[SOLVED] rebuilding USB now drives say Unformatted

Hi all!

I am trying to start from scratch with a clean thumb drive. I "had" 2 drive +parity drive. I have got through the install following http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php?title=Configuration_Tutorial. I copied which HHD was in what location (ie, Disk1, Disk2, Parity) then used that information when adding the drive back to the array. Now Disk1 and Disk2 show as unformatted. I know both of these disk have unRAID data on them. Where do I go from here?

unRaid 4.7. I have purchased the Plus key but have not added it to the array yet. That was my next step.

Thanks so much!

Step 6 Before you can use the array you must format any data drives you have assigned to the array. After you start the array any newly added data drives will show as Unformatted on the web-management interface. There will also be a Format button on the bottom third of the screen. You must press it to format the newly added data drives before you can use them to store your data. You do that by pressing the Format button. Note: if any drives show as unformatted, but are known to have already been formatted, and already hold your unRAID data, do not press the Format button. Seek guidance on the unRAID forum.

Hi all!

 

I am trying to start from scratch with a clean thumb drive. I "had" 2 drive +parity drive. I have got through the install following http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php?title=Configuration_Tutorial. I copied which HHD was in what location (ie, Disk1, Disk2, Parity) then used that information when adding the drive back to the array. Now Disk1 and Disk2 show as unformatted. I know both of these disk have unRAID data on them. Where do I go from here?

 

unRaid 4.7. I have purchased the Plus key but have not added it to the array yet. That was my next step.

 

Thanks so much!

 

Step 6 Before you can use the array you must format any data drives you have assigned to the array. After you start the array any newly added data drives will show as Unformatted on the web-management interface. There will also be a Format button on the bottom third of the screen. You must press it to format the newly added data drives before you can use them to store your data. You do that by pressing the Format button. Note: if any drives show as unformatted, but are known to have already been formatted, and already hold your unRAID data, do not press the Format button. Seek guidance on the unRAID forum.

You proceed by doing exactly the same thing as any other person requesting help in this forum.  Read the first sticky to learn how to post a syslog.

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=9880.0

  (and then attach the syslog to your next post)

Joe L.

I did NOT format them.

syslog.txt

I have since added a cache drive with no issues and have added Sab, SB and CP to the cache drive. Everything else seems to being back to where i wanted it. I just need to get those data drive back into the array,... hopefully without losing any of that data.

Thanks so much for you help!

While I am waiting, can I add a new drive to the array? Should I disable the 2 disks that I am waiting on? Will this create any further issues?

While I am waiting, can I add a new drive to the array? Should I disable the 2 disks that I am waiting on? Will this create any further issues?

The two disks are not able to be mounted....  we need to see why.

If they were created in an earlier release of unRAID, their partition should start on sector 63.  Please type the following command to list how the disks are actually partitioned. 

For disk1

fdisk -lu /dev/sdd

and disk2

fdisk -lu /dev/sda

I suspect they will indicate the partition starts on sector 64 (in error) instead of sector 63.  It is easy to fix, takes a few seconds, but need you to tell me if they were originally added in a version of unRAID before 4.7.

Joe L.

root@Tower:~# fdisk -lu /dev/sdd

 

Disk /dev/sdd: 2000.3 GB, 2000398934016 bytes

1 heads, 63 sectors/track, 62016336 cylinders, total 3907029168 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Disk identifier: 0x00000000

 

  Device Boot      Start        End      Blocks  Id  System

/dev/sdd1              63  3907029167  1953514552+  83  Linux

Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.

root@Tower:~# fdisk -lu /dev/sda

 

Disk /dev/sda: 2000.3 GB, 2000398934016 bytes

1 heads, 63 sectors/track, 62016336 cylinders, total 3907029168 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Disk identifier: 0x00000000

 

  Device Boot      Start        End      Blocks  Id  System

/dev/sda1              63  3907029167  1953514552+  83  Linux

Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.

I have only ever had 4.7

root@Tower:~# fdisk -lu /dev/sdd

 

Disk /dev/sdd: 2000.3 GB, 2000398934016 bytes

1 heads, 63 sectors/track, 62016336 cylinders, total 3907029168 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Disk identifier: 0x00000000

 

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/sdd1              63  3907029167  1953514552+  83  Linux

Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.

root@Tower:~# fdisk -lu /dev/sda

 

Disk /dev/sda: 2000.3 GB, 2000398934016 bytes

1 heads, 63 sectors/track, 62016336 cylinders, total 3907029168 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Disk identifier: 0x00000000

 

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/sda1              63  3907029167  1953514552+  83  Linux

Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.

 

I have only ever had 4.7

Type:

reiserfsck --check /dev/md1

reiserfsck --check /dev/md2

Do you want to run this program?[N/Yes] (note need to type Yes if you do):Yes

 

reiserfs_open: the reiserfs superblock cannot be found on /dev/md1.

Failed to open the filesystem.

 

If the partition table has not been changed, and the partition is

valid  and  it really  contains  a reiserfs  partition,  then the

superblock  is corrupted and you need to run this utility with

--rebuild-sb.

 

Same response for both commands.

Do you want to run this program?[N/Yes] (note need to type Yes if you do):Yes

 

reiserfs_open: the reiserfs superblock cannot be found on /dev/md1.

Failed to open the filesystem.

 

If the partition table has not been changed, and the partition is

valid  and  it really  contains  a reiserfs  partition,  then the

superblock  is corrupted and you need to run this utility with

--rebuild-sb.

 

 

Same response for both commands.

OK, then let's see if the file-system exists on the physical partitions.   (perhaps unRAId did not connect them to the /dev/md devices yet in your situation)

reiserfsck --check /dev/sda1

reiserfsck --check /dev/sdd1

(Note the trailing "1" as we want to check the first partition)

If that works, and there is a file-system, you probably just need to set a new disk configuration using the

initconfig

command.

root@Tower:~# fdisk -lu /dev/sdd

 

Disk /dev/sdd: 2000.3 GB, 2000398934016 bytes

1 heads, 63 sectors/track, 62016336 cylinders, total 3907029168 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Disk identifier: 0x00000000

 

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/sdd1              63  3907029167  1953514552+  83  Linux

Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.

root@Tower:~# fdisk -lu /dev/sda

 

Disk /dev/sda: 2000.3 GB, 2000398934016 bytes

1 heads, 63 sectors/track, 62016336 cylinders, total 3907029168 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Disk identifier: 0x00000000

 

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/sda1              63  3907029167  1953514552+  83  Linux

Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.

 

I have only ever had 4.7

Do you want to run this program?[N/Yes] (note need to type Yes if you do):Yes

 

reiserfs_open: the reiserfs superblock cannot be found on /dev/md1.

Failed to open the filesystem.

 

If the partition table has not been changed, and the partition is

valid  and  it really  contains  a reiserfs  partition,  then the

superblock  is corrupted and you need to run this utility with

--rebuild-sb.

 

 

Same response for both commands.

OK, then let's see if the file-system exists on the physical partitions.   (perhaps unRAId did not connect them to the /dev/md devices yet in your situation)

 

reiserfsck --check /dev/sda1

 

reiserfsck --check /dev/sdd1

 

(Note the trailing "1" as we want to check the first partition)

 

If that works, and there is a file-system, you probably just need to set a new disk configuration using the

initconfig

command.

 

Do you want to run this program?[N/Yes] (note need to type Yes if you do):Yes

 

reiserfs_open: the reiserfs superblock cannot be found on /dev/sda1.

Failed to open the filesystem.

 

If the partition table has not been changed, and the partition is

valid  and  it really  contains  a reiserfs  partition,  then the

superblock  is corrupted and you need to run this utility with

--rebuild-sb.

so... my superblock has been corrupted?

root@Tower:~# fdisk -lu /dev/sdd

 

Disk /dev/sdd: 2000.3 GB, 2000398934016 bytes

1 heads, 63 sectors/track, 62016336 cylinders, total 3907029168 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Disk identifier: 0x00000000

 

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/sdd1              63  3907029167  1953514552+  83  Linux

Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.

root@Tower:~# fdisk -lu /dev/sda

 

Disk /dev/sda: 2000.3 GB, 2000398934016 bytes

1 heads, 63 sectors/track, 62016336 cylinders, total 3907029168 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Disk identifier: 0x00000000

 

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/sda1              63  3907029167  1953514552+  83  Linux

Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.

