Cannot replace disk (error Too many wrong and/or missing disks!)

[G. Moller]

Hi, I am using unRaid for some several years but run into an issue which I need help with:

 

Old situation:

1 Parity disk (size 12 TB)

16 Data disks (sizes vary from 6/8/12 TB)

No cache disks

 

I bought two 14 TB disks and wanted to achieve the following end situation:

Replace Parity of 12 with a new 14 TB disk

Replace data disk of 6 tb with the 12 TB which was parity in the old situation

Replace a 6 TB with the second new 14 TB disk

 

I thought it was best to do this in steps

 

Step 1: Replace Parity of 12 TB with 14 TB:

- Stop array
- Add new parity disk of 14 TB (so temporarily have 2 parity disks)
- Start array
- Start Sync Parity (& Data rebuild)
- Wait for new parity disk to finish
- Stop Array
- Unassign Parity Disk of 12 TB
- Start Array

All this worked out as expected. I have the 12 TB in the unassigned list and the 14 TB is now the parity disk. I could start the array and look at the DATA

 

Step 2: Replace one the 6 TB with the 12 TB (old parity disk)

I wanted to do this is steps as described here: https://wiki.unraid.net/Replacing_a_Data_Drive

 

I stopped the array and unassigned the 6 TB disk (no device). Now I was under the impression I could assign the 12 TB in that slot for rebuilding, but when I try that I get this error: Too many wrong and/or missing disks!

Even when I only unassign the 6 TB disk, I get the same message.

Should the emulation mode not kick in (without protection of course since the parity is covering for the missing 6 TB disk)?

 

I know NewConfig might be an outcome,but why does the standard replace procedure not work for me?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Edited October 14, 2021 by G. Moller

[trurl]

4 minutes ago, G. Moller said:

Replace Parity of 12 with a new 14 TB disk

Replace data disk of 6 tb with the 12 TB which was parity in the old situation

Parity Swap could have done this in one procedure. 

 

Attach Diagnostics to your NEXT post in this thread. 

[G. Moller]

Thanks for the fast response.I I hope these are the diagnostics you requested.

Did not know about that nice shortcut of parity swap.

I still need this to replace the other 6 TB with the new 14 TB as well though.

pacmansvault-diagnostics-20211014-1857.zip

Edited October 14, 2021 by G. Moller

[itimpi]

You need to simulate disk6 failing to be able to replace it with the 12TB, so you can do the following:

- stop array

- unassigned disk6

- start array to ‘forget’ disk6 and act as if it failed.  Unraid will say disk6 is now being emulated, and the emulated disk should show the contents of what was disk6.

- stop array 

- assign 12TB as disk6 and Unraid should now be offering to rebuild disk6 onto the 12TB drive.

- start array to begin rebuild

 

Your procedure omitted the ‘forget’ steps to simulate a failure and trigger the rebuild process.

[G. Moller]

Hi itimpi,

 

Also thanks for the fast response.

I try to replace disk 4 (not 6) with the 12 TB (old parity) disk. But disk4 is also 6 TB though (like disk 5 and 6).

Your third step request to start it which I cannot do. The button is greyed out and no option like "yes i am sure" or "yes, I want to do this"

Is there an obvious step which I missed. Indeed I stopped the array and marked disk 4 as unassigned.

Edited October 14, 2021 by G. Moller

[JorgeB]

3 minutes ago, G. Moller said:

I try to replace disk 4

You already have disk7 disabled, you can only have one disable/missing device with single parity, and first need to replace that one.

[G. Moller]

Ah is that my mistake? Disk 18 was in there before but I moved it (probably my lack of knowledge). Thought that was allowed. Thanks will try what you triggered.

It now says disk 18 is unmountable and if I want to format it, but I will first wait for this rebuild to finish.

 

Update:

I put the 12 TB (old parity) in that slot 7 and rebuilding started. I will replace the 6 TB with the new 14 TB after that.

Maybe a shrink after that to get rid of the remaining two 6 TBs.

THANKS!!!. all should become ok now.

Except that unmountable disk worries me a bit. It was the old disk 7 and unRaid seems to remember that, although it was already part of the current array. Wondering how it can rebuild disk 7 witg disk 18 being unmountable as well. I see it reads from disk 18 as well and filesystem is auto.

