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Disk Utility -- Waiting for the disks to reappear

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  Disk Utility -- Waiting for the disks to reappear Robert Peirce <bob@peirce-family.com> - 2013-10-28 10:56 -0400
    Re: Disk Utility -- Waiting for the disks to reappear Michael Vilain <vilain@NOspamcop.net> - 2013-10-28 16:04 -0700
      Re: Disk Utility -- Waiting for the disks to reappear Robert Peirce <bob@peirce-family.com> - 2013-10-29 18:45 -0400
        Re: Disk Utility -- Waiting for the disks to reappear dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) - 2013-10-30 12:11 +1300
          Re: Disk Utility -- Waiting for the disks to reappear Robert Peirce <bob@peirce-family.com> - 2013-10-31 16:19 -0400
            Re: Disk Utility -- Waiting for the disks to reappear Lloyd  E Parsons <lloydp21@live.com> - 2013-10-31 15:24 -0500
            Re: Disk Utility -- Waiting for the disks to reappear nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2013-10-31 16:39 -0400
            Re: Disk Utility -- Waiting for the disks to reappear Michael Vilain <vilain@NOspamcop.net> - 2013-11-01 09:43 -0700
        Re: Disk Utility -- Waiting for the disks to reappear Michael Vilain <vilain@NOspamcop.net> - 2013-10-29 18:33 -0700

#18897 — Disk Utility -- Waiting for the disks to reappear

How long should I wait?

I have a Drobo S that has 3 1Tb drives and 2 3Tb drives.  Logical 
capacity is 17.59 Tb, based on 5 4Tb drives, I guess.  The actual 
physical capacity of my setup is about 5.5Tb.  It is currently 
partitioned into 10 150Gb partitions for nightly backups and a remaining 
partition of about 4Tb for photos and music.  I originally used Disk 
Utility to set up these partitions.  While this is not supported by 
Drobo, it works and has worked fine for years.

 I am trying to split the last partition into 2 2Tb partitions using 
Disk Utility.  I first deleted everything on the final partition and 
then tried to create a 2 Tb partition.  This seemed to be working fine 
until the "Waiting for the disks to reappear" message appeared.  It now 
has been waiting for over 12 hours and it seems like something may be 
wrong, except I don't have any idea what that might be.

I am on a 2.3 GHz MacBook Pro with 8 Gb of RAM.  Although all the bays 
are green in the Drobo and four of the blue capacity lights are lit, 
Drobo Dashboard does not see the drive.  On the other hand, Disk Utility 
does seem to be working.  When I bring up the Force Quit panel it seems 
to be okay.  When I bring up Activity Monitor it shows the following:

551    Disk Utility  rbp   1.0   5  76.9 MB  Intel (64 bit) 90.4 MB  

The console log shows the following few entries for Disk Utility:

2013-10-27 16:49:26 -0400: 
2013-10-27 16:49:26 -0400: Beginning partition operations
2013-10-27 16:49:26 -0400: Verifying the disk
2013-10-27 16:49:26 -0400: Checking file system
2013-10-27 16:49:26 -0400: Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
2013-10-27 16:49:26 -0400: Checking extents overflow file.
2013-10-27 16:49:28 -0400: Checking catalog file.
2013-10-27 16:50:25 -0400: Checking multi-linked files.
2013-10-27 16:50:25 -0400: Checking catalog hierarchy.
2013-10-27 16:50:25 -0400: Checking extended attributes file.
2013-10-27 16:50:49 -0400: Checking volume bitmap.
2013-10-27 16:50:57 -0400: Checking volume information.
2013-10-27 16:50:57 -0400: The volume VA Pictures appears to be OK.
2013-10-27 16:50:59 -0400: Shrinking the disk
2013-10-27 16:50:59 -0400: Unmounting disk
2013-10-27 16:51:07 -0400: Finishing partition modifications
2013-10-27 17:12:49 -0400: Waiting for the disks to reappear

It appears to me everything is working normally but it is taking sooooo 
long!  Is that normal?

