Dashboard opens with blank only

[fariaslcfs]

Not good, it contains only zero's, so empty, assuming you have executed the command correctly and this is really the place were an AG should start according my guess , then it means in combination with the fact that first 64 kB of the array also only contains zero's it seems that there is no xfs file system on this array is my conclusion. I did a check by creating on xfs file system on one of my disks and doing the same exercise. I found the expected data in beginning of the disk img and at location of second ag block. of course you could try for the third ag block but I guess it will be empty as well.

The fact that the first 64kB are empty as well is an indication that you or your colleague have recreate the array and destroyed the data on it (chunk size used 64 kB) and that there is no xfs file system on the new array.

@jocko on an raid array without file system can you then still run a sync to add a disk (see one of his first post were one member was not active and loater added )

If Jocko confirms that syncing can be done on an array without file system then I am very sorry but it seems to be the end of this story and that your data is lost.
Hopefully you have a back up of the data.

Ok, let's wait Jocko confirmation, but I almost assume that's the end... :sob
Yes, we have a backup of the most important share of the data.
Anyway, this thread was very useful to learn a lot of strategies to repair a raid - and what to NEVER do...
I will make a final donation to thank you, Jocko and Mijzelf, for your very helpful advices.

[Jocko]

@jocko on an raid array without file system can you then still run a sync to add a disk (see one of his first post were one member was not active and loater added )

If Jocko confirms that syncing can be done on an array without file system then I am very sorry but it seems to be the end of this story and that your data is lost.
Hopefully you have a back up of the data.

Yes, you can sync a raid without fs, even if the raid_sync process won't have much to do except to find a non-empty chunk to build redundancy which it won't be case.

So I am sorry but now I think there is no data on the raid :dry

[fariaslcfs]

A last question: someone commented on the program Photorec.
Would be worth to give it a try? And how? (uploading to the Lacie server?)

[Jocko]

I do not think photorec may be useful. Currently you do not have a corrupted fs with data but a raid device without a fs and data. So photorec will find nothing

[fariaslcfs]

Hi folks, me again!
After that we acknowledged that data is lost, I started to get the LACIE dashboard working again.
(The dashboard is reached with a web navigator on any PC connected to the network and using LACIE's IP.)
I successfully did a factory reset with data loss (red light appeared as expected).
However, dashboard was still blank (which was the beginning of this post).
By the other side, the LACIE network assistant recognized the LACIE, which allowed me to update the LACIE firmware.
However, even so, the dashboard is still not working.
I tried to remove all LACIE's HDs and do the factory reset again, but apparently this method does not work (there is no change in the front blue/red button, neither the back leds, which stay all red).
Then, I inserted all HDs again, but get #5 (rightmost) cleaned first (all partitions removed).
Did the normal factory reset again (will all 5 HDs inserted), and there was no change in the results.
After that, I just checked the content of the disk #5 to see if LACIE wrote something on it, but it was clean as before.
So, my question now is: how one could make the dashboard work again? It would be possible to clean the entire 5 HDs LACIE's raid while keeping the original (or updated capsule) firmware?
Furthermore, I'm afraid that my LACIE has not an internal FLASH card with the firmware on it.
In this case, it would not allowed to clean all disks, isn't it?
NOTE: the U-boot still works with fvdw tools, so I continue to have access to the LACIE.