Adding new HDDs to Ubuntu Server

[scott.bouch]

Hi TheFu,

Here's the result:

scott@6FC:~$ ls -al /dev/sdc*
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 32 Aug 12 13:03 /dev/sdc
cr-------- 1 root root 8, 33 Aug  7 19:19 /dev/sdc1

Thanks, Scott.

[TheFu]

Ok - so the permissions cannot be correct.
What are the permissions for the other disk devices? See the difference?

I still think there is a HW limitation to overcome the 2.2T limit.

[scott.bouch]

Hi TheFu,

The drive is internally connected via a SATA connection, as per the working drives (4x red cables in the wonky image). It's in a proper caddy I recently bought and fitted in the proper hole in the front, in the third bay.

s-20150807_193701.jpg

Here's the result for all of the drives:

scott@6FC:~$ ls -al /dev/sda*
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 0 Aug 12 13:03 /dev/sda
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 1 Aug  7 18:12 /dev/sda1
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 2 Aug  7 18:12 /dev/sda2
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 5 Aug  7 18:12 /dev/sda5
scott@6FC:~$ ls -al /dev/sdb*
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 16 Aug 12 13:03 /dev/sdb
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 17 Aug  7 18:12 /dev/sdb1
scott@6FC:~$ ls -al /dev/sdc*
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 32 Aug 12 13:03 /dev/sdc
cr-------- 1 root root 8, 33 Aug  7 19:19 /dev/sdc1
scott@6FC:~$

Yes, sdc1 is different to the others (cr instead of brw-rw) and root root instead of root disk. I don't quite know exactly what these differences mean right now though..

Thanks, Scott.

[bab1]

Hi TheFu,

The drive is internally connected via a SATA connection, as per the working drives (4x red cables in the wonky image). It's in a proper caddy I recently bought and fitted in the proper hole in the front, in the third bay.

s-20150807_193701.jpg

Here's the result for all of the drives:

scott@6FC:~$ ls -al /dev/sda*
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 0 Aug 12 13:03 /dev/sda
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 1 Aug  7 18:12 /dev/sda1
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 2 Aug  7 18:12 /dev/sda2
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 5 Aug  7 18:12 /dev/sda5
scott@6FC:~$ ls -al /dev/sdb*
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 16 Aug 12 13:03 /dev/sdb
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 17 Aug  7 18:12 /dev/sdb1
scott@6FC:~$ ls -al /dev/sdc*
brw-rw---- 1 root disk 8, 32 Aug 12 13:03 /dev/sdc
cr-------- 1 root root 8, 33 Aug  7 19:19 /dev/sdc1
scott@6FC:~$

Yes, sdc1 is different to the others (cr instead of brw-rw) and root root instead of root disk. I don't quite know exactly what these differences mean right now though..

Thanks, Scott.

The sdc1 is listed as a character device (listed in red above), but not formatted as a block device). All the others have been successfully formatted so they are listed as block devices.

Earlier on you said you had 2 of these 4TB HDD's. Have you tried to partition and add an ext4 file system to that HDD? The disk controller that @TheFu is referring to is the electronics on the HDD itself, so trying the other disk will help in diagnosing the problem. I doubt that both HDD's would have the same problem. If you have the same problem with the other drive, I would think the host machine is at fault in some way.

[TheFu]

I think the issue is with the disk controller on the motherboard.
Please try swapping some SATA cables around to see if the issue is related the port.

Also, please lookup the MB to see if there is firmware updates available - look through the change list for anything related to 2.2T drive limits.

[scott.bouch]

Great advice guys, many thanks indeed.

I'll have a look at the motherboard later when I'm home, and also will try the other drive, and try swapping cables around.

As it's an unsupported server type (as I keep on finding DELL tech-support comments stating so on forums / help pages etc..) I doubt if I'll be able to find much in the way of a firmware upgrade, unless it's common to other server computers too.

I seem to have to pick an oddball server here, the CS24-SC: the CS stands for Custom Server, so very little literature is around for it. I did find one website that stated that Facebook recently upgraded from this type of server, a whole 10,000 of them, so there's a chance that these may have originally been ordered by Facebook, and used for a few years, before being sold on to people like me via ebay.

If tonight’s experimentation if fruitless, I'll just buy a NAS enclosure capable of taking these two 4TB drives, then my problems will hopefully go away... If anything has come out of this, it's improved my confidence at the command line, and has exposed me to functions / software I'd never used before - I can put it down as a worthwhile learning exercise. It'll also be good to know it's the machine that's got issues, not me!

Thanks again to both of you, Scott.

[bab1]

Googling "CS24-SC" gets lots of information re: the built in 2TB limit for partitions on this server. It's a hardware limitation. If you really want to have 4TB data stores on this machine you will have to use LVM to combine the 2TB partitions. Extra work, but if you need a contiguous 4TB then it is worth while.

[scott.bouch]

Oh blimey, you're right...

Well, after all that work (big thank-you by the way) we've gone right round and back to the fundamentals!

Solution: £40 NAS enclosure... and all problems go away.. I'll put this down as a good learning experience in Ubuntu, drives, formatting, and hardware, and move on.

I'll remember all of this in case I want to add some 2TB drives in the future to the spare slots. It's been one heck of a learning curve, and one I'm glad to have had great tech-support through. Can't say enough thank-you's!!

Fantastic help received, I may even get round to writing myself a little aide mémoire on my website for the next time I have a go at formatting drives!

Thanks again, Scott.