Problem with dual boot Wi7 & Opensuse 13 on different disks

I have two disks. One have Win7 64b and the other Opensuse 13
Until now i choose operating system through bios boot order
For some reason, a few days ago, this is not happening. I have only the Opensuse working.
If i disconnect any disk i have Opensuse freezes. Not logged in
After a lot of search something is going on with RAID, because in Partitioner i see sda and sdb without partitions and md126 with partitions

My problem is that in Win7 i have all my archives.
Is there a solution to access to them or fix my Win7 Hdd?

Thans a lot

Model: ATA ST3750528AS (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 750GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 2155MB 2154MB primary linux-swap(v1) type=82
2 2155MB 45.1GB 43.0GB primary btrfs boot, type=83
3 45.1GB 750GB 705GB primary xfs type=83

Model: ATA ST3750528AS (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 750GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 2155MB 2154MB primary linux-swap(v1) type=82
2 2155MB 45.1GB 43.0GB primary btrfs boot, type=83
3 45.1GB 750GB 705GB primary xfs type=83

Model: Linux Software RAID Array (md)
Disk /dev/md126: 750GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags:

Number Start End Size Type File system Flags
1 1049kB 2155MB 2154MB primary linux-swap(v1) type=82
2 2155MB 45.1GB 43.0GB primary btrfs boot, type=83
3 45.1GB 750GB 705GB primary xfs type=83

Hello and welcome here,

Can you please specify your openSUSEE version? Therr exist 13.1 and 13.2. When you for got, you can see it with

cat /etc/os-release

I saw that you tried to post computer text there.

Please use CODE tags around copied/pasted computer text in a post. It is the # button in the tool bar of the post editor. When applicable copy/paste complete, that is including the prompt, the command, the output and the next prompt.

Regards,

Hello,

Sorry for my ommisions…

My Opensuse Version is 13.2

 sudo parted -l
Model: ATA ST3750528AS (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 750GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags: 


Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system     Flags
 1      1049kB  2155MB  2154MB  primary  linux-swap(v1)  type=82
 2      2155MB  45.1GB  43.0GB  primary  btrfs           boot, type=83
 3      45.1GB  750GB   705GB   primary  xfs             type=83




Model: ATA ST3750528AS (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 750GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags: 


Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system     Flags
 1      1049kB  2155MB  2154MB  primary  linux-swap(v1)  type=82
 2      2155MB  45.1GB  43.0GB  primary  btrfs           boot, type=83
 3      45.1GB  750GB   705GB   primary  xfs             type=83




Model: Linux Software RAID Array (md)
Disk /dev/md126: 750GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags: 


Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system     Flags
 1      1049kB  2155MB  2154MB  primary  linux-swap(v1)  type=82
 2      2155MB  45.1GB  43.0GB  primary  btrfs           boot, type=83
 3      45.1GB  750GB   705GB   primary  xfs             type=83



Regards

Well, I see three times the same partitioning for a Linux system (Swap, / and /home). But nowhere any sign of a Windows system.

Also in Partitioner-System View-RAID there is nothing.
There is a btrfs /dev/md126/p2 MD RAID 40GB.

I do not think you can expect that another tool gives a different result.

There isn’t any partition for a Windows system. When you say there was one earlier, that can be true. But there isn’t one now. This is of course the situation as it is now, there is no view backwards about how this happened. Therefore you must consult your own memory (or the notes you made).

In any case, when there was something inportant on that Windows system, you only can restore it from your backups.

As I understand you had a Windows drive. I assume you had it set to mount in Linux. But now you have removed the drive???

If you have set the removed windows partitions to mount at boot. You must set nofail option in the mount for those partitions that may not exist at boot. Linux boot will fail if not all the partitions that you ask to mount at boot are present unless you tell it to not fail for those partitions that may not be there.

Note that if you are using the BTRFS RAID setup those features are not fully cooked. There are several advanced features that still do not work right.

On a Win pc insert a new hdd remove the Win hdd and install Opensuse in the new one.
After that insert again the Win hdd and everything was fine (OS selection through bios hdd boot order option) until a few days ago…that was the procedure.
I was not mount Win drive to avoid problems like that.
I need to know if what happened is reversible.

No i don’t expect to see something else, i just give you any info i think it may help to find out what happened and if is reversible.

I do not understand. You seem to have a software RAID. Did you create that? And when yes, when did you do that? On openSUSE installation or later?

No unfortunately i did not create any RAID.
There was no reason to do that… i had two installations without even dual boot.
When i want to log in Win or Linux just changed the boot order to bios.
Also ι did the Opensuse installation with Win hdd unplugged.
Everything working fine…

Your output is showing two 750 gig hard drives in a RAID area. But you say that you only have 1 in the machine at a time???

I’m confused??? Exactly what do you have connected and sometimes connected? How are the connections made.

Removing a mounted hard drive while running could cause freezes depending on exactly how the connection is made. You need to explain a lot more exactly what you do where you plug unplug drives while running etc.

I have two 750G hdds.One has the Linux and the other The Win7. When i was to login to Win7 during startup pressed f12 and changed the boot order of the disks. The same for the Linux.
That was working because the installations were made separately.

This is what I understand:

  • the system has two disks of the same type (manufacturer, type, size, etc.);
  • Windows is installed on one disk;
  • The Windows disk was taken out and opnSUSE is installed on the other disk;
  • the Windows disk was re-connected to the system;
  • from then on you booted either from the Windows disk or from the openSUSE disk by first changing the boot sequence in the BIOS and then booting normaly.

This situation worked to satisfaction until a few days ago. The OP says he did not change anything. But booting from the disk that should contain Windows booted openSUSE instead. And booting from the openSUSE disk also booted openSUSE.

When one disk is removed, booting is impossible.

@kpaulos: is the above correct?

The above inspection shows that both diks are partitioned exactly the same with partition types correct for openSUSE. It also shows that there is a software RAID with the same partitioning.

My conclusion about the present situation is tha both disks contain the same and are used in a software RAID1.

I have no idea how such a situation can be created “spontaniously”. Anybody with an idea?

But to me it means that the Windows disk is overwritten to a degree that recovering will be impossible. In any case, even if partial recovery of some files might theoreticaly be possible, it will be far more easy nd quicker to restore from your backup media.

Yes your are correct.
After a lot of searching i found a bugzilla report with a similar problem

https://bugzilla.opensuse.org/show_bug.cgi?id=937363#c17

It seems that it has to be with leftover RAID-metadata bytes, and a fake RAID volume.
The above solution did not worked for me, so i opened a case to bugzilla.
I hope to be as lucky as the above user.

Had these drives ever been part of a RAID array? Is the BIOS RAID settings turned on?

Here is my wild guess. :\

If the drive once had RAID and they were not zeroed out to erase embedded info and if in addition there was an update that forced a mkinird and that saw the leftover RAID setting it might think there was an array and thus fix things by zapping the second disk and building a mirror image. Since the original install was without the second drive it would not kick in until an some update forced a mkinitrd while the second drive was present.

Is this plausible??

If the drivers were never were part of a RAID array the only way I see is that some one actually set up the array. Arrays do not spontaneously come into being

Yes unfortunately you are wright. The BIOS RAID is disabled but these drives were part of RAID array before installation, and i think the problem came after a system update, because everything working for a lot of time.

Pure guess but if right then Windows is gone. You need to zero the first and last track of both drives and start again to zap the RAID meta data and install thing properly

On 2015-07-29 00:46, gogalthorp wrote:
>
> Pure guess but if right then Windows is gone. You need to zero the first
> and last track of both drives and start again to zap the RAID meta data
> and install thing properly

Yes, probably something /recognized/ the array, and reconstructed what
it thought was the good side onto the “bad” side, thus destroying Windows.

Even the partition table was cloned as well. Was it a software raid, or
fake raid? In the second case, the bios might trigger it, perhaps?


Cheers / Saludos,

Carlos E. R.

(from 13.1 x86_64 “Bottle” (Minas Tirith))

A RAID managed by the BIOS will not be seen by the operating system. It willl be show as just a disk (sdXN and no mdNNN).