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List:       linux-lvm
Subject:    Re: [linux-lvm] Lost logical volume?
From:       Tom+Dale <tdmyth () yahoo ! com>
Date:       2006-08-30 3:05:24
Message-ID: 20060830030524.555.qmail () web30312 ! mail ! mud ! yahoo ! com
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Peter Smith <peter.smith@utsouthwestern.edu> wrote:  Tom+Dale wrote:

> Greetings.
> I am hoping that some LVM experts can help me out. I have a partial 
> volume group that spans two drives and I would like to recover the 
> logical volume that was on it so that the data is accessible. The 
> group (VolGroup00) was originally set up spanning part of one drive 
> and all of the other drive (both IDE). The group was entirely applied 
> to a single logical volume (LogVol00) to be mounted as /video. This 
> was working until I tried to make some changes and I fear that I may 
> have lost the data. I cannot seem to resolve this problem anywhere 
> else. I have spent almost two weeks searching for clues and asking for 
> help in other forums, but I do not yet have a solution. I hope to 
> provide all of the useful information below.
> *History*
> I am relatively new to linux, having built my own PVR using Fedora and 
> MythTV during the last year. I have relied heavily upon HowTos and 
> guides written by other users. One of the guides that I followed 
> instructed me to set up XFS using LVM which would allow me to span 
> multiple hard disks. Recently, I added a new SATA drive to my MythTV 
> system. The new drive was designated as /dev/sda. It appeared to add 
> into the existing volume group without any problem, though I did not 
> get it to the point where the space was accessible. I planned to 
> further research that problem; however, the new hard drive failed 
> before I got that far. Here’s what things looked like after removing 
> the drive:
> [root[at]mythserver ~]# pvdisplay
> Couldn't find device with uuid 'fxlccO-4li0-nmyD-9avZ-Vc60-GGWX-jUhqOv'.
> Couldn't find device with uuid 'fxlccO-4li0-nmyD-9avZ-Vc60-GGWX-jUhqOv'.
> --- Physical volume ---
> PV Name /dev/hda5
> VG Name VolGroup00
> PV Size 66.12 GB / not usable 0
> Allocatable yes (but full)
> PE Size (KByte) 4096
> Total PE 16926
> Free PE 0
> Allocated PE 16926
> PV UUID 317l2C-oay1-TWFG-5NTX-XJS3-vLal-Xh5bBL
> 
> --- Physical volume ---
> PV Name /dev/hdb
> VG Name VolGroup00
> PV Size 298.09 GB / not usable 0
> Allocatable yes (but full)
> PE Size (KByte) 4096
> Total PE 76311
> Free PE 0
> Allocated PE 76311
> PV UUID nfLxS1-0u3t-5Zr9-57iu-1oZe-Bkkd-75SERQ
> 
> --- Physical volume ---
> PV Name unknown device
> VG Name VolGroup00
> PV Size 232.88 GB / not usable 0
> Allocatable yes
> PE Size (KByte) 4096
> Total PE 59617
> Free PE 225
> Allocated PE 59392
> PV UUID fxlccO-4li0-nmyD-9avZ-Vc60-GGWX-jUhqOv
> 
> 
Tom. I'm sorry that not too many people have looked into this with you.

First, what were the results of the "vgreduce --removemissing 
VolGroup00" command? I'm generating a theory here. That VolGroup00 had a 
single LV, LogVol00, and the disks /dev/hda5 and /dev/hdb. Then--I'm 
guessing here--you did a "pvcreate /dev/sda" .. And followed that with a 
"vgextend VolGroup00 /dev/sda" .. Then perhaps did you do a "lvextend -l 
/dev/VolGroup00 /dev/sda"? After that, at some point, 
/dev/sda went dead. Am I close? Could you recount to us what steps you 
took to "expand" the VG? I realize you may have been asleep, but this 
data is crucial. When I do any LVM work I typically record all my input 
and output in a text editor and save it or print it out for safety..

