Cannot add replacement drive (mdadm) not large enough to join array
 

Hello everyone,,,

using mdadm (version - v2.6.4 - 19th October 2007) on openfile filer kernel (2.6.29.6-0.24.smp.gcc3.4.x86.i686)

I replaced a faulty 4tb hitachi drive (with another exact model) the error "not large enough to join array"

steps:
installed new drive, using parted, created label and partition identical to existing drives. used partprobe to sync part table, tried to add the disk with: mdadm --add /dev/md1 /dev/sdb1

The troubleshooting so far:

blockdev --getsz
got same results for all 3

hdparam -g
got same results for all 3


I even tweaked the numbers in parted to give me a few blocks more so that there was no possibility of there being not enough space.

After changing command from:
mdadm --add /dev/md1 /dev/sdb1
to:
mdadm -vv --add --force /dev/md1 /dev/sdb1

I finally found what may be the root cause (mdadm: set device faulty failed for /dev/sdb1: No such device)

But the drive is fine, there is no indication from any other system or software that says there is a problem with the drive.

I even tried copying the first 1000 blocks off the bad drive to get the first copy of the GPT data off the drive, but nothing changes the results.

Can anyone give me any advice or directions? -- Very frustrating

What is output of: