Encrypted Disks read on external computer?(SOLVED)


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Not really sure how it happened at this point i am not sure it matters. I had to replace a drive last night due to some idiotic circumstances. The drive was removed from the array with the array started. My daughter popped the drive bay. Either way the drive is not bad but was disabled. I threw a new drive in and started a rebuild of the drive. Once it was "rebuilt" it was empty which is a bit worrying as it was a 3TB Drive 2.5TB full originally. Now i need to mount my 3tb encrypted drive to another computer with a Win10 OS so i can copy all my data back to the array. Is this possible? If not what is the procedure to get this mounted on a linux distribution? The only reason windows 10 is preferable is that i have a fibre line hooked up between the server and that PC. The only other thing i could ask is, is there a way to reinsert this disk and make it take and do a parity rebuild after the fact?

 

XFS-Encrypted

 

Sorry if this is a stupid question but i have never had a parity rebuild not rebuild the data before and it happened on both my servers last night.

Edited by sentein
Added Format of Drive
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Unencrypted XFS disks can be mounted on the Windows platform using appropriate software but I wouldn't expect you'd have much luck with an encrypted volume. I might be wrong as I don't use encryption - since I don't have the need I can avoid the extra layer of complexity. Your best bet would be to mount the disk on your unRAID server using the Unassigned Devices plugin, which now has limited support for encrypted volumes. If you don't have a free SATA port you could use a USB-connected external exclosure.

 

The question I would be asking though is, why is the rebuilt disk showing as empty? It should be an exact copy of the original. Perhaps there's some underlying problem. Grab your diagnostics (Tools -> Diagnostics) and post the zip. The file system might be corrupt, in which case you should start the array in maintenance mode and run a file system check.

 

You could re-introduce the old disk to the array instead of the replacement by doing a New Config and rebuilding parity but before you do you should investigate why the rebuild went wrong.

 

Edited by John_M
typo
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18 minutes ago, johnnie.black said:

Was the rebuild disk formatted at any time during the rebuild ?

When i inserted the drive and set it to disk position 2 and started the array it said the drive needed formatted. So yes i did format the drive as i thought it was required for a proper rebuild. It has been a year+ since my last failed disk so i would bet i screwed it up by formatting the drive. Am i correct in this assumption?

25 minutes ago, John_M said:

Unencrypted XFS disks can be mounted on the Windows platform using appropriate software but I wouldn't expect you'd have much luck with an encrypted volume. I might be wrong as I don't use encryption - since I don't have the need I can avoid the extra layer of complexity. Your best bet would be to mount the disk on your unRAID server using the Unassigned Devices plugin, which now has limited support for encrypted volumes. If you don't have a free SATA port you could use a USB-connected external exclosure.

 

The question I would be asking though is, why is the rebuilt disk showing as empty? It should be an exact copy of the original. Perhaps there's some underlying problem. Grab your diagnostics (Tools -> Diagnostics) and post the zip. The file system might be corrupt, in which case you should start the array in maintenance mode and run a file system check.

 

You could re-introduce the old disk to the array instead of the replacement by doing a New Config and rebuilding parity but before you do you should investigate why the rebuild went wrong.

 

Is there a good way to do a new config? I am going to look around on here as i am sure there is a lot on the process. Might have to clonezilla the drive before i do a new config so i have a good backup of the disk in question. Hate to do a new config and screw that up too.

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Just now, sentein said:

When i inserted the drive and set it to disk position 2 and started the array it said the drive needed formatted. So yes i did format the drive as i thought it was required for a proper rebuild. It has been a year+ since my last failed disk so i would bet i screwed it up by formatting the drive. Am i correct in this assumption?

Format is never part of a rebuild, I guess even the new warning is not enough to prevent people from doing it.

 

136293623_Formatwarning.png.d1053e606f28f72de4cfbcd2dc68bed6.png

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Will that be a Command Line based task? i have no problem with that just curious what i will need to look for here on the forums. Also this is probably for the best as the disk that was in that position has 3.5yrs of spin time on it and would  need replaced soon anyhow.

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I will be trying this when i get home. I have krusader so as long as it mounts i should be fine. I was not sure if UD has an input field for the drive passphrase as i have not tried an encrypted drive on UD. Thanks for the input on this you guys. I will either report back or mark this as resolved depending on what happens tonight.

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The first post in the UD thread gives a little more information.

 

Quote

An encrypted array disk can be mounted in UD with the following restrictions:

  • The array disk passphrase has to be defined. You cannot enter the passphrase for the disk in UD.

  • An array encrypted disk cannot be created with UD.

  • The disk can only be mounted if the current array passphrase is the same as the UD encrypted disk.  Note: There has to be at least one encrypted disk in the array.

 

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Also note that in case you need to run xfs_repair, after UD unencrypts the disk, the path is different than a non encrypted disks, i.e., use:

 

xfs_repair -n /dev/mapper/sdX1

 

Replace X with the correct disk identifier, don't forget the 1 in the end, obviously only needed if the disks doen't mount.

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