Ubuntu

Ubuntu won't recognize Adaptec RAID array

Asked by avcascade

I am trying to figure out why Ubuntu won't recognize my RAID array, which I've never been able to use since I built my computer. The disks I have (1 TB each) are managed through an Adaptec controller card. When I first installed my computer, the array was detected as "Adaptec", but not long after, Ubuntu mysteriously stopped recognizing it, and started showing it as "Mass Storage Drive". Clicking "Mass Storage Drive" produces the message, Unable to Mount Location :: Can't find file.

The controller boots properly at startup after it powers on each Serial Attached SCSI drive. No hardware issues that I know of. Array is detected as Optimal.

Here is output of
ls /dev/disk/by-uuid -l
df -Th
cat /etc/fstab
====================== begin ========================

avcascade@computer:~$ ls /dev/disk/by-uuid -l
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 2009-07-15 23:38 6c167cb1-5210-4bc0-9ebe-8deed516b7e5 -> ../../sda1
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 10 2009-07-15 23:38 f9d6790c-478c-43e1-bd56-e2ddf9bfa248 -> ../../sda5
avcascade@computer:~$ df -Th
Filesystem Type Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1 ext3 15G 12G 1.6G 89% /
tmpfs tmpfs 1.6G 0 1.6G 0% /lib/init/rw
varrun tmpfs 1.6G 216K 1.6G 1% /var/run
varlock tmpfs 1.6G 0 1.6G 0% /var/lock
udev tmpfs 1.6G 184K 1.6G 1% /dev
tmpfs tmpfs 1.6G 8.2M 1.6G 1% /dev/shm
lrm tmpfs 1.6G 2.2M 1.6G 1% /lib/modules/2.6.28-13-generic/volatile
avcascade@computer:~$ cat /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
proc /proc proc defaults 0 0
# /dev/sdb1
UUID=6c167cb1-5210-4bc0-9ebe-8deed516b7e5 / ext3 relatime,errors=remount-ro 0 1
# /dev/sdb5
UUID=f9d6790c-478c-43e1-bd56-e2ddf9bfa248 none swap sw 0 0

==================== end =======================

I've not had any luck trying to resolve this on my own. What should I do now to solve this problem?

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Launchpad Janitor (janitor) said : 		#1

This question was expired because it remained in the 'Open' state without activity for the last 15 days.

Revision history for this message
avcascade (andrew-villeneuves) said : 		#2

Can anyone provide any help with this problem? I don't know where else to look...

Revision history for this message
avcascade (andrew-villeneuves) said : 		#3

Here is the output of sudo lshw -class disk. Got the idea to run this from another thread I stumbled across. The results suggest Ubuntu *knows* the array is there but won't recognize it or the drives.

  *-disk:0
       description: SCSI Disk
       physical id: 0.0.0
       bus info: scsi@6:0.0.0
       logical name: /dev/sdb
       size: 1861GiB (1999GB)
  *-disk:1 UNCLAIMED
       description: SCSI Disk
       physical id: 1.4.0
       bus info: scsi@6:1.4.0
  *-disk:2 UNCLAIMED
       description: SCSI Disk
       physical id: 1.5.0
       bus info: scsi@6:1.5.0
  *-disk:3 UNCLAIMED
       description: SCSI Disk
       physical id: 1.6.0
       bus info: scsi@6:1.6.0
  *-disk
       description: ATA Disk
       product: IMATION-S3035-01
       physical id: 0
       bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0
       logical name: /dev/sda
       version: 0.18
       serial: 0HH3330220012
       size: 14GiB (16GB)
       capabilities: partitioned partitioned:dos
       configuration: ansiversion=5 signature=00070782
  *-cdrom
       description: DVD writer
       product: DVD-RW DVR-216D
       vendor: PIONEER
       physical id: 1
       bus info: scsi@1:0.0.0
       logical name: /dev/cdrom
       logical name: /dev/cdrw
       logical name: /dev/dvd
       logical name: /dev/dvdrw
       logical name: /dev/scd0
       logical name: /dev/sr0
       version: 1.09
       capabilities: removable audio cd-r cd-rw dvd dvd-r
       configuration: ansiversion=5 status=nodisc

Revision history for this message
avcascade (andrew-villeneuves) said : 		#4

I finally managed to solve this problem myself.

I would have appreciated getting some help here, but nobody was forthcoming with any suggestions. Luckily for me I have a good friend who's got some knowledge of Ubuntu, and we were able to figure out what was wrong after a few hours of poking around. *The array wasn't formatted.*

(slaps forehead) I thought it was, but apparently not. It must have been formatted when Ubuntu was first installed, but shortly thereafter, I recall updating the firmware on the controller and rebuilding the array after doing some disk checks. Must have forgotten to re-format...

I downloaded jfsutils and used gparted to format the drive as JFS (gonna be handling some large files). The array was subsequently recognized. I then used the command sudo chown to make the mount point accessible to my account without having to be root.

And voila, the array is usable at last.

For those installing additional HDDs or SDDs to your computer: don't forget to format!

Also, this whole annoying problem has made me appreciate how important it is to have knowledgeable people out there assisting folks who don't know Ubuntu inside and out. I'll be donating some time to help people out on the forums and on IRC in the future to help people avoid the situation I was in.