Hi,

 

I tried to use the following command to remove HPA from one of my drives "hdparm -N p1953525168 /dev/sdf".

 

It appeared to work, and I then ran "hdparm -N /dev/sdf" which returns "max sectors = 1953525168/1953525168 HPA disabled" which is what I would expect, however rebooted and the array won't start and the drive has a red ball.

 

Not sure what's wrong... please help! Screenshot and syslog attached.

 

FYI - I have another thread going with some other (un/related?) info: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=21837.0

hdparm.zip

I've been casually following your issue, so I'm not exactly sure what steps you took but I'm pretty sure you need to reverse what you just did, as in you need to put the HPA back EXACTLY the way it was.

 

If I'm wrong about this synopsis, let me know.

1. you investigate updating to a later version of unraid, discover you can't until you take care of HPA

2. you discover your parity drive is failing, and you still try to remove HPA on one of your data drives while your parity is invalid.

 

Removing HPA does pretty much the same thing as erasing the drive, it moves the partition information to a new location so the drive appears empty. To recover the data, you must have a fully functioning array to rebuild the data back on to the freshly un-HPA'd drive.

 

I believe at this point the easiest way to get your data back and remove the HPA is to first put the HPA back on, build valid parity on your newly purchased drive, remove HPA, then rebuild back onto the newly expanded drive.

 

DON'T ACTUALLY DO ANYTHING UNTIL YOU CONFIRM WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED. Your data is in real jeopardy here. If you don't have backups on another media somewhere, you need to tread VERY CAREFULLY.

Your synopsis is correct.... I didn't realise that removing HPA was a destructive process...

 

So, my immediate steps to restore my array are?:

 

1) use "hdparm -N p1953523055 /dev/sdf" to restore the disk size/re-enable HPA on disk2

2) replace current disk1 (my new drive with no data) with the original disk1

3) replace the parity drive with my new drive and wait for it to create valid parity

 

I'd go with Joe's instructions on the other thread on this one, he has a whole lot more experience than I do with manipulating partitions.

Your synopsis is correct.... I didn't realise that removing HPA was a destructive process...

 

So, my immediate steps to restore my array are?:

 

1) use "hdparm -N p1953523055 /dev/sdf" to restore the disk size/re-enable HPA on disk2

2) replace current disk1 (my new drive with no data) with the original disk1

3) replace the parity drive with my new drive and wait for it to create valid parity

No, do not re-create the HPA.  There is no need to do that and it just will cause issues in upgrading to the 5.0 series later. 

 

Follow the directions in my other response in the other thread.  (to use unraid_partition_disk.sh to fix the partitioning)

 

Joe L.

Thanks for your help jonathanm.

 

Joe - I have posted questions about "unraid_partition_disk.sh" in the other thread.