[linux-lvm] Removing a very old physical drive - revisited

[linux-lvm] Removing a very old physical drive - revisited

[Nicholas Robinson]

Like a moth to a flame, I am having another go at removing a physical
drive (30G) from my one and only volgroup.

I left it last night having recovered my system after pvmove created a
phantom lv that was too big to fit on the pv.

Tonight, I tried plugging a usb external 80G drive and doing a pvcreate
on it. This worked fine.

I then vgextended my volgroup to include this new device thinking the
free space would encourage pvmove to work and it would need to be in the
volgroup. This also appears to have worked.

Finally, the dreaded pvmove command that trashed my system last night.
At least it doesn't seem to have harmed anything tonight, but it still
hasn't worked. I've put a line of asterisks where I think the errors
are. Presumably, the second is a consequence of the first. Should I have
executed some dmsetup command before doing the pvmove as some googling
might suggest?

Thank you for any help you can give me.

Nick

# pvmove -vv /dev/sdb2 /dev/sda2
      Setting global/locking_type to 1
      File-based locking selected.
      Setting global/locking_dir to /var/lock/lvm
      Getting target version for mirror
      Getting target version for mirror
      Getting driver version
      /dev/sdb2: lvm2 label detected
      /dev/ram0: No label detected
      /dev/dm-0: No label detected
      /dev/ram1: No label detected
      /dev/sda1: No label detected
      /dev/dm-1: No label detected
      /dev/ram2: No label detected
      /dev/sda2: lvm2 label detected
      /dev/ram3: No label detected
      /dev/ram4: No label detected
      /dev/ram5: No label detected
      /dev/ram6: No label detected
      /dev/ram7: No label detected
      /dev/ram8: No label detected
      /dev/ram9: No label detected
      /dev/ram10: No label detected
      /dev/ram11: No label detected
      /dev/ram12: No label detected
      /dev/ram13: No label detected
      /dev/ram14: No label detected
      /dev/ram15: No label detected
      /dev/sdb1: No label detected
      /dev/sdd1: No label detected
      /dev/sdd2: No label detected
      /dev/sdd3: lvm2 label detected
    Finding volume group "VolGroup00"
      Locking /var/lock/lvm/V_VolGroup00 WB
      /dev/sdb2: lvm2 label detected
      /dev/sda2: lvm2 label detected
      /dev/sdd3: lvm2 label detected
    Archiving volume group "VolGroup00" metadata (seqno 37).
      Expiring archive /etc/lvm/archive/VolGroup00_00024.vg
    Creating logical volume pvmove0
      Inserting layer pvmove0 for segments of LogVol00 on /dev/sdb2
      Inserting /dev/sdb2:0-856 of VolGroup00/LogVol00
      Stack LogVol00:0[0] on LV pvmove0:0
      Adding LogVol00:0 as an user of pvmove0
      Inserting /dev/sdb2:887-887 of VolGroup00/LogVol00
      Stack LogVol00:857[0] on LV pvmove0:857
      Adding LogVol00:857 as an user of pvmove0
    Moving 858 extents of logical volume VolGroup00/LogVol00
      Inserting layer pvmove0 for segments of LogVol01 on /dev/sdb2
      Locking LV
EdAJKPEfRrbzqXIS8XJAyjzthn0vqAOgLPxYrNE62mL8uhMs0OvZNIEWM6GlBD4E (R)
      Finding volume group for uuid
