From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Oct 16 01:13:14 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 16A0B1065687 for ; Thu, 16 Oct 2008 01:13:14 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jontheil@gmail.com) Received: from wf-out-1314.google.com (wf-out-1314.google.com [209.85.200.170]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id DB80C8FC14 for ; Thu, 16 Oct 2008 01:13:13 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jontheil@gmail.com) Received: by wf-out-1314.google.com with SMTP id 24so2868921wfg.7 for ; Wed, 15 Oct 2008 18:13:13 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:message-id:date:from:to :subject:cc:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:references; bh=zH6SKf+Fz3I/1Ac44cE5KXm59gIP7izFBOEkgMNNl7Y=; b=URyo5UU9lr4/pTR/5GlPd7dlE6FApnXRJ+muZUZyGhorLqiPzCe3qq7nJaX5xQLFgT BjmYm04q4OSmkcR6lxmUfYhKR3SfEuc9ClVG9Q6sawhMu5IJb/w6n1+nQ89vKCn0It6j 3u+0Q6qXGCJliW5vKLirKTMJT98FnYOA7vH/M= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=message-id:date:from:to:subject:cc:in-reply-to:mime-version :content-type:references; b=UcPyp7b+3YXAeU+y9Pt2KD7bky3RfpAgQ5rsa72xWXVQJLiHtPRDXVTB3QTwqepqbu 3ri29xTVFaBUT5JFS20q4HxGorP7yAtHWA64Q0I3SVItXfilKzsPjHe+c/0qYwEYYnRb Hr6sh4CivceICrCQA5yWgPdQImjU2XEzqXrso= Received: by 10.142.52.9 with SMTP id z9mr659154wfz.201.1224119593196; Wed, 15 Oct 2008 18:13:13 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.142.166.7 with HTTP; Wed, 15 Oct 2008 18:13:13 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: <8f82c35c0810151813p3f31f5bfx50a15da190e9f37a@mail.gmail.com> Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2008 03:13:13 +0200 From: "Jon Theil Nielsen" To: "Nejc Skoberne" In-Reply-To: <48F624AC.3070208@skoberne.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 References: <8f82c35c0810150532o52ae50b5kef7c685fd23a0af4@mail.gmail.com> <48F624AC.3070208@skoberne.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5 Cc: User Questions Subject: Re: RAID 5 - serious problem X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2008 01:13:14 -0000 2008/10/15 Nejc Skoberne > 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