 

I think this is what I did wrong months ago. I disabled disk 7 and moved that disk in slot 18 and extended my array. This was wrong since disk 7 became emulated now. I just don't understand why disk 18 became unmountable now I rebuild disk 7 on another disk. I messed up things obviously. Any idea what I could best do with disk 18 now?

Edited October 14, 2021 by G. Moller

[JorgeB]

Post new diags after array start to see what's wrong with disk18.

[G. Moller]

The replaced disk finished and disk 7 is ok now after rebuilding. Only issue left is the unmountable disk 18. I attached the diagnostics. Hope you find anything in there.

Thanks in advance again!

pacmansvault-diagnostics-20211015-2307.zip

Edited October 15, 2021 by G. Moller

[trurl]

Start the array and post new diagnostics

[G. Moller]

ok, here are the diagnostics when the array is started.

 

Still don't understand how the parity could be rebuild with this disk being unmountable. Did unRaid still scan the disk anyway? Would that imply that I could also format the disk and it gets rebuild from Parity? Probably in the same corrupt state of disk 18 as it is now I am afraid.

pacmansvault-diagnostics-20211016-1033.zip

Edited October 17, 2021 by G. Moller

[G. Moller]

Anyone has time to help me out please?

I read about fixing the filesystem by using the console, but I would appreciate what you guys suggest for my situation. My setup is down for a week now and am really anxious to get it running again in a safe mode. I can start it but unsure what the state is currently due to that disk18.

Edited October 18, 2021 by G. Moller

[itimpi]

On 10/16/2021 at 9:34 AM, G. Moller said:

Still don't understand how the parity could be rebuild with this disk being unmountable. Did unRaid still scan the disk anyway?

Unmountable does not mean unreadable (so the disk can still be part of parity) - it normally means a corrupt file system.  Handling of unmountable dirks is covered here in the online documentation that can be accessed via the Manual link at the bottom of the Unraid GUI.

 

On 10/16/2021 at 9:34 AM, G. Moller said:

Did unRaid still scan the disk anyway? Would that imply that I could also format the disk and it gets rebuild from Parity?

No - if a disk shows as unmountable before a rebuild it will still be unmountable after the rebuild as all the rebuild process does is make the physical drive match the emulated one.  If you try to format this will create an empty file system on the drive and update parity to reflect this (thus wiping its contents).

 

20 minutes ago, G. Moller said:

I read about fixing the filesystem by using the console,

This is only required for disks that are not currently part of the array (or have been removed from the array).  If part of the array then you can use the GUI. The link above gives the way to do it by either the GUI or the console.

[G. Moller]

Thanks for the clear explanation and the provided link about unmountable disks!

 

Step 4 says: The section following that is the one you want, titled Check Filesystem Status. There is a box with the 2 words Not available in it. This is the command output box, where the progress and results of the command will be displayed. Below that is the Check button that starts the test or repair, followed by the options box where you can type in options for the test/repair command.

 

I don't the words "Not Available",  but "Unmountable: No file system " behind "File system status". Also the file system is set to AUTO and not XFS which I would expect, but maybe that is as expected. No CHECK button whatsoever to play with. Am I looking in the wrong place?

Edited October 18, 2021 by G. Moller

[JorgeB]

Was disk18 ever formatted? According to the log there's no valid filesystem.

[G. Moller]

I was under the impression that is was part of the array earlier with XFS format. I think there was even a few TB of data on it, but cannot be sure now. I use this unRaid NAS as an offline NAS to store sometimes data. The other Unraid NAS is online all the time.

If it looks wrong to you or maybe never formatted according to logs, I might as well format it (and loose the data on it if needed). I will survive the loss. just a lot of work.

I just want to be sure that not all other disk data gets corrupted somehow by parity if I format this disk.

Can no valid file system not also mean it got corrupted but there was one earlier or does it indicate (together with AUTO) there never was one?

Edited October 18, 2021 by G. Moller

[JorgeB]

Do this: with the array stopped click on disk18 and change the fs from auto to xfs, then start array and post new diags.

 

[G. Moller]

Thanks for the fast support. Highly appreciated.

Here are the new diagnostics.

pacmansvault-diagnostics-20211018-1909.zip

[JorgeB]

Looks like there never was a valid xfs fileystem on that disk, most likely it was added to the array but never formatted.

[G. Moller]

ok thanks again. I can just format it than and add it. Thanks all of you so much!!!

I consider my topic resolved.