EdAJKPEfRrbzqXIS8XJAyjzthn0vqAOgLPxYrNE62mL8uhMs0OvZNIEWM6GlBD4E
    Found volume group "VolGroup00"
    Updating volume group metadata
      Locking LV
EdAJKPEfRrbzqXIS8XJAyjzthn0vqAOgLPxYrNE62mL8uhMs0OvZNIEWM6GlBD4E (W)
      Finding volume group for uuid
EdAJKPEfRrbzqXIS8XJAyjzthn0vqAOgLPxYrNE62mL8uhMs0OvZNIEWM6GlBD4E
      /dev/sdb2: lvm2 label detected
      /dev/sda2: lvm2 label detected
      /dev/sdd3: lvm2 label detected
    Found volume group "VolGroup00"
      Finding volume group for uuid
EdAJKPEfRrbzqXIS8XJAyjzthn0vqAOgLPxYrNE62mL8uhMs0OvZNIEWM6GlBD4E
      Stack LogVol00:0[0] on LV pvmove0:0
      Adding LogVol00:0 as an user of pvmove0
      Stack LogVol00:857[0] on LV pvmove0:857
      Adding LogVol00:857 as an user of pvmove0
      Stack LogVol00:0[0] on LV pvmove0:0
      Adding LogVol00:0 as an user of pvmove0
      Stack LogVol00:857[0] on LV pvmove0:857
      Adding LogVol00:857 as an user of pvmove0
      Stack LogVol00:0[0] on LV pvmove0:0
      Adding LogVol00:0 as an user of pvmove0
      Stack LogVol00:857[0] on LV pvmove0:857
      Adding LogVol00:857 as an user of pvmove0
    Found volume group "VolGroup00"
      /dev/sdb2: read_ahead is 256 sectors
      Locking memory
    Suspending VolGroup00-LogVol00 (253:0) with device flush
      Locking LV
EdAJKPEfRrbzqXIS8XJAyjzthn0vqAOgo3NFX2qrFUu5HyCI5r7p0sFe2tWrcSHC (R)
      Finding volume group for uuid
EdAJKPEfRrbzqXIS8XJAyjzthn0vqAOgo3NFX2qrFUu5HyCI5r7p0sFe2tWrcSHC
      Stack LogVol00:0[0] on LV pvmove0:0
      Adding LogVol00:0 as an user of pvmove0
      Stack LogVol00:857[0] on LV pvmove0:857
      Adding LogVol00:857 as an user of pvmove0
      Stack LogVol00:0[0] on LV pvmove0:0
      Adding LogVol00:0 as an user of pvmove0
      Stack LogVol00:857[0] on LV pvmove0:857
      Adding LogVol00:857 as an user of pvmove0
      Stack LogVol00:0[0] on LV pvmove0:0
      Adding LogVol00:0 as an user of pvmove0
      Stack LogVol00:857[0] on LV pvmove0:857
      Adding LogVol00:857 as an user of pvmove0
    Found volume group "VolGroup00"
      Setting activation/mirror_region_size to 512
    Creating VolGroup00-pvmove0
    Loading VolGroup00-pvmove0 table
 **********************************************************************
  device-mapper: reload ioctl failed: No such device or address
  Temporary pvmove mirror activation failed.
      Removing layer pvmove0 for segments of LogVol00
      Remove LogVol00:0[0] from the top of LV pvmove0:0
      LogVol00:0 is no longer a user of pvmove0
      Remove LogVol00:857[0] from the top of LV pvmove0:857
      LogVol00:857 is no longer a user of pvmove0
      Removing layer pvmove0 for segments of LogVol01
      Locking LV
EdAJKPEfRrbzqXIS8XJAyjzthn0vqAOgLPxYrNE62mL8uhMs0OvZNIEWM6GlBD4E (W)
      Finding volume group for uuid
EdAJKPEfRrbzqXIS8XJAyjzthn0vqAOgLPxYrNE62mL8uhMs0OvZNIEWM6GlBD4E
      /dev/sdb2: lvm2 label detected
      /dev/sda2: lvm2 label detected
      /dev/sdd3: lvm2 label detected
      Stack LogVol00:0[0] on LV pvmove0:0
      Adding LogVol00:0 as an user of pvmove0
      Stack LogVol00:857[0] on LV pvmove0:857
      Adding LogVol00:857 as an user of pvmove0
      Stack LogVol00:0[0] on LV pvmove0:0
      Adding LogVol00:0 as an user of pvmove0
