SNAP 4100 Failure to Mount

[kmc500]

I am unable to mount the RAID array on a Snap 4100. It failed last night during the rights backup.

On a restart it Checks the drive (takes about an hour) and eventually completes to 100%, but the mount fails at:

06/04/2008 12:37:33 ERROR File System : Device 60000: block allocation failed - file system full

We understood that we had everything backed up on this device, but of course discovered differently after the failure.

Here is the co de info:
06/04/2008 13:24:04 Command: co de info

Logical Device: 10006 Position: 0 JBOD Size (KB): 32296 Free (KB): 22432 Private Mounted
Label:Private Contains system files only
Unique Id: 0x170560EB1B7EAEF0 Mount: /priv Index: 12 Order: 0
Partition: 10006 Physical: 10007 FS Size (KB): 32768 Starting Blk: 515 Private
Physical: 10007 Drive Slot: 0 IDE Size (KB): 60051456 Fixed

Logical Device: 1000E Position: 0 JBOD Size (KB): 32296 Free (KB): 23464 Private Mounted
Label:Private Contains system files only
Unique Id: 0x1A0F1CAA0E4200E3 Mount: /pri2 Index: 13 Order: 1
Partition: 1000E Physical: 1000F FS Size (KB): 32768 Starting Blk: 515 Private
Physical: 1000F Drive Slot: 1 IDE Size (KB): 60051456 Fixed

Logical Device: 60000 Position: 1 RAID Size (KB): 178749192 Free (KB): 0 Public Unmounted
Label:RAID5 Large data protection disk
Unique Id: 0x63F5CE574DB726E9 Mount: /0 Index: 0 Order: 255
Partition: 10000 Physical: 10007 R 60000 Size (KB): 59583064 Starting Blk: 58421 Public
Physical: 10007 Drive Slot: 0 IDE Size (KB): 60051456 Fixed
Partition: 10008 Physical: 1000F R 60000 Size (KB): 59583064 Starting Blk: 58421 Public
Physical: 1000F Drive Slot: 1 IDE Size (KB): 60051456 Fixed
Partition: 10010 Physical: 10017 R 60000 Size (KB): 59583064 Starting Blk: 58421 Public
Physical: 10017 Drive Slot: 2 IDE Size (KB): 60051456 Fixed
Partition: 10018 Physical: 1001F R 60000 Size (KB): 59583064 Starting Blk: 58421 Public
Physical: 1001F Drive Slot: 3 IDE Size (KB): 60051456 Fixed

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Kevin C

[blue68f100]

Does the disk utility report the HD's being full? And I hope you do not have any Vista PC connecting.

I would run Spinrite on all of the drives. Since Spinrite works at the controller level it does not inturpet the data, so it safe. The error you have is a file structure data error. The logical system drives are reporting different sizes 22432 and 23464, these normaly match. Spinrite can fix these type of errors and some boot issues. I use it on all of my HD's before I put them into service and every 6mo to make sure the drives are in top working order.

You may try reinstalling the OS, but do not know if it would correct the error. DO NOT BREAK THE RAID AT THIS TIME. Once you do your chances of recovery goes down, since their is no specific drive failure.

All of your HD are 60 gig, and may be getting close to end of life, 3-5 yrs. Unless Maxtors then your altready on borrowed time.

If it comes down to a file recovery service, I can head you in the right direction to save some $$$. But were not there yet.

[kmc500]

Yes, I believe it is full, but thankfully, we're barely into XP Pro here, so at least no Vista.

Thanks for the quick response; you can imagine the scent of fear in the data center today when we discovered our archived customer data wasn't backed up to tape!

We actually did not wait long enough during the Snap's check; once the Check said 100%, we never waited for the rebuild, but kept downing the thing and trying to bring it back. Needless to say, that didn't help much.

It finally dawned on me that the drive led's weren't just flickering, but were reflecting actual writing, so I decided to wait, and sure enough after a refresh the web browser began noting the rebuild. It has been 2 hours since that began, and is only up to 55%, but as soon as it started we were able to get access to the data that was not backed up. It is copied now, and that won't happen again (untilt he next time).

Since we have the data that was backed up accessible live, we've spent the day changing mappings, but it certainly could have been worse.

Thanks for the tip about Spinrite, I will try it. I've been a Steve Gibson fan since he created a light pen for the old Atari 400 back in the late 70's. Good stuff.

The drives are actually IBM's, but I agree that the whole thing is on borrowed time.

Thanks - I would be interested in any contacts you might have. Other parts of our enterprise have used OnTrack on occasion for workstation drive recovery, and it has been very expensive.

Thanks loads for the forum. If you weren't here I am sure I would have started unplugging individual drives - death (someone's) may have resulted!

Kevin C

[blue68f100]

The only time you have to pull the plug to power one down is if it goes into panic mode. System LED blinking very fast. Yes these units do a lot of system file checks and data checks when there is a problem. But filling one up over 90% is a NO NO. They start acting real strange when they start getting full. If your 4100 has had the mod as in the sticky you can up your capacity to 120gig drives or (160's and let it cap at <137gig).

David