HELP: unRAID damaged in Hurricane Ida

[gisxer]

Here is my current hardware.

 

CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 250 3 GHz Dual-Core Processor

Motherboard: ASRock 880GM-LE Micro ATX AM3 Motherboard

RAM: Corsair 4 GB (2 x 2 GB) DDR3-1333 CL9 Memory

Power Supply: Rosewill Green 630 W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply

Expansion Card: Supermicro PCI Express x4 Low Profile SAS RAID Controller (AOC-SASLP-MV8)

CASE: Rosewill RSV-L4412U 4U Server Chassis Rackmount Case

Hard Drives: 12 drives of various size, make, and models adding up to about 25 TB

 

My unRAID was hit with floodwaters but not submerged.  I managed to get it out of the rack and to safety but it definitely got a little wet at the bottom of the case.

I quickly took out all the drives and wrapped them in paper towels and let rest for two weeks.

The machine doesn’t boot.  It seems to power on, the CPU and case fans spin, but no lights on the MB.  And plugged in a monitor and nothing is displayed.

So, I plugged my unRAID OS usb drive into my windows desktop and it booted to terminal.  Since I use a static IP I was able to get to the GUI via my network.

My windows machine doesn’t have many SATA and drive power ports so I just plugged in the Parity drive to check. 

It did see the Parity drive but the message said ‘invalid array, too many drives missing”

 

So what should I do next?  Is there more testing I can do or should I just assume the MB is toast and buy a new MB and CPU?

Thanks

[ChatNoir]

Did you try with a different power supply ?

[gisxer]

3 minutes ago, ChatNoir said:

Did you try with a different power supply ?

No, Unfortunately I don't have any spare parts.  I just have my windows machine. 

That's a good thought though.

[ChatNoir]

You could try with your windows machine PSU.

 

If you are lucky at it's only the PSU, it would be quicker a cheaper to replace than a full system.

[JonathanM]

34 minutes ago, gisxer said:

My windows machine doesn’t have many SATA and drive power ports so I just plugged in the Parity drive to check. 

I wouldn't advise plugging in just a subset of the array drives for testing. Either all or none. That way if you do have a failed / failing drive you stand a better chance of recovery.

[gisxer]

6 minutes ago, JonathanM said:

I wouldn't advise plugging in just a subset of the array drives for testing. Either all or none. That way if you do have a failed / failing drive you stand a better chance of recovery.

Ah, ok.  That makes sense.  thx

[gisxer]

12 minutes ago, ChatNoir said:

You could try with your windows machine PSU.

 

If you are lucky at it's only the PSU, it would be quicker a cheaper to replace than a full system.

 

Sorry if this is a dumb question but, Is it compatible? this is the PSU in my current windows machine

Antec Basiq 550 W 80+ Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply

[ChatNoir]

I'd say it is :

https://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/880gm-le/index.asp

Your server MB is not so old as not being ATX also.

[Vr2Io]

2 hours ago, gisxer said:

quickly took out all the drives and wrapped them in paper towels and let rest for two weeks.

If electronic device get wet you must handle immediately, otherwise it will damage by chemical reaction.

 

If those water was dirty or mixed with other substances, then I will use alcohol to clean it and then dry them by hair dryer.

 

You should focus on the disks and throw the mobo to trash bin in my opinion.

Edited September 29, 2021 by Vr2Io

[gisxer]

Well the PSU from my other machine didn't boot.  So I guess the MB is toast, and probably the PSU

I really need to see to get my array back up so I think I'll just get new parts, ie MB, CPU, and PSU.

I checked out the recommended build section but it has not been updated in a long time except for a few builds.

The MB for the 20 drive setup is out of stock on newegg.

Where else can I look to find recommendations?

[trurl]

Just thought you might find this old thread interesting:

 

 

[trurl]

19 hours ago, gisxer said:

Where else can I look to find recommendations?

Hardware changes rapidly and anything more than a year old is likely discontinued. On the other hand, most things work.

 

Some people put their hardware in their sig. Unfortunately, viewing sigs is disabled by default. Click on the dropdown next to your username at the top right of the forum to get to your Account Settings, where you can enable sigs.

 

The simplest way to get recommendations is to put together a list yourself and let others comment on it.

[gisxer]

12 hours ago, trurl said:

Just thought you might find this old thread interesting:

 

 

This is awesome!

Thanks

[gisxer]

1 hour ago, trurl said:

Hardware changes rapidly and anything more than a year old is likely discontinued. On the other hand, most things work.

 

Some people put their hardware in their sig. Unfortunately, viewing sigs is disabled by default. Click on the dropdown next to your username at the top right of the forum to get to your Account Settings, where you can enable sigs.

 

The simplest way to get recommendations is to put together a list yourself and let others comment on it.

this is a great trick. 

thanks

[WeeboTech]

RE: unrecover
These days I might recommend a used Dell E series laptop. They have eSATA port.
Te E series dock also has an eSATA port.
Note that it does not support port multipliers, only the first drive will be seen.

In addition, an older used AMD based HP Microserver gen 10 might work since it doesn't require caddys.
4 Screws and slide in the drive.
This is what I am using these days for network based backups and transitioning/merging smaller hard drives to larger hard drives.

While the newer HP microserver gen10 plus is modern and powerful, I personally find it better for a set it and forget it unRAID server due to the delicate nature of front panel and external laptop based PSU.

The older AMD based HP microserver gen10 is self contained and is better suited for frequent drive swaps.
Even then I acquired a Startech external trayless eSATA device for making things easier.