From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Wols Lists Subject: Linux raid wiki - force assembling an array where one drive has a different event count - advice needed Date: Sat, 24 Sep 2016 00:15:09 +0100 Message-ID: <57E5B77D.5080608@youngman.org.uk> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Return-path: Sender: linux-raid-owner@vger.kernel.org To: linux-raid List-Id: linux-raid.ids As I understand it, the event count on all devices in an array should be the same. If they're a little bit different it doesn't matter too much. My question is how much does it matter? Let's say I've got a raid-5 and suddenly realise that one of the drives has failed and been kicked from the array. What happens if I force a reassemble? Or do a --re-add? I don't actually have a clue, and if I'm updating the wiki I need to know. What I would HOPE happens, is that the raid code fires off an integrity scan, reading each stripe, and updating the re-added drive if it's out-of-date. Is this what the bitmap enables? So the raid code can work out what changes have been made since the drive has been booted? Or does forced re-adding risk damaging the data because the raid code can't tell what is out-of-date and what is current on the re-added drive? Basically, what I'm trying to get at, is that if there's one disk missing in a raid5, is a user better off just adding a new drive and rebuilding the array (risking a failure in another drive), or are they better off trying to add the failed drive back in, and then doing a --replace. And I guess the same logic applies with raid6. Cheers, Wol