      Stack LogVol00:857[0] on LV pvmove0:857
      Adding LogVol00:857 as an user of pvmove0
      Stack LogVol00:0[0] on LV pvmove0:0
      Adding LogVol00:0 as an user of pvmove0
      Stack LogVol00:857[0] on LV pvmove0:857
      Adding LogVol00:857 as an user of pvmove0
    Found volume group "VolGroup00"
      Finding volume group for uuid
EdAJKPEfRrbzqXIS8XJAyjzthn0vqAOgLPxYrNE62mL8uhMs0OvZNIEWM6GlBD4E
    Found volume group "VolGroup00"
      Locking LV
EdAJKPEfRrbzqXIS8XJAyjzthn0vqAOgo3NFX2qrFUu5HyCI5r7p0sFe2tWrcSHC (W)
      Finding volume group for uuid
EdAJKPEfRrbzqXIS8XJAyjzthn0vqAOgo3NFX2qrFUu5HyCI5r7p0sFe2tWrcSHC
      Stack LogVol00:0[0] on LV pvmove0:0
      Adding LogVol00:0 as an user of pvmove0
      Stack LogVol00:857[0] on LV pvmove0:857
      Adding LogVol00:857 as an user of pvmove0
      Stack LogVol00:0[0] on LV pvmove0:0
      Adding LogVol00:0 as an user of pvmove0
      Stack LogVol00:857[0] on LV pvmove0:857
      Adding LogVol00:857 as an user of pvmove0
      Stack LogVol00:0[0] on LV pvmove0:0
      Adding LogVol00:0 as an user of pvmove0
      Stack LogVol00:857[0] on LV pvmove0:857
      Adding LogVol00:857 as an user of pvmove0
    Found volume group "VolGroup00"
      Finding volume group for uuid
EdAJKPEfRrbzqXIS8XJAyjzthn0vqAOgo3NFX2qrFUu5HyCI5r7p0sFe2tWrcSHC
    Found volume group "VolGroup00"
    Suspending VolGroup00-pvmove0 (253:2) with device flush
      Unlocking LV
EdAJKPEfRrbzqXIS8XJAyjzthn0vqAOgo3NFX2qrFUu5HyCI5r7p0sFe2tWrcSHC
      Finding volume group for uuid
EdAJKPEfRrbzqXIS8XJAyjzthn0vqAOgo3NFX2qrFUu5HyCI5r7p0sFe2tWrcSHC
    Found volume group "VolGroup00"
    Resuming VolGroup00-pvmove0 (253:2)
**********************************************************************  
device-mapper: resume ioctl failed: Invalid argument
  Unable to resume VolGroup00-pvmove0 (253:2)
      Unlocking LV
EdAJKPEfRrbzqXIS8XJAyjzthn0vqAOgLPxYrNE62mL8uhMs0OvZNIEWM6GlBD4E
      Finding volume group for uuid
EdAJKPEfRrbzqXIS8XJAyjzthn0vqAOgLPxYrNE62mL8uhMs0OvZNIEWM6GlBD4E
    Found volume group "VolGroup00"
      Getting target version for linear
      Getting target version for striped
    Loading VolGroup00-LogVol00 table
    Resuming VolGroup00-LogVol00 (253:0)
      Unlocking memory
      Removing /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
      Linking /dev/VolGroup00/LogVol00
-> /dev/mapper/VolGroup00-LogVol00
      Locking LV
EdAJKPEfRrbzqXIS8XJAyjzthn0vqAOgo3NFX2qrFUu5HyCI5r7p0sFe2tWrcSHC (NL)
      Finding volume group for uuid
EdAJKPEfRrbzqXIS8XJAyjzthn0vqAOgo3NFX2qrFUu5HyCI5r7p0sFe2tWrcSHC
    Found volume group "VolGroup00"
      Locking memory
    Removing VolGroup00-pvmove0 (253:2)
      Unlocking memory
      Unlocking LV
EdAJKPEfRrbzqXIS8XJAyjzthn0vqAOgo3NFX2qrFUu5HyCI5r7p0sFe2tWrcSHC
      Finding volume group for uuid
EdAJKPEfRrbzqXIS8XJAyjzthn0vqAOgo3NFX2qrFUu5HyCI5r7p0sFe2tWrcSHC
    Found volume group "VolGroup00"
    Removing temporary pvmove LV
    Writing out final volume group after pvmove
    Creating volume group backup "/etc/lvm/backup/VolGroup00" (seqno
40).
    Creating volume group backup "/etc/lvm/backup/VolGroup00" (seqno
40).
      Unlocking /var/lock/lvm/V_VolGroup00