 

I have only ever had 4.7

Did you by chance partition them to start on sector 64 originally? (before you messed with reloading the flash drive)

I didn't do anything to these drive before reloading the drive. I did add a new drive that I will be using as my cache drive. This caused my system to relabel the drive order, but I had previously saved the drive order so I got them back in the correct locations.

root@Tower:~# fdisk -lu /dev/sdd

 

Disk /dev/sdd: 2000.3 GB, 2000398934016 bytes

1 heads, 63 sectors/track, 62016336 cylinders, total 3907029168 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Disk identifier: 0x00000000

 

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/sdd1              63  3907029167  1953514552+  83  Linux

Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.

root@Tower:~# fdisk -lu /dev/sda

 

Disk /dev/sda: 2000.3 GB, 2000398934016 bytes

1 heads, 63 sectors/track, 62016336 cylinders, total 3907029168 sectors

Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes

Disk identifier: 0x00000000

 

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System

/dev/sda1              63  3907029167  1953514552+  83  Linux

Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.

 

I have only ever had 4.7

Did you by chance partition them to start on sector 64 originally? (before you messed with reloading the flash drive)

 

I didn't do anything to these drive before reloading the drive. I did add a new drive that I will be using as my cache drive. This caused my system to relabel the drive order, but I had previously saved the drive order so I got them back in the correct locations.

It could be your old file systems start on block 64 and not block 63 in which case the MBRs needs fixing, not the individual superblocks on the drives.

I honestly don't remember. They were new drives and I used screen + pre-clear to prep them. I would have been following the wiki configuration guide.

I honestly don't remember. They were new drives and I used screen + pre-clear to prep them. I would have been following the wiki configuration guide.

OK, let's try something to see if we can figure out where the file-system actually starts

type:

 dd if=/dev/sda count=195 | od -c -A d |  sed  30q

and

 dd if=/dev/sdd count=195 | od -c -A d |  sed  30q

The output should look a lot like this...  Note where the  string "R   e   I   s   E   r   2   F   s" appears....

Let's see if yours is at the same address, or one sector further.

Output on one of my drives looks like this  (it has a file-system starting on sector 63):

195+0 records in

195+0 records out

99840 bytes (100 kB) copied, 0.00169403 s, 58.9 MB/s

0000000  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0

*

0000448  \0  \0 203  \0  \0  \0   ?  \0  \0  \0 361   _   8   :  \0  \0

0000464  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0

*

0000496  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0   U 252

0000512  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0

*

0097792 376  \v   G  \a   e  \a   -  \0  \a 212 267 001 022  \0  \0  \0

0097808  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0      \0  \0  \0 004  \0  \0   % 254 227   \

0097824 204 003  \0  \0 036  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0 020 314 003

0097840 220  \0 002  \0   R   e   I   s   E   r   2   F   s  \0  \0  \0

0097856 003  \0  \0  \0 005  \0 217 016 002  \0  \0  \0 204   ]  \0  \0

0097872 001  \0  \0  \0 353 300 256 263 242 347   N 347 264 362 315 364

0097888 345   V 253 366  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0

0097904  \0  \0  \0  \0  \a  \0 036  \0 255 262 303   M  \0   N 355  \0

0097920  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0

dd if=/dev/sda count=195 | od -c -A d |  sed  30q

195+0 records in

195+0 records out

99840 bytes (100 kB) copied, 7.25412 s, 13.8 kB/s

0000000  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0

*

0000448  \0  \0 203  \0  \0  \0  ?  \0  \0  \0  q 210 340 350  \0  \0

0000464  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0

*

0000496  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  U 252

0000512  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0

*

0098304 016 021 034 035 263  X 256 001 255  X 027 002 022  \0  \0  \0

0098320  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0      \0  \0  \0 004  \0  \0  = 362  6  a

0098336 204 003  \0  \0 036  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0 020 314 003

