Couple more questions. Mdadm -create ... Do I use the /dev/sdx or /dev/mapper/sdx name for the overlayed device? And reset the mapping between each create attempt by doing: remove the loop-device/overlay association dmsetup remove on all devices remove the overlay files rm remove the loop back devices losetup -d ... rebuild the loop back devices mknod -m 660 ... build the overlay files truncate -s 300G overlay-... reassociate the loop-devices and the overlays losetup... dmsetup.. and try again. (Yeah, I recognize that there is code to do this (I think) in the article, but my script-fu is not up to fully understanding those examples.) On Mon, Aug 29, 2022 at 6:58 PM Eyal Lebedinsky <fedora@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > On 30/08/2022 07.45, John Stoffel wrote: > >>>>>> "Peter" == Peter Sanders <plsander@xxxxxxxxx> writes: > > > > Peter> Phil, > > Peter> fstab from the working config - > > > > Peter> # <file system> <mount point> <type> <options> <dump> <pass> > > Peter> # / was on /dev/sda1 during installation > > Peter> UUID=50976432-b750-4809-80ac-3bbdd2773163 / ext4 > > Peter> errors=remount-ro 0 1 > > Peter> # /home was on /dev/sda6 during installation > > Peter> UUID=eb93a2c4-0190-41fa-a41d-7a5966c6bc47 /home ext4 > > Peter> defaults 0 2 > > Peter> # /var was on /dev/sda5 during installation > > Peter> UUID=d1aa6d1f-3ee9-48a8-9350-b15149f738c4 /var ext4 > > Peter> defaults 0 2 > > Peter> /dev/sr0 /media/cdrom0 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0 > > Peter> /dev/sr1 /media/cdrom1 udf,iso9660 user,noauto 0 0 > > Peter> # raid array > > Peter> /dev/md0 /mnt/raid6 ext4 defaults 0 2 > > > > Peter> No LVM, one large EXT4 partition > > > > Peter> I have several large files ( NEF and various mpg files) I can identify > > Peter> and have backup copies available. > > > > Peter> I have the overlays created. 300G for each of the six drives. > > > > So that's good. Now you have to try and figure out which order they > > were created in. As the docs show, you setup the overlayfs on top of > > each of the six drives. > > > > Keep track by noting the drive serial numbers, since Linux can move > > them around and change drive letters on reboots. > > > > > > Then using the overlays, do an: > > > > mdadm --create /dev/md0 --level=raid6 -n 6 /dev/sd[bcdefg] > > fsck -n /dev/md0 > > > > and see what you get. If it doesn't look like a real filesystem, then > > you can break it down, and then modify the order you give the drive > > letters, like: > > > > /dev/sd[cdefge] > > > > and rinse and repeat as it goes. Not fun... but should hopefully fix > > things for you. > > > > John > > An aside, I would think the way to specify a list in a nominated order is something like > > $ echo /dev/sd{c,d,a,b} > /dev/sdc /dev/sdd /dev/sda /dev/sdb > > rather than > > $ echo /dev/sd[cdab] > /dev/sda /dev/sdb /dev/sdc /dev/sdd > > which will be in sorting order, regardless of the order of the letter. > > -- > Eyal Lebedinsky (fedora@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx)