Comments - I know this has been asked loads before, but...

Try setting datadir = /mnt/database, that way it points to the same place to where the rsync was done.

Will do! I'm just rebuilding from the latest image (29/11/2017).. Yours Simon M.

OK rebuilt and same result..

here are the steps

All from root

#### Installing MariaDB

apt-get install mariadb-server -y
sudo mysql_secure_installation

#### Installing phpMyAdmin

apt-get install phpmyadmin
/etc/init.d/php7.0-fpm reload && /etc/init.d/nginx reload

mysql -u root -p
use mysql;
update user set plugin = '' where User = 'root';
flush privileges;
exit;

Test phpmyadmin in the browser: http://raspberrypi/phpmyadmin/ Super double stop database!

service mysql stop && /etc/init.d/mysql stop && systemctl stop mariadb.service && systemctl stop mysql.service && systemctl stop mariadb && systemctl stop mysql then check for to see if its dead systemctl is-active mariadb.service move data rsync -a /var/lib/mysql /mnt/database/

No change, can anyone share there working my.cnf?