"corrupt or invalid GPT" when attempting to import Solaris ZFS pool (8.0-RC3)

[Jeremy Thornhill]

On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 1:57 AM, Stefan Bethke <stb at lassitu.de> wrote:
>
> What error are you getting from zpool import?
>

Interestingly enough, no error. The pool itself just doesn't seem to exist:

$ zpool import freeagent
cannot import 'freeagent': no such pool available

> I believe the GEOM error is due to Solaris adding the GPT partition table to the start of the device, but not the end.  GEOM requires both copies to be present and identical, IIRC.  Since the pool fills the device, there's no space at the end, so adding the second copy is not an option.
>
> You could try destroying the first GPT copy by zeroing the first 34 blocks.  I'm not sure what Solaris will make of the pool after this, though:
> # dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/da0 count=34
>
> However, I'd expect this to have no effect on zpools ability to import the pool.
>

I attempted this and, as you expected, I was still unable to import
the pool. It still reports 'no such pool', although the GEOM messages
*seem* to be gone. Taking this drive back to my Solaris system now
results in the following output in dmesg when it is attached (though
it still seems to function):

primary label corrupt; using backup

Oddly the disk doesn't appear in the Solaris 'format' utility so I
can't restore the label from backup (or at least, I don't know how
to).

Thanks,
Jeremy