1 Topic by Titam (edited by Titam 2011-02-21 09:00:58)

  • Titam
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Topic: [SOLVED] GParted fails to resize ext3 RAID5 array

Hi all,

This is my first crack at GParted and this forum, so apologies in advance if I'm doing something wrong.  smile

I have been trying to resize my RAID5 array partition, but so far no luck.  I have expanded the array capacity from 5.7 Tb to 10.0 Tb, and want to use the extra space.

The file system is ext3.  It is 92% full.

I have the GParted live CD.  It boots fine.  The array is seen by GParted, both 5.4 Tb of used and 4.6 Tb of unused space, and is not mounted. 

The array contains straight data - no OS, no Windows, no special file systems, databases, or other stuff.  Just regular old files.  Some are over 30 Gb in size, but only a handful, with the vast majority being a few Gb tops.

The resize command runs, and runs e2fsck after a bit.  After several hours of running - I don't know exactly how long, I was sleeping - it terminates with an error message.  The status window reads (and I quote):

> Grow /dev/sda1 from 5.4 TiB to 10.00 TiB

>  calibrate /dev/sda1

^  check file system on /dev/sda1 for errors and (if possible) fix them

   ^e2fsck -f -y -v /dev/sda1
       Pass 1:  Checking inodes, blocks and sizes
       Pass 2:  Checking directory structure


       e2fsck 1.41.12 (17-May-2010)
       Killed

   ^ libparted messages
         Not all of the space available to /dev/sda appears to be used, you can... and it goes on to say I can make the extra space available.


I have screenshots I can post, but there is really nothing to see.  I don't have the exact text of the error, unfortunately (apologies), but it was to the effect that the operation failed.  I did not have time to try again.


e2fsck seems the obvious culprit, but what can I do about it? 

Is there an option to skip the e2fsck check? 

Should I try and run e2fsck separately first?  From what I read, e2fsck on a 6 Tb partition could take weeks!  I don't have that kind of time, this is a working server that needs to be up every day.

A bit off topic, but what do people do for e2fsck-like operations on multi-terabyte arrays?  Wait two weeks?  Not that I particularly care, I just need a way to resize my partition!


I should also mention that I've tried the same operation in Yast Partitioner (openSUSE 10.1) , but it fails after a few minutes with no explanation.  I have expanded this array twice before with Yast, and didn't run into this problem.  This is, however, the largest array I have had so far.


Thanks in advance for any help.

- T.

2 Reply by gedakc

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Re: [SOLVED] GParted fails to resize ext3 RAID5 array

Are you using a GPT partition table?  If so then when the RAID is grown, you must also adjust the GPT partition table.

You can do this by running parted from the command line on the RAID device.  Parted will prompt you if you would like to adjust the partition table.  You should indicate that yes, you do want to use all of the space.

After that you should be able to use GParted to resize the partition.

This problem has been reported in the following bug report:
Bug 566935 - Unable to expand Areca RAID partition from 2.6TB to 3.4TB

3 Reply by Titam

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Re: [SOLVED] GParted fails to resize ext3 RAID5 array

I know parted prompted me to adjust the partition table before.  I declined at the time because I didn't know if that was what I needed or not.

Now I cannot get it to prompt for the same change.  Running parted yields:

parted check /dev/sdc1
Error:  Filesystem has incompatible feature enabled.

How do I get it back to wanting to adjust the GPT?

- T.

4 Reply by gedakc

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Re: [SOLVED] GParted fails to resize ext3 RAID5 array

Titam wrote:

parted check /dev/sdc1
Error:  Filesystem has incompatible feature enabled.

Parted needs to be run on the disk device (/dev/sdc), and not on a disk device partition entry (/dev/sdc1).

Hence use "parted /dev/sdc" with no trailing "1".

5 Reply by Titam

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Re: [SOLVED] GParted fails to resize ext3 RAID5 array

Success! 

Parted adjusted the GPT table in about 20 seconds, and Yast Partitioner was able to expand the array.  I now have 10 happy Tb in my RAID6.  big_smile big_smile big_smile big_smile

For those concerned, the resize from 5 Tb to 10 Tb took about 30 minutes.  The 3ware controller was also doing a background rebuild at the time, which was set to lowest priority to speed up the re-partition operation, but may have slowed things down nevertheless.

There is no indication of any data loss or other problems.  The rebuild continues uninterrupted, everything is intact.

Thank you, gedakc, for your timely and accurate help!  Please tell me where to mail the check.  big_smile

6 Reply by gedakc

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Re: [SOLVED] GParted fails to resize ext3 RAID5 array

Titam wrote:

There is no indication of any data loss or other problems.  The rebuild continues uninterrupted, everything is intact.

Thank you, gedakc, for your timely and accurate help!  Please tell me where to mail the check.  big_smile

'Glad to hear that your resize operation was successful.

If you wish to help, you can pay it forward by helping others.  smile

The GParted project also accepts donations.