Ubuntu Installation :: Repairing Mbr On Raid Array?
Nov 27, 2010
repairing the MBR on my raid array. I have three disks, each with three paritions:root (sda1 sdb1 sdc1) 59GB swap (sda2 sdb2 sdc2) 1.12GB grub/boot (sda3 sdb3 sdc3) 298MB I have been able to get this running and it has been working fine for several months. A few days ago, I installed 10.04 to a USB stick but did not disable the hard drives at that point and so the MBR was overwritten. If I leave the USB stick in, it boots fine from that stick. However now I can't get the boot from the raid array to work correctly. I can do the following:Load 10.04 from the Live CD install mdadm recreate the root partition using
I can mount and view the files on md0 with no problems. It's not corrupted in any way. When I installed, I followed the directions to make each of the grub drives bootable. However I don't know for sure whether grub was installed on each partition separately or if it was installed on the assembled partition only. I have tried using
Code:
sudo grub-install /dev/sda3
and got warnings, something to the effect
Code:
Cannot find a device for /boot/grub
no path or device specified
Auto-detection of a filesystem module failed
specify the module with option '--module' explicitly
I have also been able to get to the grub rescue prompt but my keyboard (wireless USB) is not recognized and so I can't type anything in at that point.
I have a NETGEAR ReadyNAS NV+ with four 1TB drives in a RAID-5 array. This is our primary file storage. This has previously been backed up to a hardware RAID-0 array directly attached to our Windows server. The capacity of this backup array is no longer sufficient. So the plan was, take a bunch of 200GB to 320GB drives (And a 750) I had kicking around, chuck them in a couple of old SCSI drive enclosures I have collecting dust, attach them via IDA/SATA-to-USB adaptors to a USB hub, attach that to the server, create a JBOD array spanning the disks, and back up the NAS to that. Performance is not an issue as this is just to be used for backup, with the idea being as near to zero cost as possible (Spend so far = NZ$100�ish).
The first hurdle I struck was Windows not supporting Dynamic Disks on USB drives (Required to create a spanned volume). At first I resisted using another machine (i.e. a machine running Ubuntu) as I didn't want to dedicate a piece of hardware to backing up the NAS. I then decided it would be acceptable to do this via a VM, which is what I've done.So I have 10.04 running under VMWare Server 2.0.2 under Windows Server 2008 R2. The disks are all presented to the VM. I wasn't sure if I was going to end up creating the array under LVM or something else, but I noticed Disk Utility has an option to create an array, so I tried that. When I add two 250GB drives, the array size is 500GB. When I then add a 160GB drive, the array size drops to 480GB. Huh? If I keep adding disks (Regardless of order) the final array size comes out at 1.8 TB, as per the attached screenshot. Now with the following drives, I expected something more like:
After upgrading my ubuntu install my raid array is gone. The drives appear in blkid as "Linux raid member" and both have the same uuid. If I try to mount the drive via fstab I get a message that the drive is not ready or present. If I try to mount each of the two drives, one mounts successfully the other reports serious errors. Issuing a cat /proc/mdstat shows md_d0 as inactive.How can I re-establish my raid array? I have the data backed up so if I have to wipe out the disks to start over that's an option.
I currently have a nice HTPC setup that has been upgraded from distribution to distribution since 8.xx all the way up to 9.10 now. I just moved to a new place and it feels like the right time to do a fresh install of 10.04 into the HTPC. The problem is that I have a RAID 5 array in the system that has all my pictures, videos, music, etc. This OS is installed in a separate drive that is not part of the RAID array (I have 4 drives in the system, 3 in the array, 1 for the OS). what is the general process I should follow to do:
1. a fresh install of 10.04
2. do #1 while at the same time not losing my array (don't think I would anyway).
3. what to do after install to get the array back up and running and mounted.
I am using the 10.04.1 x64 Kubuntu live CD to install Kubuntu on my FakeRAID 0 array, I tell it not to install grub as i know it is still currently broken. the install goes flawlessly. However on first boot using my live grub CD unless i tell my computer to point to the CD it will hang (which it is told to boot from CD first so i'm not sure why it does.) When i tell it to boot to Linux, it will not boot saying the kernel is missing files (to much to sadly list, all i do not understand) then offers me a terminal to input "help" into for a list of Linux commands. Windows 7 pro x64 works just fine CD was downloaded VIA P2P if it matters
I wanted to merge my 1TB disks into and RAID 5 array, 4 of them in RAID 5 is above 2Terabytes limit of msdos partition tables which grub2 can boot from, so I decided to start up the system from scratch, by building it on GPT partitions, but seems grub2 won't boot from GPT partition because it drops to grub rescue and I can't really do anything from there.
