Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2014 16:54:33 -0000 From: Dave B <g8kbvdave@googlemail.com> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: How to destroy a zpool that can no longer be imported? Message-ID: <531DEE49.19752.E8A5B45@g8kbvdave.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <531DE07B.8050704@qeng-ho.org> References: <CAJuc1zO92Qgfr5gcy2peU2yi8nipzOsdqDekhAJ54ofo2p=Ppg@mail.gmail.com>, <531DCE03.30432.E0C4CA2@g8kbvdave.gmail.com>, <531DE07B.8050704@qeng-ho.org>
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Arthur Chance wrote... > > If you don't mind loosing everthing on the physical disk(s)... > > > > "DBAN" > > > > Darik's Boot and Nuke. http://sourceforge.net/projects/dban/ > > > > Unlike Gpart (and GParted) this will truly errase the disk. > > > > What you end up with a truly clean, and able to be used for whatever you want > > afterwards, with no odd problems. > > > > I found GParted in particular, though it destroys the partition tables OK, it does > > not remove the data on disk that was in the partition. As a result, I had > > terrible troubles a while ago, getting FBSD 9.2 to reload, after I seriously > > screwed something up. GParted didn't do the job, I kept getting strange lib > > errors during the reinstall (from CD.) > > > > DBAN did the job, but it does take time, as it writes random noise to the entire > > physical disk, sector by sector. The re-install after that, just worked, no errors. > > > > The price is right, but take care, once let loose, that's it, there is no turning > > back. > > If all you want to do is clear a disk in order to reinstall it, doing > > dd if=/dev/zero of=$DISK bs=1g > > (possibly from a live CD/DVD) is quicker and doesn't require you to > download and burn an extra ISO. > > Hi Authur. The issue wasn't speed of erasure (anything "fast" usualy does not erase data, just the allocation tables.) What I needed, was a totally virgin disk to re-install on, after I found comments on some lists that the FBSD 9.2 installer can get it's knickers in a twist, if there is already some "familiar structure" on the target disk, after it's done the partition allocation stuff. I found (using other tools) that Gpart/GParted etc, do not erase the partition contents, just the headers and allocation tables. Now, if the new partition layout was significantly different, there probably would not have been an issue, but as I was just letting it do the default thing each time, it was obviously recreating the exact same partition start/end etc settings each time. Once I forced a total scrub, leaving the disk full of psuedo random noise, it re-installed cleanly, from the same exact CD that was failing before. I had burnt a total 3 different copies of the 9.2 install, downloaded via two different systems. I'm sticking with 9.2 for now, while others way more knowlegable than I, knock the sharp edges off 10.0! As to burning ISO's, that's trivial and fast to do for something like DBAN, or Memtest86 (another suspect to test.) In my case, I already had the tools ready to go, I also ran Spinrite, as I was wondering if the drive was bad. (I have my own legit' copy.) I know my way arround those tools, and I know the hardware, + I'm not a BSD guru, so finding such command line stuff as you quote (thanks by the way) is not easy for me, the FBSD box is a tool for a specific job, I don't use it as a general purpose PC.. All that was some weeks back, and the box has been ticking away to itself now just fine, for 49 days 19hours and 22 minutes it tells me via a remote admin link, as I type this. Best Regards. Dave B.
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