So, the questions are:
1) Was that LV the ONLY LV in the VG?
2) You did try to expand the LV to include /dev/sda?
3) Did you use any GUI to do this? Or did you rely on the command line?

Peter  
Peter,
   
  Thank you for your reply...I wish I'd seen it _before_ complaining about no \
responses.  My apologies to you and the other list members!    
  In retrospect, I agree that documenting our LVM intrepid adventure would have been \
smart.  I confess that I cannot tell you precisely what commands we gave to add the \
new (later failed) hard drive.  However, your effort at retracing our steps sounds \
remarkably familiar.  I would say that it is essentially correct if not exactly.  
  I'm not sure what the results of the "vgreduce --removemissing VolGroup00" command \
were other than that it appeared to me as though it was successful.  Would that be \
logged somewhere?  
  1. Yes, initially VolGroup00 spanned /dev/hda5 and /dev/hdb.  LogVol00 was the only \
logical volume in VolGroup00, and it was using the entire space of VolGroup00.  
  2. Yes, we tried to expand the LV to include /dev/sda but I think we were doing \
something wrong because we couldn't seem to get the MythTV app to see more space \
available (see below).  
  3. No, no GUI tools.  We were strictly using the command line in an xterm session.  \
This is FC4 with xfce desktop (in case that matters).  
  I think you are right:  we added the drive using "pvcreate /dev/sda" and then we \
did "vgextend VolGroup00 /dev/sda" (those look right from what I remember...coming up \
on three weeks ago, now).  So expanding the VG would have been accomplished at this \
point, right?  I believe we got to that point successfully.  Now I'm not sure how we \
tried to expand the LV, but I'm pretty sure that it did not work because we couldn't \
see the new space available from the MythTV app (it still reported the original \
volume size for total disk space as if we'd made no addition).  
  So we may have tried "lvextend -l" with parameters or perhaps we never figured that \
part out.  You know, we were drinking lots of Diet Coke while searching the net and \
reading man pages, re-reading the LVM HowTo, and trying different things...timidly.  \
I'm certain that we could see from pvdisplay & vgdisplay that we were close but not \
done yet.  We quit for the night and I discovered the physical disk problem the next \
afternoon.  
  Two final comments:
   
  A) I can't get to the box right now, as I am travelling this week.  But I sincerely \
appreciate your assistance and I'll be able to access it after Saturday 02Sep06.  
  B) I remember seeing some archives and backups in an LVM directory not on the \
logical volume.  Are these key to recovering the LV?  It looks like people have \
posted the contents of these files in the past (they look like programming code to \
me).  I wasn't sure what to post or if they would be helpful.  
  Sorry about being lengthy, but I want to provide a complete picture.
   
  -Tom-

 		
---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
 Everyone is raving about the  all-new Yahoo! Mail.


[Attachment #5 (text/html)]