What is the best way to install Windows and Linux on two-hard-disk array? In fakeraid there are no problems in Win, but linux installation is almost impossible (i've tried unsuccessfully...). In software raid it would be impossible to share files between win and linux? And finally hardware raid is possible, but cheap controllers have low performance. Is there any other way (apart from spending a lot of $$ for adaptec controller) ?
I installed Debian 5.0.3 (Backport with .34 Kernel), because my server hardware (Dell PowerEdge R210) needs special firmware and drivers.However, the installation went quite smooth.I put the system on a RAID 1 Array with about 500 GB space.s I said the installation went well, however, it doesn't boot! No GRUB, nothing
I'm trying to switch to a new RAID5 array but can't get it to boot. My disks:/dev/sda: new RAID member
/dev/sdb: Windows disk /dev/sdc: new RAID member /dev/sdd: old disk, currently using /dev/sdd3 as /
The RAID array is /dev/md0, which is comprised of /dev/sda1 and /dev/sdc1. I have copied the contents of /dev/sdd3 to /dev/md0, and can mount /dev/md0 and chroot into it. I did this:
Code:
sudo mount /dev/md0 /mnt/raid sudo mount --bind /dev /mnt/raid/dev sudo mount --bind /proc /mnt/raid/proc
[code]....
This completes with no errors, and /boot/grub/grub.cfg looks correct[EDIT: No it doesn't. It has root='(md/0)' instead of root='(md0)']. For example, here's the first entry:
Code:
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ### menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.35-25-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linu x --class gnu --class os {
I have an HTPC that was giving me insane amount of problems after 3 months of good use.
1x 250gig Samsung Drive (OS Drive)
3x 1TB Western Digital Caviar Green (Raid-5)
In 9.10, the raid was working fine. I decided to fresh install Ubuntu 10.04 and I can't seem to start the raid array. In Disk Utility, the array shows up but when I try to start it I get the error "Not enough components to start the array"
I've tried to assemble the array using mdadm and the following:
I'm running 10.04 x86 server with a really simple installation on a single 250GB boot disk. I then have a RAID5 array as /dev/md0 (set up using mdadm with x4 2TB disks). All is working well. My mdadm.conf file looks like this
Code:
# mdadm.conf # # Please refer to mdadm.conf(5) for information about this file.
[code]....
if I was to lose the boot disk and need to remount the RAID array on a fresh installation, what steps do I need to go through. My assumption is that the superblocks on the RAID disks will be used and I don't need to keep any additional information - is this right?
I'm currently using Windows Vista 32-bit on a RAID 1 array; I'm using the RAID provided by my motherboard so it's fakeRAID. Anyway, I'd like to do some C development under Linux but I'm not exactly sure how to go about installing it on a software RAID 1 array without messing up Windows. I'm not sure which Linux distro I'm going to install, so I'm hoping that information isn't important. Would I just resize my Windows partition and put Linux on the newly created partition? Do I have to worry about where Linux will put its bootloader or will it manage that on its own? I didn't mean software RAID, I meant fakeRAID.
I've recently had trouble reinstalling my Ubuntu system as I was getting various unusual errors as described in my old thread here. I thought it was probably something to do with my RAID-0 array which was pre-installed on my laptop from purchase being corrupted or something like that (if it's possible). I decided to simplify things for myself (not understanding RAID arrays much) so I just removed the RAID array and installed Windows and Ubuntu on the now separate hard disks. It worked fine.
I noticed quite a significant performance drop, however, with even Ubuntu boots taking longer than 30 seconds despite my laptop being both high-spec and only a few months old. Windows, as you can imagine, was dreadfully slow. I wasn't entirely convinced that this was entirely due to the loss of the RAID array - as even low-spec laptops with presumably no RAID arrays are supposed to boot Ubuntu in under 30 seconds apparently - but I read that RAID-0 arra
I'm about to install Ubuntu on two 250-gigabyte hard drives in a RAID 1 array, but I'm confused about how to partition my hard drives. How much space should I give to each partition? How many partitions should I create and where should I mount them? (I should mention that Ubuntu will be the only OS on this array.)
I've tried to install Fedora 11, both 32 and 64 on my main machine.It could not install as it stops on the first install window. I've already filed a bug but really haven't seen any feed back yet.The bug has something to do with Anaconda and the Raid array but I really can't tell.
I have an Intel Board (see signature). I am running intel raid software under W7 currently.It works fine. But, I'm wondering, when I attempt to install F!!, is my current raid set-up causing problems? Do I need to get rid of the intel raid software and use a Fedor/Linux raid program to manage the raid array??
