Panic - VxFS HFS - LVM problems

[delporte]

To all â LVM Gurusâ

I do have a serious problem with one disk without any tape backup. :+(

The disk was installed on a C160 (System A) HP UX 10.20 as a HFS file.

I do have disconnected the disk (without vgexport â ¦) and connected it to a C360 (System B) HP UX 11.00.

Using SAM, the disk has been mounted probably as a VxFS system "doing some how a mkfs".

As I do not see any data on the disk, I do have reconnected the disk on the C160 (A).

I can see the disk with : /etc/ioscan as 8/16/5/6/0 (scsi 6), but when I try to mount it again :

- with SAM (not using LVM), I do have â does have a file system on itâ
- without SAM /etc/mount /dev/dsk/c1t6d0 /DATA : unrecognized file system

When I do try : /etc/fsck /dev/fsck/c1t6d0 , I do have â bad super block, wrong magic numberâ

From that, I do â understandâ than my disk is now seen with a VxFS system on it.

But, when I do try /etc/fsck â F vxfs â o full,nolog /dev/dsk/c1t6d0 , I do have :

â OLT extent has bag magic, read of primary OLT failed, OLT extent 1 has bad checksum, read of OLT failed, not valid OLT, cannot continue â ¦â

Seems (very) bad !

Now, I do not kwon what to do (*) :

- do I have to understand that all my data are lost ? :+(( Panic !

- can I recover the original data that were in HFS ? is there any hope ?

(*) as you can see, Iâ m not a HP UX administ

[Bill Hassell]

If you ran mkfs on the disk, the old filesystem (and all the data) has been erased. While the actual data patterns are probably still intact, you will need an expert (and several hours, or days) to recover the files.

[Mark Grant]

I am afraid that if you have done a "mkfs" on the "disk" in order to mount it anywhere then you probably are not going to have the data on there.

[delporte]

Thanks to Bill & Mark for this immediate reply.

I'm afraid than SAM with "a option not cleary visible for me" has do that ! ie creating a VxFS struture on my disk.

However, is there any solution (even if difficult) to recover these (almost lost) data ?

Is there still some hope ... ?

Is there some software to do that ?

I'm heard there is "a kind of Unix Norton utility", but might be not for HP UX.

Marc

[Kent Ostby]

You could try:

fsck -F hfs -b 16

The -b 16 will try to use the alternate superblock.

If that doesn't work you can try:

fsck -F hfs -b 2504

Good luck.

[delporte]

Thanks Kent

If I do a fsck with -b option, I'm back to the problem that the disk is now VxFS (not anymore HFS) :

# /etc/fsck -F hfs -b 16 /dev/dsk/c1t6d0
Alternate super block location: 16
** /dev/dsk/c1t6d0
BAD SUPER BLOCK: MAGIC NUMBER WRONG
USE -b OPTION TO FSCK TO SPECIFY LOCATION OF AN ALTERNATE
SUPER-BLOCK TO SUPPLY NEEDED INFORMATION; SEE fsck(1M).
#
# /etc/fsck -F hfs -b 2504 /dev/dsk/c1t6d0
Alternate super block location: 2504
** /dev/dsk/c1t6d0
BAD SUPER BLOCK: MAGIC NUMBER WRONG
USE -b OPTION TO FSCK TO SPECIFY LOCATION OF AN ALTERNATE
SUPER-BLOCK TO SUPPLY NEEDED INFORMATION; SEE fsck(1M).
#

Marc

[Bill Hassell]

mkfs is just like the format command for DOS and Windows. It completely erases the directory structures. If you have an unlimited budget, you can probably hire a consultant who can read each track on the disk and look for patterns (primarily ASCII) and piece together some of the files. Binary data files and programs won't be recoverable unless you have a lot of detailed information about them.