<B><I>Peter Smith &lt;peter.smith@utsouthwestern.edu&gt;</I></B> wrote:  <BLOCKQUOTE \
class=replbq style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px \
solid">Tom+Dale wrote:<BR><BR>&gt; Greetings.<BR>&gt; I am hoping that some LVM \
experts can help me out. I have a partial <BR>&gt; volume group that spans two drives \
and I would like to recover the <BR>&gt; logical volume that was on it so that the \
data is accessible. The <BR>&gt; group (VolGroup00) was originally set up spanning \
part of one drive <BR>&gt; and all of the other drive (both IDE). The group was \
entirely applied <BR>&gt; to a single logical volume (LogVol00) to be mounted as \
/video. This <BR>&gt; was working until I tried to make some changes and I fear that \
I may <BR>&gt; have lost the data. I cannot seem to resolve this problem anywhere \
<BR>&gt; else. I have spent almost two weeks searching for clues and asking for \
<BR>&gt; help in other forums, but I do not yet have a solution. I hope to  <BR>&gt; \
provide all of the useful information below.<BR>&gt; *History*<BR>&gt; I am \
relatively new to linux, having built my own PVR using Fedora and <BR>&gt; MythTV \
during the last year. I have relied heavily upon HowTos and <BR>&gt; guides written \
by other users. One of the guides that I followed <BR>&gt; instructed me to set up \
XFS using LVM which would allow me to span <BR>&gt; multiple hard disks. Recently, I \
added a new SATA drive to my MythTV <BR>&gt; system. The new drive was designated as \
/dev/sda. It appeared to add <BR>&gt; into the existing volume group without any \
problem, though I did not <BR>&gt; get it to the point where the space was \
accessible. I planned to <BR>&gt; further research that problem; however, the new \
hard drive failed <BR>&gt; before I got that far. Here’s what things looked like \
after removing <BR>&gt; the drive:<BR>&gt; [root[at]mythserver ~]# pvdisplay<BR>&gt; \
Couldn't find device with uuid  'fxlccO-4li0-nmyD-9avZ-Vc60-GGWX-jUhqOv'.<BR>&gt; \
Couldn't find device with uuid 'fxlccO-4li0-nmyD-9avZ-Vc60-GGWX-jUhqOv'.<BR>&gt; --- \
Physical volume ---<BR>&gt; PV Name /dev/hda5<BR>&gt; VG Name VolGroup00<BR>&gt; PV \
Size 66.12 GB / not usable 0<BR>&gt; Allocatable yes (but full)<BR>&gt; PE Size \
(KByte) 4096<BR>&gt; Total PE 16926<BR>&gt; Free PE 0<BR>&gt; Allocated PE \
16926<BR>&gt; PV UUID 317l2C-oay1-TWFG-5NTX-XJS3-vLal-Xh5bBL<BR>&gt;<BR>&gt; --- \
Physical volume ---<BR>&gt; PV Name /dev/hdb<BR>&gt; VG Name VolGroup00<BR>&gt; PV \
Size 298.09 GB / not usable 0<BR>&gt; Allocatable yes (but full)<BR>&gt; PE Size \
(KByte) 4096<BR>&gt; Total PE 76311<BR>&gt; Free PE 0<BR>&gt; Allocated PE \
76311<BR>&gt; PV UUID nfLxS1-0u3t-5Zr9-57iu-1oZe-Bkkd-75SERQ<BR>&gt;<BR>&gt; --- \
Physical volume ---<BR>&gt; PV Name unknown device<BR>&gt; VG Name VolGroup00<BR>&gt; \
PV Size 232.88 GB / not usable 0<BR>&gt; Allocatable yes<BR>&gt; PE Size (KByte) \
4096<BR>&gt; Total PE 59617<BR>&gt; Free PE  225<BR>&gt; Allocated PE 59392<BR>&gt; \
PV UUID fxlccO-4li0-nmyD-9avZ-Vc60-GGWX-jUhqOv<BR>&gt;<BR>&gt;<BR>Tom. I'm sorry that \
not too many people have looked into this with you.<BR><BR>First, what were the \
results of the "vgreduce --removemissing <BR>VolGroup00" command? I'm generating a \
theory here. That VolGroup00 had a <BR>single LV, LogVol00, and the disks /dev/hda5 \
and /dev/hdb. Then--I'm <BR>guessing here--you did a "pvcreate /dev/sda" .. And \
followed that with a <BR>"vgextend VolGroup00 /dev/sda" .. Then perhaps did you do a \
"lvextend -l <BR><SOME number>/dev/VolGroup00 /dev/sda"? After that, at some point, \
<BR>/dev/sda went dead. Am I close? Could you recount to us what steps you <BR>took \
to "expand" the VG? I realize you may have been asleep, but this <BR>data is crucial. \
When I do any LVM work I typically record all my input <BR>and output in a text \