I had done a new lucid install to a 1 TB RAID 1 array using the alternate CD a few weeks back. I messed up that system trying to some hardware working that lucid doesn't have drivers for yet, so I gave up on it and reinstalled to a single 80 GB disk that I now want to move over to the RAID array.
I moved all of the existing files on the array to a single folder, then copied all of the folders from the 80 GB disk over to the array with permissions and symlinks (minus the contents of /proc and /sys, which I created empty).
These are the commands I used:
Quote:
p -a -d -R -v -t /media/raid_array /b* cp -a -d -R -v -t /media/raid_array /d* cp -a -d -R -v -t /media/raid_array /e* cp -a -d -R -v -t /media/raid_array /h*
[Code]....
I tried to change fstab to use the 689a... for root, but when I try to boot, it's still trying to open /dev/disk/by-uuid/412d...
So then I booted from the single disk again and chrooted into the array, then ran update-initramfs -u. I got 3 "grep: /proc/modules: No such file or directory" errors, and "cat: /proc/cmdline: No such file or directory"- so I created directory /proc/modules, created an empty file /proc/cmdline, and ran the initramfs update again. Then I tried to shut down, which hung (probably because I was doing all of this from a terminal window in Gnome), so I killed the power after a couple of minutes.
It's still trying to use /dev/disk/by-uuid/412d... to boot.
What am I missing? I assume I just have to change the UUID to mount as root, but I don't know how.
When I tried to install fedora13, f13's installer kept seeing my hard drivesas a "BIOS RAID set (mirrorred)".Ubuntu10.04's installer had the same problem withmy drives but that installer was less informative than f13's installer. U10.04's installerjust stalled in the first screen, the one with the word Ubuntu above five dots, giving no hintas to what it didn't like.My pc came from Dell with 2 identical SATA hard drives in a RAID level one array.I changed CMOS settings from "RAID ON" to "ON" for each hard drive. That did not dismantle the RAID configuration, at least notin a way that satisfied f13's installer.
I reinstalled xp and tried to install f13 after a minimal xp installation.f13's installer detected "BIOS RAID metadata."What is it that f13's installer is detecting?I thought this might have something to do with nVidia's nForce4 Serial ATA RAID controllers. These are installed when you install the version xp that came with my system, not like most other drivers which you install after xp.I contacted nVidia but theycouldn't help me with this.Well, it turns out to be Dell's fault. They place this "BIOS RAID metadata"in a special place on each hard drive of a RAID set. It survives even the formatting that accompanies a reinstallation of xp.
If you want to truly dismantle a manufacturer's RAID set, you must use software like "dban" (www.dban.org) to thoughly wipe clean the drives. Download dban, burned it to a cd, then boot that cd. dban's auto??? command didn't work for me but its dod command did the trick. The process took aout seven hours for each of my 160gb hard drives. Hey, i was real impressed by the help i got throughout all the twists and turns that took this problem far away from the original statement Special thanks to Scotty38and to the "Troy Polamalu looking" young man working at Best Buy here in Little Rock, he understands how manufacturer's are shipping their pcs.
I am using Ubuntu 10.04 x64. I am not trying to install Ubuntu on a RAID 1 drive like all of the guides are for. I have a RAID 1 array that I am using for data storage. In windows it shows as a single array just fine. In linux it shows as 2 separate drives. I don't care how they show up to be honest I just have to data written to one drive written to the other automatically as well so my RAID isn't screwed up. Looking through different articles and forums I find a lot of stuff saying that it should show up under /dev/mapper/dxxx or something under /dev/mapper. All that shows up there for me is a device called control which doesn't seem to do something.
I just installed Ubuntu 10.10 64bit and wanted to get access to my nvidia RAID array. This array is working, and is NTFS formatted. But wasn't showing up through normal means in Ubuntu. (for example the NTFS Configuration Tool didn't display it) Here's what the system showed.
Code:
root@hermes:~# ls -l /dev/mapper/ total 0 crw------- 1 root root 10, 59 2010-11-03 22:39 control lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 7 2010-11-03 22:42 nvidia_dadijiag -> ../dm-0
[code]....
Is my mirror still in effect, or did i just mount one of the specific drives from the mirror?
I'm going a little bit crazy. I can't seem to remove my RAID 1 arrays. Any suggestions? I don't need to save data. The drives are empty. I'm upgrading to 4 2TB drives.Running Lucid Lynx server
Consider the following setup: Ubuntu system installed on a separate SSD for speed. An ubuntu software RAID array consisting of X number of physical HDD's for storage (RAID6 or RAID10). RAID setup is done during system install. If I suffer a total crash of the SSD and loose my system, will I be able to, using a new system disk, "reconnect" to the RAID array even if the "mothersystem" of the software RAID is lost? If yes, are there any particular config- or system files I need to backup to be able to rescue the array or will it just be recognized "out-of-the-box" when reinstalling ubuntu?
