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B3 RAID status problem

Got problems with your B2 or B3? Share and get helped!
Gordon
Posts: 1461
Joined: 10 Aug 2011, 03:18

Re: B3 RAID status problem

Post by Gordon »

You could check out this thread for manually creating the partitions.
johannes
Posts: 1470
Joined: 31 Dec 2006, 07:12
Location: Sweden
Contact:

Re: B3 RAID status problem

Post by johannes »

Hi Mcrsro,

I can't say what is wrong, as it sounds you are doing everything right, and I am 100% that disk should work with the B3.

One thing to check, make sure your disk is correctly assembled (including the front heat pad), this ensures that it connects physically to your B3. Does the drive spin-up when you listen to it? Is there any disk activity on boot (you can hear this)?

If it helps you can send your B3 to us and we can install it for you, or we can send you a known-good USB stick. PM me if you want this.

Best,
/Johannes
/Johannes (Excito co-founder a long time ago, but now I'm just Johannes)
mcrsro
Posts: 9
Joined: 19 Feb 2014, 14:56

Re: B3 RAID status problem - succeeded

Post by mcrsro »

Johannes,

Thank you for this replay.
I have good news: I succeeded to fix, finally, the problem.
Now I am copying the previously saved data on my B3 having configured a 3 TB RAID 1.

I believe that the way I followed to fix this kind of problem would be useful for other B3 users, therefore I created an account on ExcitoWiki to include there very soon a complete report about what I did.

In short, I obtained a clue from a post (thank you, Gordon, for your advice!) which made me understand that it is a problem with partition alignment if the disks having above 2 TB and this is the cause which stops the installation process. Unfortunately, the installation routine, at this moment, doesn't perform well the automatic new disk repartitioning process for disks bigger that 2 TB.

I bought an inexpensive SATA-to-USB external rack with its own power source and I formatted the main 3 TB disk with Gparted installed on my Mint 16 laptop, following the same partition structure I've seen on the failed disk (the failure was caused by the accumulation of unrecoverable 870 of bad sectors after 2 years, 5 months and 27 days of almost continuous functioning).

The beauty of Mint 16 Gparted program is that it proposes the disk partitioning only having an intrinsec alignment enabled, so there is no need to deal with all kinds of criptic command lines - very useful for an user like me which is interested only by the final result: to fix as fast as possible the problem.

Consequently, I partitioned externally the disks and checked to see that all partitions are properly mounted on my laptop when attached to one of my USB 3.0 laptop ports (proving that the disks partitions are detectable). All the data partitions were formatted as ext3.

I mounted first the B3 and reinstalled the software and proceeded further with system update.
After that, I connected the S1, reformatted the disk using the "Format" option in the system, and started the RAID 1 building process. It took several hours (this happened during the night) and in the morning I had the system completely functional.

There are some things which would be helpful to improve B3 interaction with the user, as shown below:
1) Fix the installation routine to avoid the need to repartition externally the HDDs
2) Fix, if possible, the slow Web interface response when the file restore (by copying). At this moment, to see the transfer status, I have to connect by ssh to B3 and to type df -h. I want to say that during the disk content update with the saved data, the Web interface is almost frozen.

Thank you for help and kind regards

Cristian
johannes
Posts: 1470
Joined: 31 Dec 2006, 07:12
Location: Sweden
Contact:

Re: B3 RAID status problem

Post by johannes »

I'm really glad you got it working. I'm not following on the partition issue though, we have - with the same installation stick - sold and shipped hundreds of 3 TB B3's, back in the days when we were selling that option. Some with WD Green and a few with WD Red, so this really should be working.

