ware controller for RAID on |>> that box). |>> |>> When things settle down, I'll try to figure out how to sanitize the |>> disk and try to install 9.1 again. |>> |> |> If somehow some RAID controller ever wrote out metadata to the disk it |will |> be the last sector or two at the very end. Sometimes some GPT |partitioning |> schemes corrupt this too. If some alien form of GPT partitioning or some |> form of RAID has written anything to this area it will throw an error |when |> GEOM 'tastes' the disk. |> |> You can zero both these areas with dd if=/dev/zero plus disk plus some |> arithmetic. Another way, and I do sometimes when I go to reuse a disk |that's |> been used for a while, is to use the mfr's diagnostic utility. I know |the WD |> diag utility has an option to write 0's to the entire drive. Sometimes I |do |> this and then run the extended diags just to get a 'feel good' factor on |the |> media. Trouble with this is the larger the disk gets the longer it |takes. I |> just like media scans on old disks before I recycle them to a new |project. |> |> -Mike |> |> | |Here is a little script named gpart.nuke that may help you | |#! /bin/sh |echo "What disk do you want" |echo "to wipe? For example - da1 :" |read disk |echo "OK, in 10 seconds I will destroy all data on $disk!" |echo "Press CTRL+C to abort!" |sleep 10 |diskinfo ${disk} | while read disk sectorsize size sectors other |do | # Delete MBR and partition table. | dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/${disk} bs=${sectorsize} count=1 | # Delete GEOM metadata. | dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/${disk} bs=${sectorsize} oseek=`expr $sectors |- 2` count=2 |done ============= A follow-up to this issue. I tried to run the dd commands... Using the LiveFS disc for FreeBSD 9.1, I got some manner of permission error, indicating that something would not let the dd commands execute. Using the LiveFS disc for FreeBSD 8.3, the dd commands completely successfully. After zero-ing out the sectors, I tried to install FreeBSD 9.1, and I continued to get the RAID problems trying to mount root. So I punted that drive, and used another drive. FreeBSD 9.1 installed without an issue, and it is running fine as I type this. So there is something about that other disk drive (something that is not in the last two sectors or the first sector) that the 9.1 install has issues with. Thanks for the assist.