[ale] Disaster! (Raid) (Just skip it)

[David Corbin]

Damn.  I thought i discarded this, and apparently I sent it.    Just ignore 
this whole thing!


On Saturday 08 April 2006 11:01 am, David Corbin wrote:
> Sigh.  Bad things happen.
>
> I have a linux server at home that is not 'doing well'.  Let me describe
> how it was configured, and what I've seen.
>
> Two drives, hda, and hdc.  Both were configured exactly the same.
> hda1 => /boot (ext3)
> hda2 => / (ext3)
> hda3 => swap
> hda4 => part of software-raid drive (/md0)
> md0 => /data (reiserfs)
>
> Normally, hdc1 and hdc2 are not mounted, and I would periodically do "block
> copies" from hdaX to hdcX.
>
> I have a third drive, just like them, put away in the safe deposit box, and
> I swap one out every now and then.
>
> Kernel 2.4.19, Debian.
>
> The intent was for this server to be reasonably safe in holding my data
> with any manual backup step.
>
> This setup has worked great for since Nov 2002.  The only oddity that I've
> seen is that one time I had a failure where it would not boot off of
> my /dev/hda:  If I remember right, the BIOS wouldn't recognize that drive
> on that controller, but I swapped the two drives, and it worked fine,
> including the raid stuff.  That was at least 2 years ago.
>
> ============
> This morning, (after the storm went through) I notice the system had
> rebooted (I thought it was on a UPS, but I suppose it might not be).  It
> was stuck at the BIOS - my CMOS battery is dead.  No problem.  Press F1,
> and I get "LI" from the LILO prompt.
>
> I try a few things, and now it looks like hdc is dead.  It spins, does not
> go "ker-clunk", but is not recognized by the BIOS. I tried it another box
> too.
>
> OK.  The boot block is messed up.  I pull hda, put it another system, boot
> from CDROM (I can't boot from a CDROM in this system because of the dead
> CMOS battery).  I rewrite the boot block, and put the drive back.
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