This is actually on a QNAP TS-509 NAS. The RAID is basically a Linux RAID. The NAS was configured with RAID 5 with 5 drives (/md0 with /dev/sd[abcde]3). At some point, /dev/sde failed and drive was replaced. While rebuilding (and not completed), the NAS rebooted itself and /dev/sdc dropped out of the array. Now the array can't start because essentially 2 drives have dropped out. I disconnected /dev/sde and hoped that /md0 can resume in degraded mode, but no luck.. Further investigation shows that /dev/sdc3 has no md superblock. The data should be good since the array was unable to assemble after /dev/sdc dropped off. All the searches I done showed how to reassemble the array assuming 1 bad drive. But I think I just need to restore the superblock on /dev/sdc3 and that should bring the array up to a degraded mode which will allow me to backup data and then proceed with rebuilding with adding /dev/sde. Any help would be greatly appreciated. mdstat does not show /dev/md0 # cat /proc/mdstat Personalities : [linear] [raid0] [raid1] [raid10] [raid6] [raid5] [raid4] [multipath] md5 : active raid1 sdd2[2](S) sdc2[3](S) sdb2[1] sda2[0] 530048 blocks [2/2] [UU] md13 : active raid1 sdd4[3] sdc4[2] sdb4[1] sda4[0] 458880 blocks [5/4] [UUUU_] bitmap: 40/57 pages [160KB], 4KB chunk md9 : active raid1 sdd1[3] sdc1[2] sdb1[1] sda1[0] 530048 blocks [5/4] [UUUU_] bitmap: 33/65 pages [132KB], 4KB chunk mdadm show /dev/md0 is still there # mdadm --examine --scan ARRAY /dev/md9 level=raid1 num-devices=5 UUID=271bf0f7:faf1f2c2:967631a4:3c0fa888 ARRAY /dev/md5 level=raid1 num-devices=2 UUID=0d75de26:0759d153:5524b8ea:86a3ee0d spares=2 ARRAY /dev/md0 level=raid5 num-devices=5 UUID=ce3e369b:4ff9ddd2:3639798a:e3889841 ARRAY /dev/md13 level=raid1 num-devices=5 UUID=7384c159:ea48a152:a1cdc8f2:c8d79a9c With /dev/sde removed, here is the mdadm examine output showing sdc3 has no md superblock # mdadm --examine /dev/sda3 /dev/sda3: Magic : a92b4efc Version : 00.90.00 UUID : ce3e369b:4ff9ddd2:3639798a:e3889841 Creation Time : Sat Dec 8 15:01:19 2012 Raid Level : raid5 Used Dev Size : 1463569600 (1395.77 GiB 1498.70 GB) Array Size : 5854278400 (5583.08 GiB 5994.78 GB) Raid Devices : 5 Total Devices : 4 Preferred Minor : 0 Update Time : Sat Dec 8 15:06:17 2012 State : active Active Devices : 4 Working Devices : 4 Failed Devices : 1 Spare Devices : 0 Checksum : d9e9ff0e - correct Events : 0.394 Layout : left-symmetric Chunk Size : 64K Number Major Minor RaidDevice State this 0 8 3 0 active sync /dev/sda3 0 0 8 3 0 active sync /dev/sda3 1 1 8 19 1 active sync /dev/sdb3 2 2 8 35 2 active sync /dev/sdc3 3 3 8 51 3 active sync /dev/sdd3 4 4 0 0 4 faulty removed [~] # mdadm --examine /dev/sdb3 /dev/sdb3: Magic : a92b4efc Version : 00.90.00 UUID : ce3e369b:4ff9ddd2:3639798a:e3889841 Creation Time : Sat Dec 8 15:01:19 2012 Raid Level : raid5 Used Dev Size : 1463569600 (1395.77 GiB 1498.70 GB) Array Size : 5854278400 (5583.08 GiB 5994.78 GB) Raid Devices : 5 Total Devices : 4 Preferred Minor : 0 Update Time : Sat Dec 8 15:06:17 2012 State : active Active Devices : 4 Working Devices : 4 Failed Devices : 1 Spare Devices : 0 Checksum : d9e9ff20 - correct Events : 0.394 Layout : left-symmetric Chunk Size : 64K Number Major Minor RaidDevice State