Hi, I have a problem with importing an exported Volume Group. Hopefully you can help me with this. Here's the error message: matrix:/tmp # vgimport -v -f vgData /dev/hdb1 vgimport -- locking logical volume manager vgimport -- checking volume group name vgimport -- checking volume group "vgData" existence vgimport -- trying to read physical volume vgimport -- checking for duplicate physical volumes vgimport -- checking physical volume name "/dev/hdb1" vgimport -- reading data of physical volume "/dev/hdb1" from disk vgimport -- checking for exported physical volume "/dev/hdb1" vgimport -- checking consistency of physical volume "/dev/hdb1" vgimport -- reallocating memory vgimport -- reading exported volume group data of "vgData" from disk(s) vgimport -- ERROR "lv_read_all_lv(): number of LV" reading data of volume group "vgData" Background Information: The power supply of my PC broke. After replacing it, the system would not boot, so I tried different things to recover. One of these things was booting Knoppix. This worked only after I removed an apparently broken USB card. I was stupid enough to try and mount the VG within Knoppix. It did not work, but I issued the vgexport command for no real reason *sigh* After that I bootet my normal system (see below) and was unable to mount or import the VG. Some more info on the system: matrix:/tmp # uname -a Linux matrix 2.4.21-273-athlon #1 Mon Jan 17 13:03:46 UTC 2005 i686 athlon i386 GNU/Linux matrix:/tmp # cat /etc/SuSE-release SuSE Linux 9.0 (i586) VERSION = 9.0 matrix:/tmp # vgdisplay --version vgdisplay: Logical Volume Manager 1.0.7(mp-v6) Heinz Mauelshagen, Sistina Software 28/03/2003 (IOP 10) matrix:/tmp # vgscan -v vgscan -- removing "/etc/lvmtab" and "/etc/lvmtab.d" vgscan -- creating empty "/etc/lvmtab" and "/etc/lvmtab.d" vgscan -- reading all physical volumes (this may take a while...) vgscan -- scanning for all active volume group(s) first vgscan -- reading data of volume group "vgDataPV_EXP" from physical volume(s) vgscan -- ERROR "lv_read_all_lv(): number of LV" can't get data of volume group "vgDataPV_EXP" from physical volume(s) vgscan -- "/etc/lvmtab" and "/etc/lvmtab.d" successfully created vgscan -- WARNING: This program does not do a VGDA backup of your volume group matrix:/tmp # pvscan -v pvscan -- reading all physical volumes (this may take a while...) pvscan -- walking through all physical volumes found pvscan -- inactive PV "/dev/hdb1" is in EXPORTED VG "vgData" [186.30 GB / 42.81 GB free] pvscan -- total: 1 [186.31 GB] / in use: 1 [186.31 GB] / in no VG: 0 [0] matrix:/tmp # pvdata -PP /dev/hdb1 --- Physical volume --- PV Name /dev/hdb1 VG Name vgDataPV_EXP PV Size 186.31 GB [390716864 secs] / NOT usable 4.31 MB [LVM: 310 KB] PV# 1 PV Status NOT available Allocatable yes Cur LV 6 PE Size (KByte) 4096 Total PE 47693 Free PE 10960 Allocated PE 36733 PV UUID 6COP7v-pdrO-5NDv-K7ib-12DB<div id="mb_0">-e1IF-oXL4Zf pv_dev 0:0 system_id PV_EXPKnoppix1155900061 pv_on_disk.base 0 pv_on_disk.size 1024 vg_on_disk.base 4096 vg_on_disk.size 4096 pv_uuidlist_on_disk.base 8192 pv_uuidlist_on_disk.size 32768 lv_on_disk.base 40960 lv_on_disk.size 83968 pe_on_disk.base 126976 pe_on_disk.size 4395008 matrix:~ # ls -l /etc/lvmconf/ total 6428 drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 360 Nov 27 2005 . drwxr-xr-x 77 root root 8000 Oct 23 00:28 .. -rw-r----- 1 root root 926764 Nov 27 2005 vgData.conf -rw-r----- 1 root root 906284 Oct 10 2005 vgData.conf.1.old -rw-r----- 1 root root 885804 Feb 4 2005 vgData.conf.2.old -rw-r----- 1 root root 803884 Sep 29 2004 vgData.conf.3.old -rw-r----- 1 root root 783404 Sep 25 2004 vgData.conf.4.old -rw-r----- 1 root root 762924 Sep 18 2004 vgData.conf.5.old -rw-r----- 1 root root 760920 Sep 10 2004 vgData.conf.6.old -rw-r----- 1 root root 719960 Aug 18 2004 vgData.conf.7.old matrix:~ # vgcfgrestore -v -n vgData -ll vgcfgrestore -- INFO: using backup file "/etc/lvmconf/vgData.conf" vgcfgrestore -- locking logical volume manager vgcfgrestore -- restoring volume group "vgData" from "/etc/lvmconf/vgData.conf" vgcfgrestore -- checking existence of "/etc/lvmconf/vgData.conf" vgcfgrestore -- reading volume group data for "vgData" from "/etc/lvmconf/vgData.conf" vgcfgrestore -- reading physical volume data for "vgData" from "/etc/lvmconf/vgData.conf" vgcfgrestore -- reading logical volume data for "vgData" from "/etc/lvmconf/vgData.conf" vgcfgrestore -- checking volume group consistency of "vgData" vgcfgrestore -- checking volume group consistency of "vgData" --- Volume group --- VG Name vgData VG Access read/write VG Status NOT available/resizable VG # 0 MAX LV 256 Cur LV 6 Open LV 0 MAX LV Size 255.99 GB Max PV 256 Cur PV 1 Act PV 1 VG Size 186.30 GB PE Size 4 MB Total PE 47693 Alloc PE / Size 36733 / 143.49 GB Free PE / Size 10960 / 42.81 GB VG UUID sVZZnE-ctpQ-AlZ6-HTgo-4arL-M6Yj-BKKw62 --- Logical volume --- LV Name /dev/vgData/lvOldHome VG Name vgData LV Write Access read/write LV Status NOT available LV # 1 # open 0 LV Size 5 GB Current LE 1280 Allocated LE 1280 Allocation next free Read ahead sectors 1024 Block device 58:0 --- Logical volume --- LV Name /dev/vgData/lvHome VG Name vgData LV Write Access read/write vgcfgrestore -- "/etc/lvmtab.d/vgData" doesn't exist --- Logical volume --- LV Name /dev/vgData/lvMP3 VG Name vgData LV Write Access read/write LV Status NOT available LV # 3 # open 0 LV Size 50 GB Current LE 12800 Allocated LE 12800 Allocation next free Read ahead sectors 1024 Block device 58:1 --- Logical volume --- LV Name /dev/vgData/lvVideo VG Name vgData LV Write Access read/write LV Status NOT available LV # 4 # open 0 LV Size 45 GB Current LE 11520 Allocated LE 11520 Allocation next free Read ahead sectors 1024 Block device 58:3 --- Logical volume --- LV Name /dev/vgData/lvMatrixHome VG Name vgData LV Write Access read/write LV Status NOT available LV # 5 # open 0 LV Size 29 GB Current LE 7424 Allocated LE 7424 Allocation next free Read ahead sectors 1024 Block device 58:4 --- Logical volume --- LV Name /dev/vgData/SnapHome VG Name vgData LV Write Access read only vgcfgrestore -- "/etc/lvmtab.d/vgData" doesn't exist --- Physical volume --- PV Name /dev/hdb1 VG Name vgData PV Size 186.31 GB [390716864 secs] / NOT usable 4.31 MB [LVM: 314 KB] PV# 2 PV Status available Allocatable yes Cur LV 6 PE Size (KByte) 4096 Total PE 47693 Free PE 10960 Allocated PE 36733 PV UUID 6COP7v-pdrO-5NDv-K7ib-12DB-e1IF-oXL4Zf matrix:~ # vgdisplay -Dv vgdisplay -- WARNING: volume group "vgDataPV_EXP" is exported vgdisplay -- ERROR "lv_read_all_lv(): number of LV" getting data of "vgDataPV_EXP" from disk(s) I attached the output of vgscan -d as gzipped file. Please let me know if you need any more information. Thank you very much in advance for any help! </div> cu, Sebastian -- Sebastian Wormser If you gotta be dumb, you gotta be tough.