Re: [linux-lvm] Removing a very old physical drive - revisited

[malahal]

Nicholas Robinson [npr@bottlehall.co.uk] wrote:
> 
> Nick
> 
> # pvmove -vv /dev/sdb2 /dev/sda2

You can just specify 'pvmove -vv /dev/sdb2' to allow it to allocate on
your new disk as well or you can do
'pvmove -vv /dev/sdb2 /dev/sda2 /dev/<yourNewPVname>' to allow it to
allocate on the new PV as well.  What distro and what version of LVM and
device package are you using.  Someone may help if you post it to
dm-devel mailing list.

Thanks, Malahal.

Re: [linux-lvm] Removing a very old physical drive - revisited

[Nicholas Robinson]

Hi Malahal

Thanks for your reply. I don't really want to use the new/temporary disc
long-term, it seems that pvmove needs space to create a mirror-lv whilst
it is working and it seemed possible that the original problem was that
this extra space wasn't there.

# pvscan
  PV /dev/sdb2   VG VolGroup00   lvm2 [27.75 GB / 960.00 MB free]
  PV /dev/sda2   VG VolGroup00   lvm2 [314.97 GB / 30.84 GB free]
  PV /dev/sdd3   VG VolGroup00   lvm2 [52.50 GB / 52.50 GB free]
  Total: 3 [395.22 GB] / in use: 3 [395.22 GB] / in no VG: 0 [0   ]

This shows that sda2 has enough PEs free to take sdb2 ultimately and
sdd3 should have enough space to hold any sensible mirror lv.

I am using an upgraded Fedora 11 installation (from Fedora 8 using
preupgrade) with lvm version 

  LVM version:     2.02.48 (2009-06-30)
  Library version: 1.02.33 (2009-06-30)
  Driver version:  4.14.0

I will try a posting to dm-devel as you suggest.

Thanks

Nick


On Tue, 2009-10-27 at 18:29 -0700, malahal@us.ibm.com wrote:
> Nicholas Robinson [npr@bottlehall.co.uk] wrote:
> > 
> > Nick
> > 
> > # pvmove -vv /dev/sdb2 /dev/sda2
> 
> You can just specify 'pvmove -vv /dev/sdb2' to allow it to allocate on
> your new disk as well or you can do
> 'pvmove -vv /dev/sdb2 /dev/sda2 /dev/<yourNewPVname>' to allow it to
> allocate on the new PV as well.  What distro and what version of LVM and
> device package are you using.  Someone may help if you post it to
> dm-devel mailing list.
> 
> Thanks, Malahal.
> 
> _______________________________________________
> linux-lvm mailing list
> linux-lvm@redhat.com
> https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-lvm
> read the LVM HOW-TO at http://tldp.org/HOWTO/LVM-HOWTO/

Re: [linux-lvm] Removing a very old physical drive - revisited

[malahal]

Nicholas Robinson [npr@bottlehall.co.uk] wrote:
> Hi Malahal
> 
> Thanks for your reply. I don't really want to use the new/temporary disc
> long-term, it seems that pvmove needs space to create a mirror-lv whilst
> it is working and it seemed possible that the original problem was that
> this extra space wasn't there.

As far as I know, you don't need extra space. The temporary mirror is
created to copy the data. I believe, it creates a corelog mirror and
should NOT need extra space. Let us hope someone responds from the
dm-devel list!

Re: [linux-lvm] Removing a very old physical drive - revisited

[Nicholas Robinson]

i haven't had any replies from dm-devel mailing list so I tried pvmove
onto my external usb drive - i.e.

pvmove /dev/sdb2 /dev/sdc3

It is working so far! So, the device-mapper error must refer
to /dev/sda2 rather than the source disc as I'd assumed. I'm not sure
where this will leave me. My guess is that trying to pvmove from the usb
drive to the new disc will give the same error.

I don't really want the usb drive hanging off the front of my server,
but it will be nice to get rid of the old disc. Maybe I'll just have to
buy a new disc.

Nick

On Wed, 2009-10-28 at 09:07 -0700, malahal@us.ibm.com wrote:
> Nicholas Robinson [npr@bottlehall.co.uk] wrote:
> > Hi Malahal
> > 
> > Thanks for your reply. I don't really want to use the new/temporary disc
> > long-term, it seems that pvmove needs space to create a mirror-lv whilst
> > it is working and it seemed possible that the original problem was that
> > this extra space wasn't there.
> 
> As far as I know, you don't need extra space. The temporary mirror is
> created to copy the data. I believe, it creates a corelog mirror and
> should NOT need extra space. Let us hope someone responds from the
> dm-devel list!
> 
> _______________________________________________
> linux-lvm mailing list
> linux-lvm@redhat.com
> https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-lvm
> read the LVM HOW-TO at http://tldp.org/HOWTO/LVM-HOWTO/

Re: [linux-lvm] Removing a very old physical drive - revisited

[Nicholas Robinson]

The pvmove worked, I've moved the boot to the new disc, so my old disc
is now effectively redundant. The problem is that, as I suspected, I
can't pvmove off my usb drive!