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#18936

In article <bob-3CEAFD.10565628102013@5ad64b5e.bb.sky.com>,
 Robert Peirce <bob@peirce-family.com> wrote:

> How long should I wait?
> 
> I have a Drobo S that has 3 1Tb drives and 2 3Tb drives.  Logical 
> capacity is 17.59 Tb, based on 5 4Tb drives, I guess.  The actual 
> physical capacity of my setup is about 5.5Tb.  It is currently 
> partitioned into 10 150Gb partitions for nightly backups and a remaining 
> partition of about 4Tb for photos and music.  I originally used Disk 
> Utility to set up these partitions.  While this is not supported by 
> Drobo, it works and has worked fine for years.
> 
>  I am trying to split the last partition into 2 2Tb partitions using 
> Disk Utility.  I first deleted everything on the final partition and 
> then tried to create a 2 Tb partition.  This seemed to be working fine 
> until the "Waiting for the disks to reappear" message appeared.  It now 
> has been waiting for over 12 hours and it seems like something may be 
> wrong, except I don't have any idea what that might be.
> 
> I am on a 2.3 GHz MacBook Pro with 8 Gb of RAM.  Although all the bays 
> are green in the Drobo and four of the blue capacity lights are lit, 
> Drobo Dashboard does not see the drive.  On the other hand, Disk Utility 
> does seem to be working.  When I bring up the Force Quit panel it seems 
> to be okay.  When I bring up Activity Monitor it shows the following:
> 
> 551    Disk Utility  rbp   1.0   5  76.9 MB  Intel (64 bit) 90.4 MB  
> 
> The console log shows the following few entries for Disk Utility:
> 
> 2013-10-27 16:49:26 -0400: 
> 2013-10-27 16:49:26 -0400: Beginning partition operations
> 2013-10-27 16:49:26 -0400: Verifying the disk
> 2013-10-27 16:49:26 -0400: Checking file system
> 2013-10-27 16:49:26 -0400: Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
> 2013-10-27 16:49:26 -0400: Checking extents overflow file.
> 2013-10-27 16:49:28 -0400: Checking catalog file.
> 2013-10-27 16:50:25 -0400: Checking multi-linked files.
> 2013-10-27 16:50:25 -0400: Checking catalog hierarchy.
> 2013-10-27 16:50:25 -0400: Checking extended attributes file.
> 2013-10-27 16:50:49 -0400: Checking volume bitmap.
> 2013-10-27 16:50:57 -0400: Checking volume information.
> 2013-10-27 16:50:57 -0400: The volume VA Pictures appears to be OK.
> 2013-10-27 16:50:59 -0400: Shrinking the disk
> 2013-10-27 16:50:59 -0400: Unmounting disk
> 2013-10-27 16:51:07 -0400: Finishing partition modifications
> 2013-10-27 17:12:49 -0400: Waiting for the disks to reappear
> 
> It appears to me everything is working normally but it is taking sooooo 
> long!  Is that normal?

Contact Drobo about this.  My guess is that the number of blocks 
reported back to Disk Utility was off and that caused Disk Utility to do 
something weird.

I guess the part about "unsupported" doesn't bother you.  Guess you 
should rethink that.

-- 
DeeDee, don't press that button!  DeeDee!  NO!  Dee...
[I filter all Goggle Groups posts, so any reply may be automatically ignored]

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#18996

In article <vilain-74D7EB.16041328102013@news.individual.net>,
 Michael Vilain <vilain@NOspamcop.net> wrote:

> Contact Drobo about this.  My guess is that the number of blocks 
> reported back to Disk Utility was off and that caused Disk Utility to do 
> something weird.

I did but they can't help because . . .

> I guess the part about "unsupported" doesn't bother you.  Guess you 
> should rethink that.

Drobo partitioning uses equal sized partitions.  I have 10x150Gb for 
backups and the eleventh, which is about 4Tb, is for photos and music.  
I have reverted to that partitioning.  It isn't supported but it works.  
As long as I don't try to change anything it should continue to work.  I 
verified all the logical drives to be sure.

The problem I am faced with is my MBP has a 250Gb SSD.  While I am 
currently using much less than 150Gb, that will surely change.  Also, my 
photos and music are currently backed up on an identical Drobo but it 
isn't handy.  I would like to have a local backup. Bottom line, at some 
point, I will need larger partitions for backup and two partitions for 
photos and music.  I suspect the only way to do that will be to erase 
everything and start fresh.

