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I was running ubuntu 11.04 and my boot drive has become corrupt. This has stopped me from accessing my raid5 array.

The array was set up in MDADM and called MD0 i think. Can I install ubuntu 11.04 on a new os drive and pull back my array? If so what would I need to do?

Are there any important config files on the old drive? I think part of the VAR directory is unreadable.

Jorge Castro
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Warren
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1 Answers1

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I'm a little shaky on doing this, and I can't guarantee that it won't destroy anything. I did go through the same situation and managed to get mine back. I don't remember exactly what I did as it was quite some ago. I think once I had my .conf file restored, I could use 'mdadm --assemble --scan', and it this doesn't work, you can re-assemble the drive (assuming you know the partitions) using something similar to 'mdadm --assemble /dev/md0 /dev/sda1 /dev/sdb1' where md0 is your raid partition and sdb1 and sdb2 are the component partitions.

Nerdfest
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  • The array is made of 4 WD10EARS 1 TB drives. Its a 3TB raid 5 array. Im not sure of the order on the drives, is there anyway to find this out, or can I assemble the array with it automatically recognising the order. The drives are single partitions made using MDADM so things like gparted see them as unformatted. – Warren Jun 04 '11 at 22:15
  • I think you should be safe trying the --scan. I had a question above asking if you can get access to the original mdadm.conf file (/etc/mdadm/mdadm.conf). I think this will have useful information in it if you can still access it. – Nerdfest Jun 05 '11 at 03:00
  • Hh, Ive installed a new os drive, and a fresh copy of ubuntu 11.04. I have installed MDADM and run the MDADM -assemble --scan command, nand it comes back with /dev/md0 assembled from 2 drives - not enough to start the array .... the array had 4 drives using 3, so why isnt it picking them up? I really dont want to loose the data on it. – Warren Jun 05 '11 at 20:07
  • Not sure ... you could try assembling manually (mdadm --assemble /dev/md0 /dev/sda1 ... etc, adding all 4 parts). – Nerdfest Jun 06 '11 at 02:19
  • Tried that, getting the msg: mdadm: /dev/md0 assembled from 2 drives - not enough to start the array - msg – Warren Jun 06 '11 at 06:18
  • Can you add all 4 partitions? ... I assume you know which devices they are. – Nerdfest Jun 06 '11 at 15:01
  • I have a printout from mdadm --detail /dev/md0 taht might make more sense. Do you have a generic email address that I can post it to? It basically says that drives 1 & 3 have been removed from the array. Even though they are present and it sees them. – Warren Jun 06 '11 at 17:58
  • You can use PasteBin for that, although I'm not sure I can help any further. – Nerdfest Jun 06 '11 at 18:50