I spotted these messages in /var/log/messages

Oct 29 03:44:06 oak kernel: device-mapper: table: device 8:2 too small
for target
Oct 29 03:44:06 oak kernel: device-mapper: table: 253:0: linear:
dm-linear: Device lookup failed
Oct 29 03:44:06 oak kernel: device-mapper: ioctl: error adding target to
table
Oct 29 03:46:15 oak kernel: device-mapper: table: device 8:2 too small
for target
Oct 29 03:46:15 oak kernel: device-mapper: table: 253:0: linear:
dm-linear: Device lookup failed
Oct 29 03:46:15 oak kernel: device-mapper: ioctl: error adding target to
table

They seem to occur whenever I do a pvmove involving my new disc - the
partition used in the volume group.

I have successfully removed and re-created the swap volume, just to see
if this might help. I hasn't!

# dmsetup table
VolGroup00-lv_swap: 0 1966080 linear 8:2 593887616
VolGroup00-LogVol00: 0 56229888 linear 8:35 384
VolGroup00-LogVol00: 56229888 593887232 linear 8:2 384

Nick

On Wed, 2009-10-28 at 23:21 +0000, Nicholas Robinson wrote:
> i haven't had any replies from dm-devel mailing list so I tried pvmove
> onto my external usb drive - i.e.
> 
> pvmove /dev/sdb2 /dev/sdc3
> 
> It is working so far! So, the device-mapper error must refer
> to /dev/sda2 rather than the source disc as I'd assumed. I'm not sure
> where this will leave me. My guess is that trying to pvmove from the usb
> drive to the new disc will give the same error.
> 
> I don't really want the usb drive hanging off the front of my server,
> but it will be nice to get rid of the old disc. Maybe I'll just have to
> buy a new disc.
> 
> Nick
> 
> On Wed, 2009-10-28 at 09:07 -0700, malahal@us.ibm.com wrote:
> > Nicholas Robinson [npr@bottlehall.co.uk] wrote:
> > > Hi Malahal
> > > 
> > > Thanks for your reply. I don't really want to use the new/temporary disc
> > > long-term, it seems that pvmove needs space to create a mirror-lv whilst
> > > it is working and it seemed possible that the original problem was that
> > > this extra space wasn't there.
> > 
> > As far as I know, you don't need extra space. The temporary mirror is
> > created to copy the data. I believe, it creates a corelog mirror and
> > should NOT need extra space. Let us hope someone responds from the
> > dm-devel list!
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > linux-lvm mailing list
> > linux-lvm@redhat.com
> > https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-lvm
> > read the LVM HOW-TO at http://tldp.org/HOWTO/LVM-HOWTO/
> 
> _______________________________________________
> linux-lvm mailing list
> linux-lvm@redhat.com
> https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-lvm
> read the LVM HOW-TO at http://tldp.org/HOWTO/LVM-HOWTO/

Re: [linux-lvm] Removing a very old physical drive - revisited

[malahal]

Nicholas Robinson [npr@bottlehall.co.uk] wrote:
> The pvmove worked, I've moved the boot to the new disc, so my old disc
> is now effectively redundant. The problem is that, as I suspected, I
> can't pvmove off my usb drive!
> 
> I spotted these messages in /var/log/messages
> 
> Oct 29 03:44:06 oak kernel: device-mapper: table: device 8:2 too small
> for target
> Oct 29 03:44:06 oak kernel: device-mapper: table: 253:0: linear:
> dm-linear: Device lookup failed
> Oct 29 03:44:06 oak kernel: device-mapper: ioctl: error adding target to
> table

device 8:2 is /dev/sda2. Some one is trying to use /dev/sda2 with
incorrect values (start sector or length). This looks odd and this
happens only when you try 'pvmove' on the USB disk. What does the
pvdisplay on /dev/sda2 report its size (PV Size and is that accurate).
It maybe incorrect....

Thanks, Malahal.

