In my RAID 1 array /dev/md0 consisting of two SATA drives /dev/sda1
and /dev/sdb1 the first drive /dev/sda has failed. I have called
mdadm --fail and mdadm --remove on that drive and then pulled the
cables and removed the drive. The RAID array continues to work fine
but in degraded mode.
I have some questions:
1. The block device nodes /dev/sda and /dev/sda1 still exist and the
partitions are still listed in /proc/partitions.
That causes I/O errors when running LVM tools or fdisk -l or other
tools that try to access/scan all block devices.
Shouldn't the device nodes and entries in /proc/partitions
disappear when the drive is pulled? Or does the BIOS or the SATA
controller have to support this?
2. Can I hotplug the new drive and rebuild the RAID array? Since
removal of the old drive seems not to be detected I wonder if the
new drive will be detected correctly. Will the kernel continue
with the old drive's size and partitioning, as is still found in
/proc/partitions? Will a call
blockdev --rereadpt /dev/sda
help?
3. Alternativley, I could reboot the system. I have called
grub-install /dev/sdb
and hope this suffices to make the system bootable again.
Would that be safer?
Any other suggestions?
urs
