[OpenIndiana-discuss] [osol-discuss] Can this scenario be accomplished?

[Sean]

> On the dead machine there are 3 sets of mirrored zpools (6 discs).
> The one I mainly want access to now  is 2 750GB sata drives.
>
> So I manage to connect one or both to a running os (livecd)
>
>  ( How might that be achieved? )

If it were me, I would go the USB adapter/enclosure route.

> Then the running os will see the discs and the zpool in it/them
> along with the zfs filesystems?

After a zpool import of the attached zpool, the zpool and associated
zfs filesystems will be visible and accessible.

> If that is right so far then I would have access to the data and could
> even copy some piece of it to somewhere else on the network?

Yes. You might need to modify the of the zpool (which can be done via
the zpool import command) if it conflicts with an already existing
zpool (you can't have two zpools named rpool, for instance). Then you
might need to adjust the mountpoint attribute for the particular zfs
filesystems that you wish to pull data off of so you can get to it
using commands such as cp or rsync.

> Lets say I don't really have room for the full zpool, but I could
> still retrieve the needed bits by simple copy commands or rsync?

Yes, assuming you've mounted the zfs filesystem(s) that you want to
copy data off of.

> Where my imagination gets in trouble is trying to visualize how the
> new OS will see this disk... That is, will it see a zpool and have
> immediate access?  Like I could cd into some directory on it?

You might want to look at the zpool manpage, but basically zpool
import allows the storage pool and all of its associated filesystems
to be accessible to the system. To get at the filesystems, i.e. to cd
into some directory, you need to adjust the mountpoint attribute of
the relevant zfs filesystems, and then just navigate to the now
mounted filesystem.

> But is there some reason NOT to hookup one of the actual discs to the
> running OS (be it live cd or osol running in a VM)
>
> That is, is there a good chance of harming the disc in so doing?

So long as you don't so something silly like zfs or zpool destroy,
there isn't any real danger. Personally, I find it easier to actually
learn a procedure and become comfortable with it when I don't have a
real or imagined fear that I might accidentally make an unrecoverable
mistake.

> Any ideas how one would hook a raw internal disc up to an opensolaris
> OS running on a laptop?  The laptop has all modern connectors, esata,
> usb, firewire.
>
> Is there some kind of adaptors or external housing available to make
> such a connection?

USB enclosures are extremely common, and while not the fastest option,
the interface tends to be well supported across lots of different
hardware.

Hope that helps.

-Sean