Networkspace 2 not working - understand what fvdw-sl can do

[schlum]

Hi there,

thanks so much for all the hard work put in place in this website and in the forum.

I have a NWS2 from Lacie, and one day it just stopped working. The disk was less reachable during the day, then I tried to do a factory reset, and then it was even less reachable, I tried a second time the factory reset and then it stopped being reachable at all.
I took the HDD out, put it in a case. I tried Ubuntu, Knoppix, and recovery softwares. Sometimes I cannot see anything, sometimes I was able to see all the partition, in particular sdc2, the xfs one with all the data. In that case, when mounted, I often saw a big part of the data if not all, but the PC was not doing anything when I was trying to simply copy paste the files in that partition. Worse, the "photos" folder in "my share" was not even readable, "permission denied". When launching testdisk or photorec, no way I could access the partition, the terminal window will stay without activity when enter any command. Same thing after I use the command proposed in that thread: mdadm --assemble --scan

http://forum.nas-central.org/viewtopic.php?f=242&t=6025

It took me some time and lots of researching, but I finally managed to restore all the files from my destroyed Iomega Network drive. It turns out Iomega uses XFS system in their drives, but it also creates some logical drives. God knows why. It's kind of messy. If you connect the disk to your PC it will not recognize anything. Even Linux will not recognize right away and if you play around you might get the impression the data on your disk is corrupt. Actually it is not. It is just organized in a bit more complicated way then necessary.

So here is the solution in few simple steps.

1. Prepare Knoppix CD and start your computer with Linux instead of Windows.
2. Go to shell, type "su" to become a super user, and then type those magic words: "mdadm --assemble --scan". It will turn all that XFS/Raid Iomega mess into pretty logical volumes.
3. However, they are still not ready to use. The logical volumes are not active. To turn them on type this: "vgchange -a y".
4. It's almost over! The logical volume with your data should be somewhere in /dev/something location now. You can use command "lvdisplay" to find out where is what exactly. Now you just need to mount it. Do it with something like "mount /dev/something/virtualblahblab /mnt/real_folder_with_real_files" - and that's it!
5. Copy all your files from /mnt/real_folder_with_real_files (or wherever you mounted it) to some safer place.

When I use recovery software, more or less the same thing, it is able to access the partition, it can list all the folders, I see that the files are present, but I get a message error when I try to copy /recover the files.
the HDD does not emit any clicking sound, which makes the situation even more frustrating.

So here are the questions:
1. Do you guys see any other thing I could do to recover my data ? shall I wait for let's say several hours when I launch the terminal commands I am quoting above, or if the HDD led is not blinking for several minutes, shall I consider that, for some reason the HDD froze and the terminal windows will not return anything?
2. If my last solution is this firmware and in the event I am able to install the firmware (not sure the console will work and see the hard drive), what does it do? replace the first partitions with Lacie's OS? does it touch the xfs partition ?
3. does it resize / format any partition ? or does it overwrite Lacie's firmware?
4. Will it allow me to access the xfs partition ?
5. Will I need permission and how could I get them to access my past "My Share" ? or will I only be able to access my old "Openshare" ?

Apologies if the questions 2-4 are answered in some topics of the forum, I tried to search as much as I could. Please post URLs in that case and I will look for the answers.

Cheers.

[fvdw]

Hello and welcome to our forum

The lacie nwsp2 doesn't use raid so no need to use mdadm commands.
probably the file system on partition 2 has a problem, this is an xfs formatted file system in lacie firmware.

What you could do is install the fvdw-sl console on your pc running windows and upload our standalone kernel that runs from RAM (memory) to investigate your disk. You can talk to your nas then using a telnet client that is included in the fvdw-sl console

This kernel will not touch the file on your disk unless you give wrong linux commands ;)
use the latest version of the fvdw-sl console (vs 6) you can download it in the download topic of the forum.

To see if the file system on sda2 has a problem try to mount it after the standalone kernel is running

Code: Select all

mkdir sda2
mount /dev/sda2 /sda2

[schlum]

many thanks for the quick answer.

for the moment I am not succesful. it looks like the console does not detect the HDD to load the kernel. Once I switch on the HDD Case (HDD not in the NAS), it does not do anything after the message "waiting for u-boot.."

I will try tomorrow putting back the HDD in the NWS2 box, to see if anything changes.


If not, do you think running xfs_repair in Knoppix could help to get the data partition fixed ?

cheers.

[fvdw]

:disapprove yep you need to put the disk in the nwsp2 casing for vuploading the standalone kernel

If xfs repair with knoppix can fix the file system, probably yes but I never tried it myself with knoppix. Suggest to give the standalone kernel a try before trying that

[schlum]

whaouh got it running, I was able to telnet in it !!!! thanks so much !!!

now is there a way I can recover the data on the partition sda2 ?

I am happy to learn some linux command, and I tried my best, but I am not even sure it is possible. I am with my windows 8 laptop, but obviously am not able to enter the Networkspace 2 using windows explorer.

I see in the help file that if I install fvdw-sl firmware, all my data are gone:

Original, used or new hard disk
The script will delete the existing partition structure on the disk and create the required structure for the fvdw-sl firmware.
This means all existing data on the disk will be lost !

Is there a way I can get my hand on the existing data ?

many thanks for your help !

[fvdw]

Yes there is, first try to mount the sda2 folder and do a directory listing. If you cannot mount upload xfs repair as described in several threads on this forum (use the search function) and let it do its thing. After that the disk might be ok again and able to complete lacie firmware. If you cannot repair the lacie firmware then after mounting sda2 you can copy your data to an usb disk and after that install our firmware or the lacie firmware.

[schlum]

ok, for newbies like me, it is not that easy, even searching and searching the forum...

First, I tried to mount sda2, with various command, I am copying each of them for other newbies, only the last one is apparently the current one, but it did not work (I/O error):

root@fvdw-sta-kirkwood:/ # mount /sda2 /mnt/sda2
mount: mounting /sda2 on /mnt/sda2 failed: No such file or directory
root@fvdw-sta-kirkwood:/ # mount sda2 /mnt/sda2
mount: mounting sda2 on /mnt/sda2 failed: No such file or directory
root@fvdw-sta-kirkwood:/ # mkdir /mnt/sda2
root@fvdw-sta-kirkwood:/ # mount sda2 /mnt/sda2
mount: mounting sda2 on /mnt/sda2 failed: No such file or directory
root@fvdw-sta-kirkwood:/ # mount /sda2 /mnt/sda2
mount: mounting /sda2 on /mnt/sda2 failed: No such file or directory
root@fvdw-sta-kirkwood:/ # mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/sda2

mount: mounting /dev/sda2 on /mnt/sda2 failed: Input/output error

root@fvdw-sta-kirkwood:/ #

Then, I tried to use xfs_repair
anyhow, I found how I was supposed to upload xfs_repair. Then I moved it to /bin. But then, I am trying to run it, and get "Permission denied" message as can be seen below (I have copied the command I typed for other newbies looking on how to upload the xfs_repair or other files to the kernel(?)):

root@fvdw-sta-kirkwood:/ # fdisk -l

Disk /dev/mtdblock0: 0 MB, 512000 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 0 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Disk /dev/mtdblock0 doesn't contain a valid partition table

Disk /dev/mtdblock1: 0 MB, 4096 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 0 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Disk /dev/mtdblock1 doesn't contain a valid partition table
root@fvdw-sta-kirkwood:/ # tftp -l xfs_repair -g 192.168.1.109
xfs_repair 100% |****************************************************************| 622k 0:00:00 ETA
root@fvdw-sta-kirkwood:/ # xfs_repair
-sh: xfs_repair: not found
root@fvdw-sta-kirkwood:/ # ls
bin fvdw-sl-programs lib mountpoint sys xfs_repair
dev init linuxrc proc usr
etc ip.txt mnt sbin var
root@fvdw-sta-kirkwood:/ # ls
bin fvdw-sl-programs lib mountpoint sys xfs_repair
dev init linuxrc proc usr
etc ip.txt mnt sbin var
root@fvdw-sta-kirkwood:/ #
root@fvdw-sta-kirkwood:/ # xfs_repair /dev/sda2
-sh: xfs_repair: not found
root@fvdw-sta-kirkwood:/bin # cd /
root@fvdw-sta-kirkwood:/ # mv xfs_repair /bin
root@fvdw-sta-kirkwood:/ # cd /bin
root@fvdw-sta-kirkwood:/bin # ls
ash df gzip makemime pipe_progress sleep
base64 dmesg hostname mkdir printenv stat
busybox dnsdomainname hush mknod ps stty
cat dumpkmap ionice mktemp pwd su
catv echo iostat more reformime sync
chattr ed ipcalc mount rev tar
chgrp egrep kbd_mode mountpoint rm touch
chmod false kill mpstat rmdir true
chown fdflush linux32 mt rpm umount
conspy fgrep linux64 mv run-parts uname
cp fsync ln netstat scriptreplay usleep
cpio fvdw-sl-programs login nice sed vi
cttyhack getopt ls pidof setarch watch
date grep lsattr ping setserial xfs_repair
dd gunzip lzop ping6 sh zcat
root@fvdw-sta-kirkwood:/bin # xfs_repair /dev/sda2
-sh: xfs_repair: Permission denied
root@fvdw-sta-kirkwood:/bin # cd /mnt
root@fvdw-sta-kirkwood:/mnt # ls
root sda2
root@fvdw-sta-kirkwood:/mnt # cd /sda2
-sh: cd: can't cd to /sda2

Not sure of what I can do now...
If you can give me a hand, I would deeply appreciate.

If the Permission denied message makes the situation impossible to resolve, I believe I would simply upload the fvdw-sl firmware and so be it, the data would be lost.

Thank you in advance.
Cheers.

[Jocko]

Hi Schlum

You made several errors.
First after uploading xfs_repair you need set run permissions

Code: Select all

chmod 755 xfs_repair

then you should be able to run it

To mount a device you need to create it's mountpoint

Code: Select all

mkdir /sda7


You need to upload the mount binary to be able to mount an xfs partition

[schlum]

Thanks so much Jocko.

I see mount in the list in /bin, so I assume the command mount is already present.

When I try to mount sda2 after making the directory I get the following message:

root@fvdw-sta-kirkwood:/bin # mount /dev/sda2 /mnt/sda2
mount: mounting /dev/sda2 on /mnt/sda2 failed: Input/output error

When I change the permission as you say, there is some progress but still does not work (probably it is linked with the fact that I was not able to mount sda2 in /mnt

root@fvdw-sta-kirkwood:/mnt # cd /bin
root@fvdw-sta-kirkwood:/bin # chmod 755 xfs_repair
root@fvdw-sta-kirkwood:/bin # xfs_repair /mnt/sda2
xfs_repair: error while loading shared libraries: librt.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

[Jocko]

Some additional information:
1/sda2 is a xfs partition and /bin/mount does not support it; So you need to upload and install it.
copy mount.tar to the nwsp2 using telnet client

Code: Select all

cd /
tftp -l mount.tar -r mount.tar -g ip-pc

(replace ip-pc by the actual ip address of the pc running the fvdw-sl console)
it should tell you if the file was uploaded
if so, unpack it

Code: Select all

tar -xvf mount.tar

2/To install xps_repair after uploading, do

Code: Select all

tftp -l  glibc-mini-mkfs.xfs-25feb14.tar -r  glibc-mini-mkfs.xfs-25feb14.tar -g ip-pc
tar -xf glibc-mini-mkfs.xfs-25feb14.tar -C /

and

Code: Select all

tftp -l xfs_repair -r xfs_repair -g ip-pc

and set run permissions

Code: Select all

chmod 755 /xfs_repair

3/ never use xfs_repair whereas the device is mounted.

So what you need to do now.
a/ see if you have an inconsistent fs on sda2
- First create a mount point as I already wrote (it seems you did not it "/mnt/sda2 failed: No such file or directory")

Code: Select all

mkdir /sda2

- install mount.tar
- post

Code: Select all

ls -l /usr/sbin/mount

- mount /dev/sda2

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/usr/sbin/mount /dev/sda2 /sda2

(post its output and also

Code: Select all

mount

)
if successful, you should see your data in

Code: Select all

ls -l /sda2

b/if you failed to mount it
- install xfs_repair and its libraries
- first check without correcting

Code: Select all

xfs_repair -n /dev/sda2

(post its output)

Note: xfs_repair may fail if there is not enough resource. In this case I will post you some additional commands to increase it