[linux-lvm] device x:x too small for target

[Stephan Schulz]

Hi!

I've currently problems to access my data on a logical volume, reason:
"/etc/init.d/lvm start" gives the following output:

Setting up LVM Volume Groups...
  Reading all physical volumes.  This may take a while...
  Found volume group "storage_vg" using metadata type lvm2
  device-mapper: reload ioctl failed: Invalid argument
  1 logical volume(s) in volume group "storage_vg" now active

A look to "dmesg" reveals the following:
device-mapper: table: device 8:0 too small for target
device-mapper: table: 254:0: linear: dm-linear: Device lookup failed
device-mapper: ioctl: error adding target to table

The LVM-System consists of one logical volume with two harddrives (sda and 
sdb, which contains each a physical volume) and worked flawless in the 
past. I used to swap these both disks between a linux and a windows 
system without any problems (access in windows through vmware as 
"physical disks"), but for some reason something screwed it up..
I thought about overwriting the lvm metadata but I wasn't sure how to do 
it in a way without doing more damage to the non-metadata.

Any hints where to look or what to do about it?

Yours,
Stephan

-- 

A computer is like an Old Testament god, with a lot of rules and no mercy.
- Joseph Campbell