[Tfug] Check file system and restore array

[Timothy D. Lenz]

On 2/12/2013 4:48 PM, Bexley Hall wrote:
> Hi Timothy,

> Never complain about rain in Tucson!  :>
>

Been working on this cage for a couple years. Summer gets too hot, Then 
I seem to be more busy when it's cool. The first 2 floors have done for 
some time and the cage is 2'x4'. The cat was born wild and we were 
trying to tame him, but he got hit by a car before he was tame enough to 
trap. We try to coax him out of the cage but he feels safe. Wants us to 
reach in to pet him and he plays with one of the other 2 cats through 
the wire, even when the door is open. So 3rd floor is just more room and 
climbing space for him.

> Be thankful -- we spent the night in the ER.  <frown>

Done that many times.

> Of course, this is yet another change to the "failing" configuration
> so adds yet another variable.  Any reason not to use the SATA drives
> from your father's machine -- and the same software configuration?

His system is setup with 32bit linux and he may at some point decide to 
use it.

> Why are you using RAID?  (this is a DVR, right?)  Is the "content"
> that "precious"?  (I don't think you would need it for bandwidth
> reasons)

It's not just the recordings. Those get deleted when the show is 
watched. It's getting it back up when a drive fails, plus I do use it 
for some storage. A sort of secondary backup for some things. Anyway, I 
am going back to the plan of restoring the array. Going to copy the 
programs, config files, etc., and some other data to the other pair just 
in case and then try to restore the array. While it might be good to 
start with a fresh clean OS install, I don't really want to have to 
resetup everything. I have a program install, to keep the clock set, 
Apache web is installed, Team speak server. Getting all the shortcuts 
put back, etc..

> If the drives have a "write inhibit" strap, you might consider
> installing that and mounting them R/O -- just in case there is
> something wonky in the software and/or system hardware.  I lost
> the *contents* of a disk to a driver bug in an early FreeBSD
> release many years ago (and then promptly lost the contents of
> a *second*, identical disk by repeating that same exercise!  :< )

I don't know of any write protect option on these. Even USB sticks don't 
have those anymore. And they call that progress. :(  Haven't done any 
upgrades in at least a year, so any driver bugs would have shown by now.

> Things fail.  As I mentioned before, even picking top shelf
> components doesn't give you immunity from that.  Only *you*
> know what sort of use/abuse it was subjected to and what to
> expect from it (longevity).

The power around here drops to ~108v in the summer afternoons, from all 
the A/C's in the area is likely. But the power company can't do much 
about it because if they change the tap at the near by sub station, the 
voltage would be too high when the weather is cool. I try to run my 
computers only on UPS's now though the linux computer was run for some 
time without it when it was first built and power fluctuations are very 
hard on switch mode power supplies. My old UPS wasn't really enough to 
run two computers but I now have a nice Eaton 2500w rack mount I got 
from ebay new for around $150. So now all computer stuff, TV, etc are 
always on UPS.

> Again, the drives might not really be toast!  There is a surprising
> number of "dead" drives that actually are NDF (no defect found).
> Like replacing a car battery when the problem is actually in the
> alternator!  :-(

Yea, I don't think the drives are bad this time. It was a question of 
what it did to the file system when things went wonky. I never got that 
distinctive clicking they make when they went bad in the past this time.