Can't add new 1TB disk in FreeBSD 6.1

[Don O'Neil]

> > > > I just swapped out an old 500G disk with a 1TB one and I'm 
> > > > trying to label it and mount it...
> > > > 
> > > > If I run bsdlabel -w ad4, I get:
> > > > 
> > > > bsdlabel: Geom not found
> > > > 
> > > > If I run sysinstall, it tells me that it can't write to the disk.
> > > > 
> > > > I've tried an old 'bypass': sysctl kern.geom.debugflags=16, but 
> > > > that didn't help.
> > > > 
> > > > Can anyone help me get this new disk installed without having to 
> > > > boot off a recovery CD? The server is 500 miles away from me and 
> > > > I don't have direct console access.
> > > > Can you provide output from dmesg, as well as "geom disk list"?
> > > 
> > > OK... I tried:
> > > 
> > > # dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/ad4 bs=512 count=1000
> > > dd: /dev/ad4: Operation not permitted
> > > 
> > > # fdisk /dev/ad4
> > > ******* Working on device /dev/ad4 ******* parameters extracted 
> > > from in-core disklabel are:
> > > cylinders=1938021 heads=16 sectors/track=63 (1008 blks/cyl)
> > > 
> > > Figures below won't work with BIOS for partitions not in cyl 1 
> > > parameters to be used for BIOS calculations are:
> > > cylinders=1938021 heads=16 sectors/track=63 (1008 blks/cyl)
> > > 
> > > fdisk: invalid fdisk partition table found Media sector size is 
> > > 512
> > > Warning: BIOS sector numbering starts with sector 1 Information 
> > > from DOS bootblock is:
> > > The data for partition 1 is:
> > > sysid 165 (0xa5),(FreeBSD/NetBSD/386BSD)
> > >     start 63, size 1953525105 (953869 Meg), flag 80 (active)
> > >         beg: cyl 0/ head 1/ sector 1;
> > >         end: cyl 612/ head 15/ sector 63 The data for partition 2
> > > is:
> > > <UNUSED>
> > > The data for partition 3 is:
> > > <UNUSED>
> > > The data for partition 4 is:
> > > <UNUSED>
> > 
> > 
> > OK.   That looks pretty normal.
> >
> > Well, except for not allowing the dd to the disk.  
> > I haven't had that happen on a disk.  (I used to see that a lot on 
> > DAT
> tapes)
> >
> > So, maybe, as someone else suggested, you also need:
> >
> > > OK... I tried:
> > > 
> > > # dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/ad4 bs=512 count=1000
> > > dd: /dev/ad4: Operation not permitted
> > > 
> > Did you "sysctl kern.geom.debugflags=16" before doing this?
> > > 
> > What's happening here is that GEOM isn't letting you overwrite the 
> > MBR on the disk.  Setting kern.geom.debugflags=16 should permit that 
> > to happen.
> > 
> >
> > But, do the following too.  
> >
> > 
> > Did you try doing an:     fdisk -I ad4   or  maybe  fdisk -BI ad4
> > 
> > It takes that to get fdisk to initialize the disk.
> > (the -B puts the master boot block there.
> > 
> > Just doing an    fdisk ad4   only had fdisk read out stuff
> > and there isn't anything there yet to read - so of course it is 
> > invalid.
> > 
> > 
> > > 
> > > Geometry output:
> > > 
> > > Geom name: ad4
> > > Providers:
> > > 1. Name: ad4
> > >    Mediasize: 1000204886016 (932G)
> > >    Sectorsize: 512
> > >    Mode: r0w0e0
> > >    fwsectors: 63
> > >    fwheads: 16
> > > 
> > > Nothing exciting coming from dmesg.
> 
> I tried kern.geom.debugflags=16 originally, still doesn't help.

> Can you please do it and then attempt the exact dd you ran above?

# sysctl kern.geom.debugflags=16
kern.geom.debugflags: 16 -> 16

# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/ad4 bs=512 count=1000
dd: /dev/ad4: Operation not permitted

>The reason I'm hounding: you're not providing a lot of detail between
whatever it is you're doing.  Just a lot of >one-liner responses "No didn't
work, next".  It's very difficult to discern what exactly you're doing; for
example, >you could've run the sysctl and then attempted an install, rather
than re-execute the dd.

I did exactly as you suggested, and I've posed all my results here... I'm
scratching my head on this one as much as you are.

>I can refer you to historic data that shows people have gotten the exact
error you're seeing when attempting to >write to block 0 (MBR), stopped by
GEOM, which is why I'm a little wary.

>> Someone else recommended running sade(8) and properly configuring this
disk.
>> What is sade(8)? I don't have such an application on 6.1, and there is 
>> nothing in the ports. I think that sade is a 7.0+ tool.

>6.1?  Why?  This is a new install, right?  Is there some reason you're
installing 6.1 and not 6.3, or better yet, >7.0?  That's a separate
question, but it does make me wonder if something was fixed between 6.1 and
6.3/7.0 which >might address this problem.

No, it's not a new install, I'm just trying to add a new disk on an older
server. I REALLY don't want to do an OS upgrade at this point on a
production box that is running fine. We do that 1x a year, and I'm not in
the mood to do it just to add a bigger disk.

>There is one thing about later FreeBSDs which I am aware of: 48-bit LBA
addressing.  I'm left wondering if what >you're running into is a bug or a
problem with older FreeBSD (6.1) not supporting this.  I would have to go
back> through CVS commit lots for ata(4) to find out when 48-bit LBA was
added.  I think 48-bit LBA support is required >for disks >500GB.

Thart's a good point...  I'll have to look into that to see when the 48 bit
LBA was added. HOWEVER, I believe 48 bit LBA was needed for anything >248
GB, and I had a 500 G drive in there before. I had this EXACT same problem
with the 500G drive I had in there before, and the only work around then was
to boot off a recovery/boot CD.

>sade(8) is the "famous" console UI for disk partitioning and labelling
inside of sysinstall.  It's a separate >application, and was introduced in
FreeBSD 6.3.  You can get the exact same functionality out of sysinstall on
>earlier FreeBSDs.

I was originally trying sysinstall, and it failed miserably too.