editor and save it or print it out for safety..<BR><BR>So, the questions are:<BR>1) \
Was that LV the ONLY LV in the  VG?<BR>2) You did try to expand the LV to include \
/dev/sda?<BR>3) Did you use any GUI to do this? Or did you rely on the command \
line?<BR><BR>Peter</BLOCKQUOTE>  <div><BR>Peter,</div>  <div>&nbsp;</div>  <div>Thank \
you for your reply...I wish I'd seen it _before_ complaining about no \
responses.&nbsp; My apologies to you and the other list members!&nbsp; </div>  \
<div>&nbsp;</div>  <div>In retrospect, I agree that documenting our LVM intrepid \
adventure would have been smart.&nbsp; I confess that I cannot tell you precisely \
what commands we gave to add the new (later failed) hard drive.&nbsp; However, your \
effort at retracing our steps sounds remarkably familiar.&nbsp; I would say that it \
is essentially correct if not exactly.</div>  <div>&nbsp;</div>  <div>I'm not sure \
what the results of the "vgreduce --removemissing VolGroup00" command were other than \
that it appeared to me as though it was successful.&nbsp; Would that be logged \
somewhere?</div>  <div>&nbsp;</div>  <div>1.  Yes, initially VolGroup00 spanned \
/dev/hda5 and /dev/hdb.&nbsp; LogVol00 was the only logical volume in VolGroup00, and \
it was using the entire space of VolGroup00.</div>  <div>&nbsp;</div>  <div>2. Yes, \
we tried to expand the LV to include /dev/sda but I think we were doing something \
wrong because we couldn't seem to get the MythTV app to see more space available (see \
below).</div>  <div>&nbsp;</div>  <div>3.&nbsp;No, no GUI tools.&nbsp; We were \
strictly using the command line in an xterm session.&nbsp; This is FC4 with xfce \
desktop (in case&nbsp;that matters).</div>  <div>&nbsp;</div>  <div>I think you are \
right:&nbsp; we added the drive using "pvcreate /dev/sda" and then we did "vgextend \
VolGroup00 /dev/sda" (those look&nbsp;right from&nbsp;what I remember...coming up on \
three weeks ago, now).&nbsp; So expanding the VG would have been accomplished at this \
point, right?&nbsp; I believe we got to that point successfully.&nbsp; Now I'm not \
sure how we tried to expand the  LV, but I'm pretty sure that it did not work because \
we couldn't see the new space available from the MythTV app (it still reported the \
original volume size for total disk space as if we'd made no addition).</div>  \
<div>&nbsp;</div>  <div>So we may have tried "lvextend -l" with parameters or perhaps \
we never figured that part out.&nbsp; You know, we were drinking lots of Diet Coke \
while searching the net and reading man pages, re-reading the LVM HowTo, and trying \
different things...timidly.&nbsp; I'm certain that we could see from pvdisplay &amp; \
vgdisplay that we were close but not done yet.&nbsp; We quit for the night and I \
discovered the physical disk problem the next afternoon.</div>  <div>&nbsp;</div>  \
<div>Two final comments:</div>  <div>&nbsp;</div>  <div>A) I can't get to the box \
right now, as I am travelling this week.&nbsp; But I sincerely appreciate&nbsp;your \
assistance and I'll be able to&nbsp;access it&nbsp;after Saturday 02Sep06.</div>  \
<div>&nbsp;</div>   <div>B) I remember seeing some archives and backups&nbsp;in an \
LVM&nbsp;directory not on the logical volume.&nbsp; Are these key to recovering the \
LV?&nbsp; It looks like people have posted the contents of these files in the past \
(they look like programming code to me).&nbsp; I wasn't sure what to post or if they \
would be helpful.</div>  <div>&nbsp;</div>  <div>Sorry about being lengthy, but I \
want to provide a complete picture.</div>  <div>&nbsp;</div>  \
<div>-Tom-</div><p>&#32;  <hr size=1>Do you Yahoo!?<br> Everyone is raving about the \
<a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=42297/*http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/mailbeta"> \
all-new Yahoo! Mail.</a>



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