Hello. I have a linux file-server with to 1TB sata disks in software raid1. as my drives are no longer in full health raid put one array member in faulty state. A bit about my environment: # uname -rms Linux 2.6.9-89.0.18.ELsmp i686 # cat /etc/redhat-release CentOS release 4.8 (Final) # parted /dev/sda print Disk geometry for /dev/sda: 0.000-953869.710 megabytes Disk label type: msdos Minor Start End Type Filesystem Flags 1 0.031 251.015 primary ext3 boot 2 251.016 40248.786 primary ext3 raid 3 40248.787 42296.132 primary linux-swap 4 42296.133 953867.219 primary ext3 raid # parted /dev/sdb print Disk geometry for /dev/sdb: 0.000-953869.710 megabytes Disk label type: msdos Minor Start End Type Filesystem Flags 1 0.031 39997.771 primary ext3 boot, raid 2 39997.771 42045.117 primary linux-swap 3 42045.117 42296.132 primary ext3 4 42296.133 953867.219 primary ext3 raid # cat /proc/mdstat Personalities : [raid1] md1 : active raid1 sdb4[1] sda4[0] 933448704 blocks [2/2] [UU] md0 : active raid1 sdb1[1] sda2[2](F) 40957568 blocks [2/1] [_U] unused devices: <none> Don't ask me why the two drives are not specular and md0 is mapped sdb1+sda2.. I have no idea. It was made so by anaconda using kickstart during install. So, I was using debugfs: # debugfs debugfs 1.35 (28-Feb-2004) debugfs: open /dev/md0 debugfs: testb 1736947 Block 1736947 marked in use debugfs: icheck 1736947 Block Inode number 1736947 <block not found> debugfs: icheck 1736947 10 Block Inode number 1736947 <block not found> 10 7 in an attempt to locate the bad disk blocks, and after that software raid put sda2 in faulty state. Now, as smartctl is telling me that there are errors spread on all partitions used in both raids, I would like to take a full backup of at least /dev/md1 (that's still healthy). The question is: Is there a way and is it safe to put back /dev/sda2 into /dev/md0 so that I'm sure I can backup even the blocks that are unreadable on the first array member but probably are still readable on failed device? Thank you for your time and help! Best regards. Robi -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-raid" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html