Pegasus R6, dead drive, and promiseutil error

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  • Last Post 13 July 2020
Don Rainwater posted this 27 June 2020

I have an older Pegasus R6 array, and one of the drives recently failed.  I swapped in another 2TB disk and tried to rebuild the array, but the rebuild failed after 3 days, and now the new drive is marked as 'dead'. I saw something online about using the command line 'promiseutil' command, but when I try to use that, I get an error:

-bash: /usr/local/bin/promiseutil: Bad CPU type in executable

I tried reinstalling the Promise Utility package, but I still get this error on the command line tool, even though the GUI tool seems to work fine.

This is on a 2019 iMac running up-to-date macOS Catalina.  Any ideas?

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Ranjith kumar posted this 28 June 2020

Hi Don,

-May I know the Promise utility version you have installed?

-Also we need to verify the subsystem report to verify the issue, so kindly get the report and create a web support case

at support.promise.com for further assistance.

Thank you,

Regards,

Promise Team

Don Rainwater posted this 29 June 2020

Thanks for your response.  I have the latest version from your Downloads page installed, SR3.0.4, and I have firmware version 5.04.0000.61.  I tried saving the subsystem report, but I don't see a file anywhere after I click that button.  I have opened a case.

R P posted this 29 June 2020

Hi Don,

This is intersting.

-bash: /usr/local/bin/promiseutil: Bad CPU type in executable

I think the problem is with updating to Catalina. The default shell was changed from bash to zsh. If you google, a lot of prople are seeing this problem with Catalina in many applications.

But I suspect the problem is that you are using the latest Promise Util in the 'Pegasus 1' section of the downloads. And this is probably not Catalina compatible due to containing some 32-bit code. Try completely uninstalling the P1 Promise Util and installing the latest Pegasus 3 Promise Util. I'm pretty sure it's backwards compatible to your Pegasus 1.

Don Rainwater posted this 30 June 2020

Yes, the newer version of Promise Utility works, including the command line promiseutil command.

Still no joy with the array though.  I have one drive listed as 'dead'.

R P posted this 30 June 2020

Hi Don,

Can you open a terminal and start promiseutil and post the output of these commands?

phydrv
array -v

Don Rainwater posted this 01 July 2020

See below:

cliib> phydrv
===============================================================================
PdId Model        Type      Capacity  Location      OpStatus  ConfigStatus     
===============================================================================
1    WDC WD20EARX SATA HDD  2TB       Encl1 Slot1   Dead      Array0 No.0      
2    Hitachi HDS7 SATA HDD  2TB       Encl1 Slot2   OK        Array0 No.1      
3    Hitachi HDS7 SATA HDD  2TB       Encl1 Slot3   OK        Array0 No.2      
4    Hitachi HDS7 SATA HDD  2TB       Encl1 Slot4   OK        Array0 No.3      
5    Hitachi HDS7 SATA HDD  2TB       Encl1 Slot5   OK        Array0 No.4      
6    Hitachi HDS7 SATA HDD  2TB       Encl1 Slot6   OK        Array0 No.5      
 
cliib> array -v
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DaId: 0
OperationalStatus: Degraded
Alias: 
PhysicalCapacity: 12TB                 ConfigurableCapacity: 12TB
FreeCapacity: 0Byte                    MaxContiguousCapacity: 0Byte
AvailableRAIDLevels: 0 5 6 10 50 1E
PDM: Enabled                           MediaPatrol: Enabled
NumberOfPhysicalDrives: 6              NumberOfLogicalDrives: 1
NumberOfDedicatedSpares: 0
UserSetPowerSavingLevel: 1             CurrentPowerSavingLevel: 0
PowerManagement: Enabled
 
Physical Drives in the Array:  
===============================================================================
SeqNo PdId CfgCapacity FreeCapacity OpStatus                                   
===============================================================================
0     1    2TB         401.41KB     Dead                                       
1     2    2TB         401.41KB     OK                                         
2     3    2TB         401.41KB     OK                                         
3     4    2TB         401.41KB     OK                                         
4     5    2TB         401.41KB     OK                                         
5     6    2TB         401.41KB     OK                                         
 
Logical Drives in the Array:  
===============================================================================
LdId Alias          RAIDLevel Capacity  OpStatus                               
===============================================================================
0                   RAID5     10TB      Critical                               
 
Available Spares to the Array:  
===============================================================================
Id  OpStatus  PdId CfgCapacity Revertible Type      DedicatedToArray          
===============================================================================
No spare drive available in the array
 
cliib> 
 

R P posted this 06 July 2020

Hi Don,

Since you've been using the array, the PD1 drive is stale and can't rejoin the array, what needs to be done is to start a rebuild on PD1.

I'm not sure if this will work on the Pegasus, it works on VTRaks and other products, if it works it's the fastest method. This command will start a rebuild directly on the drive marked dead.

rb -a start -d 0 -s 0 -p 1

If this errors out, let me know, the procedure then is a bit more complicated.

Don Rainwater posted this 06 July 2020

Hi Don,

Since you've been using the array, the PD1 drive is stale and can't rejoin the array, what needs to be done is to start a rebuild on PD1.

I'm not sure if this will work on the Pegasus, it works on VTRaks and other products, if it works it's the fastest method. This command will start a rebuild directly on the drive marked dead.

rb -a start -d 0 -s 0 -p 1

If this errors out, let me know, the procedure then is a bit more complicated.

 

This ran for about a minute, then I got "Error (0x105): operation failed. Usually due to some system error"

 

Don Rainwater posted this 06 July 2020

Hi Don,

Since you've been using the array, the PD1 drive is stale and can't rejoin the array, what needs to be done is to start a rebuild on PD1.

I'm not sure if this will work on the Pegasus, it works on VTRaks and other products, if it works it's the fastest method. This command will start a rebuild directly on the drive marked dead.

rb -a start -d 0 -s 0 -p 1

If this errors out, let me know, the procedure then is a bit more complicated.

This ran for about a minute, then I got "Error (0x105): operation failed. Usually due to some system error"

I noticed that all of the access lights, plus the red status light on PD1, were still flashing.  I tried 'rb -a list' to see if a rebuild was running, but got the same error.  Tried opening the volume in Finder, but that just got me a beachball cursor.  Ended up rebooting the Mac.  The volume remounted on my desktop, and I can open it now in Finder.  The lights on the array never stopped flashing through all of that.

Now, when I do 'rb -a list', it shows that a rebuild is running, with PdId = 1, PdPercentage = 6, LdId = 0, and LdPercentage = 6.

Do I need to keep the Mac running for this, or is the rebuild process running entirely on the Pegasus?

R P posted this 06 July 2020

Hi Don,

Looking closer, I think the problem is your hard drive. The WD WD20EARX is a green hard drive. There are issues like TLER, lack of vibration balancing and frequent head parking that cause issues in a raid array, typically the result is that they get marked as dead. In this case you are mixing drives with very different characteristics.

If you check the comparibility list, you won't see any green drives.

https://www.promise.com/DownloadFile.aspx?DownloadFileUID=4127

In this case, it looks like we have a compatibility issue. The compatibility list will show you the drives that have been tested with the Pegasus. I think your best bet is to find a Toshiba 2TB non-green drive.

In general green drives are not recommened for parity raid (RAID5 or RAID6). And mixing green and non-green drives is not recommended.

 

Don Rainwater posted this 06 July 2020

Should I stop the rebuild then, or let it continue?

If it finishes and I get a replacement drive, can I just pop out the WD, insert the new drive, and do another rebuild?

R P posted this 06 July 2020

Hi Don,

Do I need to keep the Mac running for this, or is the rebuild process running entirely on the Pegasus?

The Pegasus will stay powered on only as long as it's connected to a non-sleeping MAC. So you'll need to keep the MAC running and temporarily disable sleep mode.

R P posted this 06 July 2020

Hi Don,

Should I stop the rebuild then, or let it continue?

You might as well let the rebuild keep running, if it finishes your data is better protected than leaving the RAID critical. But I suspect that in the short or long run it will be marked dead again.

When you get a replacement HD, if the WD green is still online, I would suggest shutting it down before removing it.

phydrv -a offline -p 1

Then you can replace the drive and start a manual rebuild as above.

Don Rainwater posted this 06 July 2020

Sounds good.  Thanks.

Any thoughts on the longevity of the array itself?  The other drives are just as old as the original one that failed.  I was thinking of getting 6 new drives of maybe 4TB each, but I don't want to put money into drives if the Pegasus itself is not going to last.

 

Don Rainwater posted this 08 July 2020

Also, I plugged the Pegasus into my MBP to do the above rebuild.  The rebuild completed, and I've done a couple of Time Machine backups of the laptop since then.  I then unmounted and unplugged the Pegasus from the MBP and reconnected it to its original home on my 2019 iMac.  For some reason, the iMac can't see the Pegasus anymore.

I've tried power-cycling the iMac and the Pegasus, and reconnecting the Pegasus to the MBP (which still works just fine).  I also tried different cables, with no luck.  Interestingly, I can still see other Thunderbolt drives in the chain, including an older Promise DS4600 and a G-Tech G-Drive.

Any ideas?

Don Rainwater posted this 13 July 2020

Also, the iMac's System Information utility, Thunderbolt section, sees the Pegasus when I turn it on.  It just doesn't mount the volume.

R P posted this 13 July 2020

Hi Don,

What does the disk utility show?

Don Rainwater posted this 13 July 2020

Disk Utillity doesn't see the Pegasus, but it does see the other Thunderbolt drives past that.

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