Re: [linux-lvm] Removing a very old physical drive - revisited

[Nicholas Robinson]

On Thu, 2009-10-29 at 12:04 -0700, malahal@us.ibm.com wrote:
> Nicholas Robinson [npr@bottlehall.co.uk] wrote:
> > The pvmove worked, I've moved the boot to the new disc, so my old disc
> > is now effectively redundant. The problem is that, as I suspected, I
> > can't pvmove off my usb drive!
> > 
> > I spotted these messages in /var/log/messages
> > 
> > Oct 29 03:44:06 oak kernel: device-mapper: table: device 8:2 too small
> > for target
> > Oct 29 03:44:06 oak kernel: device-mapper: table: 253:0: linear:
> > dm-linear: Device lookup failed
> > Oct 29 03:44:06 oak kernel: device-mapper: ioctl: error adding target to
> > table
> 
> device 8:2 is /dev/sda2. Some one is trying to use /dev/sda2 with
> incorrect values (start sector or length). This looks odd and this
> happens only when you try 'pvmove' on the USB disk. What does the
> pvdisplay on /dev/sda2 report its size (PV Size and is that accurate).
> It maybe incorrect....
> 
> Thanks, Malahal.
> 

Hi Malahal

In the absence of fixing the underlying problem, I've renamed the
volgroup and removed the 30GB disc that was the original aim of the
exercise! I thought I was getting somewhere, but now the server won't
boot by itself, I have to use a rescue disc and then chroot and start
the critical services manually. It is something to do with the change in
device name from /dev/sda to /dev/sdc, but I can't see why. It gets to
the point where it should be trying to mount the volgroup and then hangs
without any diagnostic. Everything looks okay in /etc/fstab.

I am confused about grub.conf as the (hd0,0) is wrong, given that
device.map lists /dev/sdc as hd1, but swapping grub.conf to specify
hd1,0 to match device.map fails with invalid disc or similar and using
map (...) statements to swap them over or changing device.map don't work
either.

I always used to think the biggest advantage of linux over windows was
that when it failed it told you why. It hasn't been too helpful in
recent days.

I think I will copy everything off the disc tomorrow, reinstall fedora
11 on it from scratch (having removed the usb drive!!!) and then
restore. Life's too short.

The total PE multiplied by the pe size looks right.

Thanks

Nick

[root@oak ~]# pvdisplay
  --- Physical volume ---
  PV Name               /dev/sdc2
  VG Name               vg_oak
  PV Size               315.00 GB / not usable 31.81 MB
  Allocatable           yes 
  PE Size (KByte)       32768
  Total PE              10079
  Free PE               987
  Allocated PE          9092
  PV UUID               tXBnAO-0D0U-yLvg-XhaA-vEw3-Niz7-p23dAt

Re: [linux-lvm] Removing a very old physical drive - revisited

[malahal]

Nicholas Robinson [npr@bottlehall.co.uk] wrote:
> Hi Malahal
> 
> In the absence of fixing the underlying problem, I've renamed the
> volgroup and removed the 30GB disc that was the original aim of the
> exercise! I thought I was getting somewhere, but now the server won't
> boot by itself, I have to use a rescue disc and then chroot and start
> the critical services manually. It is something to do with the change in
> device name from /dev/sda to /dev/sdc, but I can't see why. It gets to
> the point where it should be trying to mount the volgroup and then hangs
> without any diagnostic. Everything looks okay in /etc/fstab.
> 
> I am confused about grub.conf as the (hd0,0) is wrong, given that
> device.map lists /dev/sdc as hd1, but swapping grub.conf to specify
> hd1,0 to match device.map fails with invalid disc or similar and using
> map (...) statements to swap them over or changing device.map don't work
> either.

(hd0,0) is the first partition on the first disk found by your BIOS. It
maybe slightly different from how the OS sees the disks. Device.map is
generated by BIOS but it never uses it as far as I know. You can run
'grub' from shell and find out which disk has the 'boot' code.

> I always used to think the biggest advantage of linux over windows was
> that when it failed it told you why. It hasn't been too helpful in
> recent days.

The software tries to tell you why it failed if it failed. You seem to
be getting into a hang here and it is harder for the software to tell
you what went wrong. You have the option of changing the source code and
instrumenting in Linux if you know what to do. :-(

> I think I will copy everything off the disc tomorrow, reinstall fedora
> 11 on it from scratch (having removed the usb drive!!!) and then
> restore. Life's too short.

I agree.