Moving a non-RAID disk to a server with Hardware RAID Controller (HP)

[hgoles]

I have a disk with data on it used on a Supermicro server witch has no RAID controller, I've put it into an HP server, I can see the disk and it's containing data but while I', tring to mount it this errors happen:

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mount: wrong fs type, bad option, bad superblock on /dev/sda1,
missing codepage or helper program, or other error

In some cases useful info is found in syslog - try
dmesg | tail or so.
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And using fsck /dev/sda1 leads to an other error indicating the phisical disk size is 8KB short:

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e2fsck 1.42.13 (17-May-2015)
The filesystem size (according to the superblock) is 244190390 blocks
The physical size of the device is 244182198 blocks
Either the superblock or the partition table is likely to be corrupt!
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It's the output of hpacucli ctrl all show config detail

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Smart Array P420i in Slot 0 (Embedded)
Bus Interface: PCI
Slot: 0
Serial Number: 0014380350DA6C0
Cache Serial Number: PBKUA0BRH8M91T
RAID 6 (ADG) Status: Enabled
Controller Status: OK
Hardware Revision: B
Firmware Version: 8.00
Rebuild Priority: Medium
Expand Priority: Medium
Surface Scan Delay: 15 secs
Surface Scan Mode: Idle
Queue Depth: Automatic
Monitor and Performance Delay: 60 min
Elevator Sort: Enabled
Degraded Performance Optimization: Disabled
Inconsistency Repair Policy: Disabled
Wait for Cache Room: Disabled
Surface Analysis Inconsistency Notification: Disabled
Post Prompt Timeout: 0 secs
Cache Board Present: True
Cache Status: OK
Cache Ratio: 25% Read / 75% Write
Drive Write Cache: Disabled
Total Cache Size: 512 MB
Total Cache Memory Available: 304 MB
No-Battery Write Cache: Disabled
Cache Backup Power Source: Capacitors
Battery/Capacitor Count: 1
Battery/Capacitor Status: OK
SATA NCQ Supported: True
Spare Activation Mode: Activate on drive failure
Controller Temperature (C): 80
Cache Module Temperature (C): 41
Capacitor Temperature (C): 33

Array: A
Interface Type: SATA
Unused Space: 0 MB
Status: OK
Array Type: Data

Logical Drive: 1
Size: 931.5 GB
Fault Tolerance: 0
Heads: 255
Sectors Per Track: 32
Cylinders: 65535
Strip Size: 256 KB
Full Stripe Size: 256 KB
Status: OK
Caching: Enabled
Unique Identifier: 600508B1001CEA10DE41CCBBC5381E77
Disk Name: /dev/sda
Mount Points: None
Logical Drive Label: AE60E98C0014380350DA6C0CF0F
Drive Type: Data

physicaldrive 1I:1:12
Port: 1I
Box: 1
Bay: 12
Status: OK
Drive Type: Data Drive
Interface Type: SATA
Size: 1 TB
Rotational Speed: 7200
Firmware Revision: CC43
Serial Number: Z9A2441W
Model: ATA ST1000DM003-1SB1
SATA NCQ Capable: True
SATA NCQ Enabled: True
Current Temperature (C): 38
Maximum Temperature (C): 38
PHY Count: 1
PHY Transfer Rate: 6.0Gbps
Drive Authentication Status: OK
Carrier Application Version: 11
Carrier Bootloader Version: 6

Enclosure SEP (Vendor ID HP, Model Gen8 ServBP 12+2) 378
Device Number: 378
Firmware Version: 3.30
WWID: 50014380355F89B9
Port: 1I
Box: 1
Vendor ID: HP
Model: Gen8 ServBP 12+2

Expander 380
Device Number: 380
Firmware Version: 3.30
WWID: 50014380355F89A0
Port: 1I
Box: 1
Vendor ID: HP

SEP (Vendor ID PMCSIERA, Model SRCv8x6G) 379
Device Number: 379
Firmware Version: RevB
WWID: 50014380350DA6CF
Vendor ID: PMCSIERA
Model: SRCv8x6G

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Any idea on how to fix this issue? maybe changing a parameter on raid array?

[Torsten.]

No way.

Since the controller is in RAID mode, it cannot work with a non-RAID disk.

[hgoles]

Actually it's working, and I can even see the patitioning on that disk, but just that 8KB shortage on disk prevent me from mounting it inside the OS.

I remember in some cases we did the same job and it was working fine, but now I've tested with 2 different disks and the same 8KB shortage issue is happening.

[Torsten.]

In RAID mode, the beginning of the disk is used for RIS (RAID information set). Hence this space is "masked" by the controller, so you see this space as "missing".

If you set the controller to HBA mode, you can use the disk, but all your defined RAIDs are unusable.

Better mount this disk to a normal controller (in another PC or something) and copy the data.

Then you can connect the disk to the smart array and create an array (either a new RAID 0 or extend an existing array).

Data on this disk will be lost then.

BTW, it will work with the latest generation of smart arrays, because they use a mixed mode, disks not in a RAID are presented as plain disks.

[hgoles]

As i'm writing this post now, G8 servers didn't get firmware update to be able to use mixed mode ( hba + raid ) on p420i

But with help of this amazing guide , I was able to created a padded device and mount the partition without any data loss ( I guess the partition shouldn't be full so last blocks should not contain data )

let PSIZE=`blockdev --getsz /dev/sda1`
echo -e "0 $PSIZE linear /dev/sdd1 0 \n $PSIZE 100000 zero" | dmsetup create padded
mkdir /a
mount /dev/mapper/padded /a

After making sure that data is fine we can umount and with help of resize2fs decrease the partition size and mount the actual partition instead of padded one, or just continue use padded device while prevent  to make the partition be fulled.

umount /a
e2fsck -f /dev/mapper/padded
resize2fs /dev/mapper/padded ${PSIZE}s
dmsetup remove padded
mount /dev/sda1 /a