Hi all, I've got a sw RAID1 that just had a failed drive replaced with an identical drive.
However, the good drive started on sector 63 and the new drive want's to start on sector 2048. Fdisk won't let me create the partition table on the new drive as it is on the old drive. This is the good drive in the RAID: =============================================== Disk /dev/sdb: 320.1 GB, 320072933376 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 38913 cylinders, total 625142448 sectors Units = sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes Disk identifier: 0xfc32270f Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdb1 63 224909 112423+ fd Linux raid autodetect /dev/sdb2 224910 50572619 25173855 82 Linux swap / Solaris /dev/sdb3 50572620 625137344 287282362+ fd Linux raid autodetect =============================================== However, after zero'ing out the new drive, this is what fdisk allows me to do: =============================================== Device contains neither a valid DOS partition table, nor Sun, SGI or OSF disklabel Building a new DOS disklabel with disk identifier 0xfcd585e4. Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them. After that, of course, the previous content won't be recoverable. Warning: invalid flag 0x0000 of partition table 4 will be corrected by w(rite) Command (m for help): n Command action e extended p primary partition (1-4) p Partition number (1-4, default 1): 1 First sector (2048-625142447, default 2048): =============================================== As you can see, I can't mirror the previous partitioning scheme and I will probably not have enough space on the new drive to build the RAID! What can I do? -- Take care and have fun, Mike Diehl.