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#18999

Robert Peirce <bob@peirce-family.com> wrote:

> In article <vilain-74D7EB.16041328102013@news.individual.net>,
>  Michael Vilain <vilain@NOspamcop.net> wrote:
> 
> > Contact Drobo about this.  My guess is that the number of blocks 
> > reported back to Disk Utility was off and that caused Disk Utility to do
> > something weird.
> 
> I did but they can't help because . . .
> 
> > I guess the part about "unsupported" doesn't bother you.  Guess you
> > should rethink that.
> 
> Drobo partitioning uses equal sized partitions.  I have 10x150Gb for 
> backups and the eleventh, which is about 4Tb, is for photos and music.
> I have reverted to that partitioning.  It isn't supported but it works.
> As long as I don't try to change anything it should continue to work.  I
> verified all the logical drives to be sure.
> 
> The problem I am faced with is my MBP has a 250Gb SSD.  While I am 
> currently using much less than 150Gb, that will surely change.  Also, my
> photos and music are currently backed up on an identical Drobo but it
> isn't handy.  I would like to have a local backup. Bottom line, at some
> point, I will need larger partitions for backup and two partitions for
> photos and music.  I suspect the only way to do that will be to erase
> everything and start fresh.

When you do start fresh, consider using disk images on the Drobo instead
of partitions, so you don't need to use an unsupported method, and don't
have to deal with the complications of resizing partitions again in
future.

I haven't bothered partitioning drives in the last few years, except in
cases where I needed to be able to boot from a different OS.

-- 
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz

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#19142

In article <1lbjyvb.3kfkak1peex59N%dempson@actrix.gen.nz>,
 dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) wrote:

> When you do start fresh, consider using disk images on the Drobo instead
> of partitions, so you don't need to use an unsupported method, and don't
> have to deal with the complications of resizing partitions again in
> future.

I considered that but I use SuperDuper! and my understanding is it can't 
make disk images bootable.  Am I wrong about that?  Is there a backup 
program that can make bootable disk images.

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#19144

On 2013-10-31 20:19:16 +0000, Robert Peirce said:

> In article <1lbjyvb.3kfkak1peex59N%dempson@actrix.gen.nz>,
>  dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) wrote:
> 
>> When you do start fresh, consider using disk images on the Drobo instead
>> of partitions, so you don't need to use an unsupported method, and don't
>> have to deal with the complications of resizing partitions again in
>> future.
> 
> I considered that but I use SuperDuper! and my understanding is it can't
> make disk images bootable.  Am I wrong about that?  Is there a backup
> program that can make bootable disk images.

I've been making my clones with SuperDuper! for quite awhile and they 
all have been bootable on the backup drive.

Here's what the SuperDuper! help says about images :
Storing a backup alongside other files on a destination drive
In general, we strongly recommend that you store a backup on its own 
volume or partition, on a FireWire or internal drive that supports 
booting the Macintosh. Doing so makes it really easy to recover, saving 
you time – a lot of time – should a disaster occur.
And not to toss a wet blanket on the optimist but, eventually, a 
disaster will occur.
But, sometimes, dedicating a volume to backing up is impractical, and 
partitioning is either inconvenient or impossible. In those cases, you 
should use a Read/Write “Sparse” Image.
With a Sparse Image, your files are kept in a “virtual” disk, which is 
actually stored in a single file. This file can be placed anywhere, 
including on a network volume. When mounted (which you do by simply 
opening the Sparse Image file), the “virtual” drive looks just like a 
local disk, and can be backed up to like any other. You can even Smart 
Update it!
There are some disadvantages, though:
>>> 	•	Since Sparse Images are not “real” drives, but rather simulated 
>>> drives stored in a file, they’re potentially less reliable than real 
>>> drives. (Note, though, that Apple uses sparse images for FileVault, so 
>>> this shouldn’t be a big concern.)
>>> 	•	Similarly, since Sparse Images are not real drives, they’re 
>>> inherently a bit slower.
>>> 	•	Finally, since they’re not physical drives, images of any type 
>>> cannot be used to start up your Macintosh. However, the contents retain 
>>> their bootable properties and – once restored to a real drive – can act 
>>> as a startup drive.
So the image itself isn't bootable, but could be used to make a 
bootable drive/partition.

Or at least that is what it says to me.