this 1 8 19 1 active sync /dev/sdb3 0 0 8 3 0 active sync /dev/sda3 1 1 8 19 1 active sync /dev/sdb3 2 2 8 35 2 active sync /dev/sdc3 3 3 8 51 3 active sync /dev/sdd3 4 4 0 0 4 faulty removed [~] # mdadm --examine /dev/sdc3 mdadm: No md superblock detected on /dev/sdc3. [~] # mdadm --examine /dev/sdd3 /dev/sdd3: Magic : a92b4efc Version : 00.90.00 UUID : ce3e369b:4ff9ddd2:3639798a:e3889841 Creation Time : Sat Dec 8 15:01:19 2012 Raid Level : raid5 Used Dev Size : 1463569600 (1395.77 GiB 1498.70 GB) Array Size : 5854278400 (5583.08 GiB 5994.78 GB) Raid Devices : 5 Total Devices : 4 Preferred Minor : 0 Update Time : Sat Dec 8 15:06:17 2012 State : active Active Devices : 4 Working Devices : 4 Failed Devices : 1 Spare Devices : 0 Checksum : d9e9ff44 - correct Events : 0.394 Layout : left-symmetric Chunk Size : 64K Number Major Minor RaidDevice State this 3 8 51 3 active sync /dev/sdd3 0 0 8 3 0 active sync /dev/sda3 1 1 8 19 1 active sync /dev/sdb3 2 2 8 35 2 active sync /dev/sdc3 3 3 8 51 3 active sync /dev/sdd3 4 4 0 0 4 faulty removed fdisk output shows /dev/sdc3 partition is still there. [~] # fdisk -l Disk /dev/sdx: 128 MB, 128057344 bytes 8 heads, 32 sectors/track, 977 cylinders Units = cylinders of 256 * 512 = 131072 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdx1 1 8 1008 83 Linux /dev/sdx2 9 440 55296 83 Linux /dev/sdx3 441 872 55296 83 Linux /dev/sdx4 873 977 13440 5 Extended /dev/sdx5 873 913 5232 83 Linux /dev/sdx6 914 977 8176 83 Linux Disk /dev/sda: 1500.3 GB, 1500301910016 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 182401 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sda1 * 1 66 530113+ 83 Linux /dev/sda2 67 132 530145 82 Linux swap / Solaris /dev/sda3 133 182338 1463569695 83 Linux /dev/sda4 182339 182400 498015 83 Linux Disk /dev/sda4: 469 MB, 469893120 bytes 2 heads, 4 sectors/track, 114720 cylinders Units = cylinders of 8 * 512 = 4096 bytes Disk /dev/sda4 doesn't contain a valid partition table Disk /dev/sdb: 1500.3 GB, 1500301910016 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 182401 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdb1 * 1 66 530113+ 83 Linux /dev/sdb2 67 132 530145 82 Linux swap / Solaris /dev/sdb3 133 182338 1463569695 83 Linux /dev/sdb4 182339 182400 498015 83 Linux Disk /dev/sdc: 1500.3 GB, 1500301910016 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 182401 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdc1 1 66 530125 83 Linux /dev/sdc2 67 132 530142 83 Linux /dev/sdc3 133 182338 1463569693 83 Linux /dev/sdc4 182339 182400 498012 83 Linux Disk /dev/sdd: 2000.3 GB, 2000398934016 bytes 255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 243201 cylinders Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System /dev/sdd1 1 66 530125 83 Linux /dev/sdd2 67 132 530142 83 Linux /dev/sdd3 133 243138 1951945693 83 Linux /dev/sdd4 243139 243200 498012 83 Linux Disk /dev/md9: 542 MB, 542769152 bytes 2 heads, 4 sectors/track, 132512 cylinders Units = cylinders of 8 * 512 = 4096 bytes Disk /dev/md9 doesn't contain a valid partition table Disk /dev/md5: 542 MB, 542769152 bytes 2 heads, 4 sectors/track, 132512 cylinders Units = cylinders of 8 * 512 = 4096 bytes Disk /dev/md5 doesn't contain a valid partition table