Nevertheless, I'm glad it works for you!
/Johannes (Excito co-founder a long time ago, but now I'm just Johannes)
Gordon
Posts: 1461
Joined: 10 Aug 2011, 03:18

Re: B3 RAID status problem

Post by Gordon »

johannes wrote:I'm really glad you got it working. I'm not following on the partition issue though, we have - with the same installation stick - sold and shipped hundreds of 3 TB B3's, back in the days when we were selling that option. Some with WD Green and a few with WD Red, so this really should be working.
I think the clue might be in this one line that mcrsro wrote:
Unfortunately, the installation routine, at this moment, doesn't perform well the automatic new disk repartitioning process for disks bigger that 2 TB.
With all the issues that the iBood buyers experienced it became my suspicion that many of the drives that are available for consumers are preformatted, which would be different from the batch that Excito acquired being a computer manufacturer. This appears to confirm that suspicion.
johannes
Posts: 1470
Joined: 31 Dec 2006, 07:12
Location: Sweden
Contact:

Re: B3 RAID status problem

Post by johannes »

Gordon wrote: I think the clue might be in this one line that mcrsro wrote:
Unfortunately, the installation routine, at this moment, doesn't perform well the automatic new disk repartitioning process for disks bigger that 2 TB.
With all the issues that the iBood buyers experienced it became my suspicion that many of the drives that are available for consumers are preformatted, which would be different from the batch that Excito acquired being a computer manufacturer. This appears to confirm that suspicion.
I don't think so, the drives we used comes from the same channels as the ones purchased in computer stores, ours were also preformatted windows-style.
/Johannes (Excito co-founder a long time ago, but now I'm just Johannes)
RandomUsername
Posts: 904
Joined: 09 Oct 2009, 18:49

Re: B3 RAID status problem

Post by RandomUsername »

Also, plenty of people bought B2/3s sans disk before the ibood offer (including me) and didn't have any problem installing onto a disk sourced from elsewhere.
Gordon
Posts: 1461
Joined: 10 Aug 2011, 03:18

Re: B3 RAID status problem

Post by Gordon »

Yes, but 3TB disks are special in the sense that you cannot use them with older OS such as Windows XP and require different partitioning. The thing is that if the disk is already partitioned and formatted, one should expect messages when wanting to repartition/reformat the drive. And you can't see those messages, nor respond to "are you sure" or "do you want to repair" questions if there's no console.

In any case the partitioning is clearly the issue, because once the drive is correctly partitioned outside the B3 it installs without issues. It's just the why and the what that remains unclear for now.
mcrsro
Posts: 9
Joined: 19 Feb 2014, 14:56

Re: B3 RAID status problem

Post by mcrsro »

Johannes,

I have to fully agree with Gordon's opinion: the system re-installation to use of the 3 TB HDD was not yet entirely solved.

My first move, before seeing the Gordon's clue, was to replace the faulty HDD and to start the installation procedure as it was described in the manual.
It was a total failure: I waited seeing the LED going from solid green into purple and then in blue, but I obtained only a blinking purple.
Please note that I took the disk from its antistatic bag as it was shipped.

The second move was to apply the patch needed to be sure that my B3 would support 3 TB disks (I didn't check that time if the disk is recognized because that day I didn't have ye the external SATA-to-USB external rack - it came later)
It was again a total failure: the application of the patch was done, but when I tried the installation, I obtained the same blinking purple LED

Third time I've seen the Gordon's clue and used the external rack to partition the disk, using an application that aligned automatically the created partitions. Before starting the system installation, I checked also to be sure that all these partitions are mounted when the rack was connected to one of the USB 3.0 ports of the laptop.
It was a total success: the LED stayed green for about 20 minutes and after a small solid purple period, it displayed a very confortable solid blue.

In short: try to put yourself in the situation of a "Joe User": he wants to have a procedure that just works, to avoid calling for support when it is not needed.

I have also a last suggestion: please publish and maintain a list of HDDs that are recommended as spare parts. This will guide the users to buy components that will not create additional problems and forum activities.

Regarding my B3, the next step, after the life of these 2 new disks will have been over, I intend to replace the disks with SSDs, because I've already seen the prices for Samsung SSDs decreasing spectacularly.
The idea of this B3, associated with SSDs will provide a rock solid, very reliable box where to store your data. I do believe that for the most of users, that don't need a too fast personal server, a B3 of this kind is a must.

Best regards to all,

Cristian
pompopom
Posts: 50
Joined: 13 Dec 2012, 16:45

Re: B3 RAID status problem

Post by pompopom »

As an extra you can actually put your B3 in Full-Raid (not only the data).

So no need anymore for doing re-installations.
See here: http://forum.excito.net/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=4338
here: http://forum.excito.net/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2715
and the excito howto's :-)

regards,
Koen
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