help me recover data, missing partition, raid online

[bgalakazam]

Hi, in short, I made a RAID-1 to ensure stuff like this doesn't happen. Turns out my 5400RPM HDD from 2001 is more reliable... I will be extremely grateful if you can help me recover my data over the last 8 years.

Order of events:
- using nas4free now and then, once a week, not always on
- disassemble box
- reassemble, possible SATA cables plugged elsewhere
- start to copy 700MB .IMG file
- network share disappears within 2-3 seconds
- I reboot nas4free
- 1 of the disks starts scratching
- I see "degraded" and the disk is sychronizing
- after it completes, the disk is no longer visible

I have rev 804 on a CF and rev 847 on a USB, both embedded. I tried reimporting the config, no go. After some troubleshooting, I found the ufsid for the disk is missing. Looks like the entire partition is gone. It is possible the wrong disk was synchronized (SIFTU suggested this on IRC). I use RAID-1 with UFS (I don't like ZFS myself). SIFTU tried to help me with a remote session but we couldn't figure out much. I have local SSH access, screenshare, etc.

So, the problem is a missing/hidden partition for the RAID.

Information from server:

Disks|Software RAID|RAID1|Management

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Volume Name	Type	Size	Status	
WDBLACK	1	953870MB 	COMPLETE 

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# gmirror status
          Name    Status  Components
mirror/WDBLACK  COMPLETE  ada1 (ACTIVE)
                                             ada0 (ACTIVE)

Disks|Software RAID|RAID1|Information

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Software RAID information and status
Geom name: WDBLACK
State: COMPLETE
Components: 2
Balance: round-robin
Slice: 4096
Flags: NONE
GenID: 0
SyncID: 1
ID: 2836053330
Providers:
1. Name: mirror/WDBLACK
   Mediasize: 1000204885504 (931G)
   Sectorsize: 512
   Mode: r0w0e0
Consumers:
1. Name: ada1
   Mediasize: 1000204886016 (931G)
   Sectorsize: 512
   Mode: r1w1e1
   State: ACTIVE
   Priority: 1
   Flags: NONE
   GenID: 0
   SyncID: 1
   ID: 3557039084
2. Name: ada0
   Mediasize: 1000204886016 (931G)
   Sectorsize: 512
   Mode: r1w1e1
   State: ACTIVE
   Priority: 0
   Flags: NONE
   GenID: 0
   SyncID: 1
   ID: 436938841

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# df -h
Filesystem    Size    Used   Avail Capacity  Mounted on
/dev/md0      207M    203M    4.7M    98%    /
devfs         1.0k    1.0k      0B   100%    /dev
/dev/da0a     103M     96M    6.9M    93%    /cf
procfs        4.0k    4.0k      0B   100%    /proc
/dev/md1       30M    3.4M     26M    11%    /var

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# pwd
/dev/mirror
# ls -la
total 1
dr-xr-xr-x  2 root  wheel          512 Aug 28 08:13 .
dr-xr-xr-x  8 root  wheel          512 Aug 28 08:12 ..
crw-r-----  1 root  operator    0,  75 Aug 28 08:13 WDBLACK

On the CF the previous mount point is present. I don't have a 2nd CF reader so I am using the USB right now. It has the mountpoint deleted, but when trying to add a new one:

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Wrong partition type or partition number.
/dev/mirror/WDBLACKp1: Can't get UFS ID.
dumpfs: /dev/mirror/WDBLACKp1: could not find special device

I am also in the IRC channel. Please let me know if there is any way to recover the data in case the partition can be restored before I wipe and begin anew.

Thanks.

[raulfg3]

Have a look to this post, perhaps helps You.

viewtopic.php?f=65&t=4855

viewtopic.php?f=65&t=2561

[bgalakazam]

Nothing useful for recovering a partition there.

[raulfg3]

No?

User sanduleak use UFS Explorer to recover data from one disk.

And rbscyle solved same problem.

[bgalakazam]

I was able to mount it via Linux and run UFS Explorer. It found the entire directory and file structure on both drives separately. Unfortunately, 99.99% of the files are broken when I attempt to restore. Only some .txt and .html files have semi-readable content.

Back to the drawing board. I need help with activating the partition on the NAS server. This page was suggested as relevant, but I don't know how to do step 3 and 4 and if the process won't wipe the data: http://superuser.com/questions/415215/f ... -something

Any further suggestions?

[bgalakazam]

I managed to get most of my stuff out via the recovery software. I had to hook up both disks, emulate RAID-1 and scan that way. Of course, I have the stuff in folders by file extension, but ~90% of what I needed is there. Will promptly install Windows Server 2012 where I am trained in and know these issues and exponentially easier and faster to fix.

You may close the thread.

[raulfg3]

I read in your first post that do not like ZFS, but still i aimed You to test ZFS mirror with your actual hardware .

Copy only a few files, test performance, and test to lose one disk, this time with ZFS your experience Will be more satisfactory.