There is no program like Norton UnErase that can recover a disk that was formatted (mkfs) and that goes for Windows as well as Unix. UnErase takes advantage of the method to mark a file as deleted where the data is left intact but marked as reusable. Reconnecting the data with the directory is fairly easy. But once the filesystem is recreated (mkfs), there is no record of where any files are located, only a string of data bytes, some of which you might recognize.

[Steven E. Protter]

It would appear that somehow the HFS filesystem got converted into a vxfs fielsystem.

If this is /stand you can't boot your system.

Its probably time to punt.

If you can boot your system off the Core OS CD, you should get as much data off of it as possible and then go to your disaster recovery backup.

If You have made a make_tape_recovery tape, you'll get most of your setting and functionality back.

If not, you will need to run newfs -F ... and create a new fileystem. Then you're going to need to get the contants of that HFS file system off of some kind of backup.

SEP

[delporte]

To all

It seems that Orbit Software UK has a a PC software solution Final Data Unix to recover the data on Unix systems (with the LAN).

Does any body has experienced that solution ?

Does it works for HP UX ?

I'm very curious about that!

Best regards

Marc

*******************

From the web page

http://www.orbitsw.co.uk/products.html

*******************
System Requirement
O/S: Linux/Unix, Windows 95/98/ME/2000
RAM: 16MB (32MB recommended)
HARD DISK: 10MB (maximum 15MB)
VGA: Minimum 256 color


File system :Linux / Unix(Sun Solaris, AIX (IBM), HP) File System

Features
No need to learn DOS.
Final Data is the first recovery software operating perfectly on Windows. Besides, Final Data uses an interface similar to a Windows search, so it is simple to use.

No FAT backup file required.
Final Data doesn't have to be installed in advance as a backup program would (backup method). Only Final Data can recover even after you lost your data. Automated I-node/FAT Double Backup function also available for enhanced recovery, but not essential.

It takes only 4 easy steps to recover.
It's very simple to use.
(1) Execute Final Data (2) Open drive (3) Search drive (4) Save it

It can also recover damaged directory information.
It can also recover data when directory entry information initialized (over Enterprise Edition).

It can search recoverable files.
It is possible to search recoverable files using Wild Cards making it much
easier to identify the file you want to recover byinputting *.doc or data? (over Enterprise Edition).


It can recover data using TCP/IP protocol through network.
Final Data Linux/Unix Edition has LinuxSlave/UnixSlave executing Linux/Unix . It is able to
recover data by searching Linux/Unix System running LinuxSlave/UnixSlave on Final Data
computer (Windows95/98/NT/2000) after running LinuxSlave/UnixSlave on Linux/Unix.

Main Function
* Recover deleted files/directories.
* Also recover data when Super Block or Inode List is damaged.
* Possible to recover data after deleted logical partition.
* Support over 8.4 GB hard disk.
* Recover all directories and their files/sub directories.
* Recover quickly with finding specific deleted files.
* Remote control data recover through network, Internet.
* Decoding function of professional user's recovered result report.
* Support 2 bytes of oriental characters.
* Support UNIX file system (EXT2, UFS etc.) -recover data each file system format.
* Automatic Saving function of file system by Backup scheduling (cron demon).
* Possible to recover deleted log file data by hacker.
* Possible to recover unbootable hard disk data.
* Possible to recover unbootable hard disk data in other normal PC with Slave.
* Decoding function of searched and recovered objectsâ report.
* Possible to recover long file name.
* Possible to recover original long file name used by information of backup file system.

[Bill Hassell]

Based on the description, this would seem to work only after you install the special software on a PC and on your HP-UX box and then backup all your data to the PC.

[Bill Hassell]

Based on the description, this would seem to work only after you install the special software on a PC and on your HP-UX box and then backup all your HP-UX files to the PC. It looks like an online backup system. This won't help with your disk since it wasn't backed up.

[delporte]

To Bill, thanks for that analysis.

I have request more information from the vendor, I will post the answer.

As my disk has been reintsalled (pvcreate, vg, lv), I do not have any hope now.

However, I will check that solution as an alternative to classical backup with tapes.

Best regards

Marc