Unable to GPT format disk ada2 + various issues!

[Rasmus]

Hello guys

I'm somewhat new to linux and therefore i need any answers to be in childmode when it comes to explination :)

First of i have 3 HDD named "ada1", "ada2" and "ada3" which i have been setting up a raid5 in CentOS using disk utility. (software raid). Since I couldn't get a samba server up and running and was forced to write on CentOS forum, which I have still gotten no answers on (1 week in), I was told by a friend to look into Freenas.

Looking good i must say.

Now... I have been trying to setup af ZFS volume which first of resultet in error "Unable to GPT format disk ada2". Trying to format ada1 and ada3 made no errors at first.

I then tried to "Quick wipe" disk ada2, but this resulted in error:

Code:

Failure: Failed to wipe ada2p2: dd: /dev/ada2p2: Input/output error 1+0 records in 0+0 records out 0 bytes transferred in 0.819506 secs (0 bytes/sec) 

I then tried Shell code: "gpart show". This didn't show ada2.

I have been reading everywhere on the web including this forum and have tried to do the following:

Code:

sysctl kern.geom.debugflags=0x10
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/ada2

Maybe the above finally, i don't know how i tried "sysctl kern.geom.debugflags=16" also, made me able to do:

Code:

gpart create -s gpt ada2

Now I have created GPT on ada2 and partioned this using:

Code:

gpart add -b 128 -t freebsd-swap -s 4194304 ada2
gpart add -t freebsd-zfs ada2

Finally my "gpart show" is the same on ada1+3 and ada2

I've rebooted and trying to make a volume again, which results in same error as the beginning: "Unable to GPT format disk ada2".

Rebooted again and now i cannot quick wipe any drives. At this very moment i pressed wipe with zeroes on ada1, which is still running.

Maybe i cannot quick wipe since i haven't made sysctl kern.geom.debugflags to "=0x10"?

Is there anybody who got a clue to what im doing wrong and the correct working solution for this?

Every solution i find on the web results in somekind of error to me.

Soon giving up :(

 

[ric]

Hello, welcome to the club. I HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM AS YOU "Unable to GPT format disk ada0...ada1...ada2.." Currently I have all my four SATA HHD connected to the mobo and RAID option has been turned off from the BIOS setting. Ill try to look for a RAID controller card and let see how it goes.

 

[Dusan]

I have been reading everywhere on the web including this forum and have tried to do the following:

Code:

sysctl kern.geom.debugflags=0x10
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/ada2

I'm pretty sure you would be able to setup a ZFS volume via the GUI at this point (as you were able to run gpart next). However, the easiest solution is probably to boot DBAN, wipe all drives with zeros and return back to FreeNAS. It will be clear sailing after that.

 

[Rasmus]

I'm pretty sure you would be able to setup a ZFS volume via the GUI at this point (as you were able to run gpart next). However, the easiest solution is probably to boot DBAN, wipe all drives with zeros and return back to FreeNAS. It will be clear sailing after that.

The problem is after i "dd" the drive i still get an error when trying to make a ZFS volume.

But thanks, Dusan. I will try using DBAN later today. I'll let you know how it goes!

 

[Rasmus]

Okay its ongoing now. 19 hours remaining according to the timer. Will post here once its done. :)

 

[Rasmus]

Hello, welcome to the club. I HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM AS YOU "Unable to GPT format disk ada0...ada1...ada2.." Currently I have all my four SATA HHD connected to the mobo and RAID option has been turned off from the BIOS setting. Ill try to look for a RAID controller card and let see how it goes.

I can't really see why you would invest in a raid controller card, since with ZFS/RaidZ you shouldn't need that. Try and find the problem that makes the error and correct it.

If you'r new to linux try and open up shell (codeline) and write

Code:

gpart show

You should be able to see all your hdd's there.

I followed the same procedures and errors as these post on the forum:

http://forums.freenas.org/threads/unable-to-create-volume.2020/
http://forums.freenas.org/threads/error-middlewareerror-unable-to-gpt-format-the-disk-ada0.3738/
http://www.freebsdonline.com/content/view/731/506/

Let me know how it goes, Ric.

 

[Dusan]

If you'r new to linux try and open up shell (codeline) and write

Code:

gpart show

You should be able to see all your hdd's there.

That command only shows you the drives that are partitioned. To see all drives run "camcontrol devlist".

 

[Rasmus]

Okay so did the DBAN and after 30 hours its finished.

Got same error when trying to wipe disk no. 2 (ada2):

"Error: Failed to wipe ada1p2: dd: /dev/ada1p2: Input/output error 1+0 records in 0+0 records out 0 bytes transferred in 1.406354 secs (0 bytes/sec)"

DBAN said succes to all disk.

Still getting this error when trying to make a ZFS pool:

"Error: Unable to GPT format the disk "ada1"" (disk was formerly ada2.. Just had to disconnect another drive JBOD. So ada2 is now ada1)

Final, maybe working, solution (got it from a friend): Connect the drive to my windows workstation and use disk partioner to see if somethings wrong, then partioned on it and delete it again. Will try later and post back with results.

FreeNas (FreeBSD) you should really consider correcting whatever makes the above error. Been around sooooo many forums. Soooo many people have this same problem, though so many different solutions :S:S:S

PLEASE HELP ME :(

 

[cyberjock]

The problem is normally that there is trash data where the partition table is supposed to be. And if you don't know what you are doing you'll get lots of weird errors.

I've had no problem recovering from errors like yours with 5 minutes of Teamviewer. It's just a matter of knowing what you are doing. Blindly typing commands that you can't explain with errors you don't understand makes for really unproductive time. I'm not saying that's where you are(I don't know) but about 95% of the that is the cold hard truth.

 

[Rasmus]

When looking at "Import Volume" this appears:

Can this help you in any way?

 

[Rasmus]

The problem is normally that there is trash data where the partition table is supposed to be. And if you don't know what you are doing you'll get lots of weird errors.

I've had no problem recovering from errors like yours with 5 minutes of Teamviewer. It's just a matter of knowing what you are doing. Blindly typing commands that you can't explain with errors you don't understand makes for really unproductive time. I'm not saying that's where you are(I don't know) but about 95% of the that is the cold hard truth.

Agreed. I only know which code to type depending on what forum answers are and so on..If you got the time please do help me mate :)

What you need to access teamviewer ?

 

[cyberjock]

Yeah.. that's a bad thing since you shouldn't have partitions on your member disks.. so its like I said above.. there's stuff on your partition table. Gotta get that out of there.

You couldn't have dbaned the disks as those would be gone. :)

 

[Rasmus]

Okay so to all you out there that has some same issues.. Do check your cabling :S It was a sata cable not working. Many thanks to the beloved admin who helped me out.

 

[cyberjock]

It was more than that, but that was the last problem. You did have partitions that werent supposed to be there that I had to blow away via brute force.