-- 
Lloyd

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#19146

In article <bob-41DF77.16191531102013@5ad64b5e.bb.sky.com>, Robert
Peirce <bob@peirce-family.com> wrote:

> > When you do start fresh, consider using disk images on the Drobo instead
> > of partitions, so you don't need to use an unsupported method, and don't
> > have to deal with the complications of resizing partitions again in
> > future.
> 
> I considered that but I use SuperDuper! and my understanding is it can't 
> make disk images bootable.  Am I wrong about that?  Is there a backup 
> program that can make bootable disk images.

disk images are not bootable, but in the event of disaster you can
clone one to a hard drive and then boot it. 

it's an extra step but disasters are hopefully not common enough that
it matters.

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#19186

In article <bob-41DF77.16191531102013@5ad64b5e.bb.sky.com>,
 Robert Peirce <bob@peirce-family.com> wrote:

> In article <1lbjyvb.3kfkak1peex59N%dempson@actrix.gen.nz>,
>  dempson@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) wrote:
> 
> > When you do start fresh, consider using disk images on the Drobo instead
> > of partitions, so you don't need to use an unsupported method, and don't
> > have to deal with the complications of resizing partitions again in
> > future.
> 
> I considered that but I use SuperDuper! and my understanding is it can't 
> make disk images bootable.  Am I wrong about that?  Is there a backup 
> program that can make bootable disk images.

Totally wrong and inaccurate.  It can't, as far as I've determined, make 
a copy of a disk WITH THE RECOVERY PARTITION.  It makes bootable copies 
of disk just fine.  Even for free.  To get scheduling, incremental 
dumps, (what's changed), and dumping to disk images, you have to buy it.

Carbon Copy Cloner is similar but I'm told it can copy the recovery 
partition.  I just haven't spent time figuring out how to get it to do 
that.  Also their licensing requires you have access to email to 
authorize the app. If it's running on a system that's isolated, you 
won't be able to authorize it.  And their support took days to get back 
to me.  Not good if you have a down system and a backup/restore utility 
that's not working.

-- 
DeeDee, don't press that button!  DeeDee!  NO!  Dee...
[I filter all Goggle Groups posts, so any reply may be automatically ignored]

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#19006

In article <bob-EFF433.18452929102013@5ad64b5e.bb.sky.com>,
 Robert Peirce <bob@peirce-family.com> wrote:

> In article <vilain-74D7EB.16041328102013@news.individual.net>,
>  Michael Vilain <vilain@NOspamcop.net> wrote:
> 
> > Contact Drobo about this.  My guess is that the number of blocks 
> > reported back to Disk Utility was off and that caused Disk Utility to do 
> > something weird.
> 
> I did but they can't help because . . .
> 
> > I guess the part about "unsupported" doesn't bother you.  Guess you 
> > should rethink that.
> 
> Drobo partitioning uses equal sized partitions.  I have 10x150Gb for 
> backups and the eleventh, which is about 4Tb, is for photos and music.  
> I have reverted to that partitioning.  It isn't supported but it works.  
> As long as I don't try to change anything it should continue to work.  I 
> verified all the logical drives to be sure.
> 
> The problem I am faced with is my MBP has a 250Gb SSD.  While I am 
> currently using much less than 150Gb, that will surely change.  Also, my 
> photos and music are currently backed up on an identical Drobo but it 
> isn't handy.  I would like to have a local backup. Bottom line, at some 
> point, I will need larger partitions for backup and two partitions for 
> photos and music.  I suspect the only way to do that will be to erase 
> everything and start fresh.

Yes, that's what I think also.  I come from an older time where disk 
partitioning utilities (Solaris' format) didn't allow for changing the 
size of a disk every easily.  Once you partitioned a disk, that was it 
until you erase that layout and repartitioned it.  It made sysadmins 
plan their disk layouts very carefully and for some unhappy kludges to 
make space on other partitions that were overallocated.

Unless you have backups, you'll loose all your data on the Drobo.  
That's something you'll have to figure out yourself.

I have a 256MB SSD and a 640MB HD.  I partitioned a 1TB drive to create 
1 partition each.  The leftover is used for GuestOS (non-backup stuff 
for future OS and Parallels VMs).  Time Machine on a 2TB disk does it's 
thing and that gives me a daily image of those disks with SuperDuper.

YMMV.

-- 
DeeDee, don't press that button!  DeeDee!  NO!  Dee...
[I filter all Goggle Groups posts, so any reply may be automatically ignored]

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