How to remove Linux software RAID MD device?

Question

I'm trying to install openSUSE 12.3 on the new server. It is this machine.

There are 2 HDDs connected to the SAS controller. What I want to achieve is a NON-RAID configuration where 1.HDD is used for swap and root partitions and 2.HDD will contain /home partition. But when I start setup process I can see that partitioning utility shows that there are present 4 md devices in the system like: /dev/md124 ...

Two of those devices can be removed but remaining ones cannot. I have also tried the GParted live distro to remove those partitions and create desired layout but when I committed all of the changes there it ended up with error. So the new partitions were not created.

You don't have an option when starting the install to remove any existing partitions on the disks? — NickW, Jun 12 '13 at 16:34
No, when installing the openSUSE 12.3 there is no such option. — raul, Jun 12 '13 at 17:00

score 14 · Accepted Answer · edited Sep 11 '17 at 04:41

14

Well, this is how I solved my problem. I found some steps how to remove MD device.

In the openSUSE 12.3 installer, switch to the console.
List your devices: # df -kh
Make sure the devices are unmounted: # umount /dev/md124
Check the details: # mdadm --detail /dev/md124
Stop the device: # mdadm -S /dev/md124
Zero out the superblocks of physical devices that belong to the MD device:
# mdadm --zero-superblock /dev/sdb1
Switch back to the installer.
In the partitioning part of installer, refresh devices.
The MD devices should not be there now.

edited Sep 11 '17 at 04:41

Scott - Слава Україні

21,399
46
64
121

answered Jun 17 '13 at 13:40

raul

311
1
2
6

@Nathan Smith: Thanks for adding the code formatting, but please don’t make things bold (or italic) unless you have a really good reason. – Scott - Слава Україні Sep 11 '17 at 04:44

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 12 '13 at 16:49

0

If there was an "real" SAS RAID set up you should go through corresponding setup utility of raid controller which is usually available after (or during) BIOS POST. Simply destroy array there.

See server manual for details.

answered Jun 12 '13 at 16:49

madlynx

331
2
3

Yes, I have checked also the bios of the SAS controller and it seems that no raid array is configured there. So the problem must be somewhere else. – raul Jun 12 '13 at 16:58
md devices are linux software raid. – NickW Jun 12 '13 at 17:01
1

@raul: add the output of /proc/mdstat to the question – madlynx Jun 12 '13 at 17:09
ok, I can do this once I have access to the server room again (tomorrow) – raul Jun 12 '13 at 17:19

How to remove Linux software RAID MD device?

2 Answers2