I want to make a RAID5 array with 4 2TB hard drives. One of the drives is full of data so I will need to start with a 3 disks and then once I copy the data from the 4th onto the array, I will then add the 4th drive. This will be my first experience with RAID. I've spent a few hours searching for info but most of what I have found is a bit over my head.
I'm just about to be given a Power Mac G5 (Late 2005) Dual 2.0GHz. I think this was the last G5 produced.I plan on using it as file server/NAS and will probably run 10.04 LTS (or maybe 8.04 LTS). I would install a SATA RAID controller and run 4 1TB drives in a RAID 5 configuration. The only thing I'm unsure about is choosing a compatible RAID controller. I need to find a RAID controller that
- Is PCIe - Is compatible with both the Power Mac and Ubuntu PPC - Does true hardware RAID - Doesn't cost a fortune!
Am I right in thinking that the card might need to be open firmware compatible? If it makes any difference, I plan on running the OS from a separate 5th drive. I've found this on eBay. I asked the seller and he claims it supports true hardware RAID and says the chipset is a Silicon Image SIL3124. I does seem suspiciously cheap though...
I've created a soft raid w/ 2x 1TB drives by using Disk Utility. (used for mythtv storage, not system, swap or anything else)
If I start the raid array in the Disk Utility mount and everything works as it should, but on reboot the raid array isn't started so I have to go into Disk Utility, start it, then run the mount.
I have acquired a dell 2850 poweredge server and installed ubuntu server onto only to find out we cant use linux for its intended use and need to uninstall remove ubuntu and it has a raid 5 array on the server.
I have an Areca hardware RAID array that I'm trying to format & partition on a fresh Ubuntu 10.04 LTS installation. The OS drive is not on the RAID card, it's entirely separate. The RAID is a 6TB volume so I realize I have to use parted to format it, not fdisk (which I've always relied on).
My problem is that I can't figure out how to get parted to like my settings. It seems like everything I try gives me the warning "Warning: The resulting partition is not properly aligned for best performance." Here's what I'm doing:
Code: (parted) p Model: Areca ARC-1280-VOL#00 (scsi)[code].....
What start/end settings should I use to get a properly aligned partition? How do I know?I have tried a mix and match of 0, 0s, 1, 1s, -0, -0s, -1, -1s, 100% for my start/end with no success.
I had some issues with my RAID6 array (with 15 disks), where 5 disks got disconnected (each five disks is connected to the motherboard via 1 SATA cable), which brought down the RAID array. I fixed this problem via readding the disks and running the array:
Code:
mdadm -R /dev/md1
However, after rebooting, the array appears inactive, and I have to go through the same motions to fix this and make it active. The array is present in the /etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf, though also 2 other raid arrays (3 arrays total):
Code:
DEVICE partitions # auto-create devices with Debian standard permissions CREATE owner=root group=disk mode=0660 auto=yes
I currently have a mirror raid array with 2x 1TB HD's (Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS SATA). They are both the standard 512 byte sector HD's. I just ordered a new 1TB Hard Drive (Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EARS SATA) as I want to wipe the current mirror raid and use the 3 disks in a raid 5 array.
But to my suprise, the new 1TB HD is an "advanced format" HD with 4k byte sectors... Am I screwed or can this 4k byte sector HD be used in a software raid 5 array along with the 512 byte sector hard drives?
(The WD hard drive says you can jumper it to work with XP which can only use 512 byte sectors... there's also a utility you can run that does something to make it compatible with XP too.... Makes me wonder if these new drives are backwards compatible?)
I just restarted my server (Ubuntu 9.04 server, running on ESXi 4.0) and while copying files onto the server using samba I got strange problems and the connection was lost. When I rebooted the total system, so ESXi as well as Ubuntu Server I did find problems on my RAID disk.
The directory, where the new files were added I have a lot of files, but a lot of them do not have any info except their name:
Both mirror disks are still functioning and I can still add/delete files, from the server, from other LINUX systems and from other Windows systems via samba.
so my servers 7 hds in raid 5 all was working well until one of them died. The HD that died sort of works it can read like half a file also freezes on the benchmark test in disk utility. Unfortunate when i take it out on boot it says. The drive for /media_kbt is not ready or present press s to skip or m for manual recovery. I hit s and then go to disk utility. But i can't start or add disks to the array.
