Disk Utility -- Waiting for the disks to reappear

[Robert Peirce]

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?

[Robert Peirce]

In article <vilain-74D7EB....@news.individual.net>,
Michael Vilain <vil...@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.

[David Empson]

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
dem...@actrix.gen.nz

[Robert Peirce]

In article <1lbjyvb.3kfkak1peex59N%dem...@actrix.gen.nz>,

dem...@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.

[Lloyd E Parsons]

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

[nospam]

In article <bob-41DF77.1...@5ad64b5e.bb.sky.com>, Robert

Peirce <b...@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.