0098352 006  \0 001  \0  R  e  I  s  E  r  2  F  s  \0  \0  \0

0098368 003  \0  \0  \0 005  \0  9  : 002  \0  \0  \0  /  \0  \0  \0

0098384 001  \0  \0  \0  h  ( 367 323  _ 204  A 371 277 371 312 246

0098400 362 243  P 005  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0

0098416  \0  \0  \0  \0  !  \0 036  \0  F  '  $  N  \0  N 355  \0

0098432  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0

*

0098496  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0 001  \0  \0  \0

0098512  \f 006  \0  \0  \r 006  \0  \0 016 006  \0  \0 020 006  \0  \0

0098528 272 006  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0

0098544  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0

*

0099840

dd if=/dev/sdd count=195 | od -c -A d |  sed  30q

\195+0 records in

195+0 records out

99840 bytes (100 kB) copied, 6.96367 s, 14.3 kB/s

0000000  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0

*

0000448  \0  \0 203  \0  \0  \0  ?  \0  \0  \0  q 210 340 350  \0  \0

0000464  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0

*

0000496  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  U 252

0000512  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0

*

0098304 016 021 034 035 312 330 302 001 365 347  l 002 022  \0  \0  \0

0098320  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0      \0  \0  \0 004  \0  \0 377 362 374  o

0098336 204 003  \0  \0 036  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0 020 314 003

0098352 002  \0 001  \0  R  e  I  s  E  r  2  F  s  \0  \0  \0

0098368 003  \0  \0  \0 005  \0  9  : 002  \0  \0  \0 255  \0  \0  \0

0098384 001  \0  \0  \0  5 344  \t 303 227 263  K  [ 267 003  6 247

0098400 350  2  \r 242  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0

0098416  \0  \0  \0  \0  7  \0 036  \0 365 255 331  M  \0  N 355  \0

0098432  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0

*

0098496  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0 001  \0  \0  \0

0098512  } 033  \0  \0  n 033  \0  \0  x 033  \0  \0 377 032  \0  \0

0098528 031 033  \0  \0 377 032  \0  \0 031 033  \0  \0 377 032  \0  \0

*

0098560 031 033  \0  \0 023 027  \0  \0 305 030  \0  \0 023 027  \0  \0

0098576 305 030  \0  \0 023 027  \0  \0 305 030  \0  \0 023 027  \0  \0

*

0098656 305 030  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0

0098672  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0  \0

*

0099840

Both of your disks have file systems that start 512 bytes (one sector) greater than mine that starts on sector 63.

Yours then actually start on sector 64.

Unfortunately, your current MBR says they start on sector 63.  (And, that sector on your disk is all zeros)  That is why reiserfsck cannot find the superblock.  It is looking in the wrong place.

To correct this, we need to fix the MBRs on those disks to define a partition on each of them that starts on sector 64.

Easiest is probably the mkmbr utility lime-tech included in 5.9beta6a and later releases.  I do not think it is on the 4.7 release.

Next easiest is a utility I wrote long ago to help another unRAID user.  You can download it as it is attached to this post:

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=5072.msg47122#msg47122

It is a small shell script.  It will take just seconds to download.   The built-in help does not mention the "-A" option in it for file systems that are on sector 64, but it is there.

un-zip it and put it on your flash drive.

To run it, type:

So  to invoke this script to test the existing partition only, and make no changes type:

unraid_partition_disk.sh  -A /dev/sda

and

unraid_partition_disk.sh  -A /dev/sdd

To invoke it to fix the existing partition, add the "-p" option. type:

unraid_partition_disk.sh  -A -p /dev/sda

and

unraid_partition_disk.sh  -A -p /dev/sdd

It will only take a few seconds to run on each disk.   Once done, you can probably stop and re-start the array and it will probably be able to mount the drives.  (you might need to reboot...  I really don't know if it remembers the initial disk partitioning... rebooting it will force it to read their new partitioning.)

Joe L.

Thanks so much! This did the trick!

Sorry for the delay responding, had to put this on hold for a bit.... boy did I miss having this working.

... and Joe, many thanks from me too 

After reinstalling unRAID on my flash drive, one of my WD20EARS came up unformatted.

[Topic: XP & Win7 cant access unRaid after cache disk offline]

Like Andro, the MBR mismatched the file system, and this thread your utility sorted it. Star!!

Judy