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#1 2014-07-13 14:42:24

frazer
Member
Registered: 2013-12-09
Posts: 60

[SOLVED] Adding existing Software RAID to new Arch build

Hello All,

I had a Software RAID array - linear - 2 x 4TB USB3 External HDDs - connected to one two port USB3 pci-e x1 card, setup using Fedora and Webmin - which performed fine and shared my media to my network via NFS.  I admit that connecting both USB3 HDDs to one two port USB3 Pci-e card is not the fastest solution, but, it worked, and after all, my "bottleneck" was always going to be the final chain in the network (a powerline link from the gigabit router to the TV).

As in a previous post - I have been 'tinkering' with Arch for some time now, and, have recently moved my main computer from Fedora to Arch and am extremely happy and also learning more and more about Arch as I use it every day.

I decided to try and rebuild the "media pc" with the 8TB Linear Software RAID array from Fedora to Arch and have had problems which I have done my best to research and resolve, but, without success.  Thus I am asking for ideas please.

I can successfully build my "Media PC" with arch - and get it up and running to the logon prompt following the beginners guide, and have performed pacman -Syy and pacman -Syu updates successfully.

On both Arch builds (I tried twice to see if it was the build that I had made an error with), all hardware was installed except the USB3 linear RAID HDDs were not connected to the Pci-e card.

On both Arch builds, the moment I connect the external USB3 HDDs to the Pci-e card - I get a few screens full of errors (too fast to give any details I am afraid), and the PC either freezes or reboots.

The most that I could find out via the Arch wiki and Google was to load a module using modprobe - but the examples used RAID5 and RAID0 not linear raid.

Mu understanding (from reading the mdadm MAN page and various wiki's) is that I need to use mdadm to 'assemble' the existing linear RAID array - but, as said, upon connection of the drives to the Pci-e card - Arch 'crashes'.

I am, being a newbie, still learning about modules, and wondered if someone could provide some info on what perhaps I need to install/modprobe? before connecting the existing linear Software RAID devices please?

Many thanks for any help everyone.

EDIT:  If it is of any help - I have tried booting/rebuilding using Fedora, Debian and Ubuntu 'live' USBs after the Arch problems to ensure that there is no problem with the 'hardware'.  Once connecting the USB3 HDDs with these distros and using lsblk the RAID array is recognised as /dev/md127 8TB

Last edited by frazer (2014-07-26 18:05:12)

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#2 2014-07-13 23:20:47

frazer
Member
Registered: 2013-12-09
Posts: 60

Re: [SOLVED] Adding existing Software RAID to new Arch build

Just tried another Arch rebuild, followed by modprobe linear

No difference - the moment I connect a USB3 drive I get a screen full off scrolling errors until the PC freezes...

Any help would be most gratefully received!

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#3 2014-07-15 08:40:45

frazer
Member
Registered: 2013-12-09
Posts: 60

Re: [SOLVED] Adding existing Software RAID to new Arch build

Possibility of a corrupt USB3 card - but only with Arch - driver issue?

I mention this as I decided to 'bite the bullet' and create a new GPT partition table on both drives and start from basics - the Arch system (still from the previous crashes) produced errors and froze when I re-attached the newly partition tabled USB3 drives with no RAID info - however, as said previously, these USB3 drives when in linear RAID were recognised perfectly using 'live distros' using this same card and hardware.

I'll leave this open for a bit in the hope that someone may be able to shed some light on this issue for future help.

Thanks all again,

Frazer.

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#4 2014-07-26 18:04:54

frazer
Member
Registered: 2013-12-09
Posts: 60

Re: [SOLVED] Adding existing Software RAID to new Arch build

No replies, so I'll close.

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