new pre cleared, formatted drives unmountable


loady

Recommended Posts

i got some second hand drives, they were pre cleared successfully, i put assigned them to the next available slots and they started to rpe clear again so i left it to finish, after that they were showing in the array but they say unmountable, they were formatted with XFS, there is nothing on them so i am not worried about trashing them again...when i went to format them i was prompted to install destructive mode on UD which i did, they seemed to format fine....how do i get these drives added into the array, currently they show as missing drives if i unassign them.

 

diags attached.

warptower-diagnostics-20211016-1048.zip

Link to comment
49 minutes ago, loady said:

i got some second hand drives, they were pre cleared successfully, i put assigned them to the next available slots and they started to rpe clear again so i left it to finish, after that they were showing in the array but they say unmountable, they were formatted with XFS, there is nothing on them so i am not worried about trashing them again...when i went to format them i was prompted to install destructive mode on UD which i did, they seemed to format fine....how do i get these drives added into the array, currently they show as missing drives if i unassign them.

 

diags attached.

warptower-diagnostics-20211016-1048.zip 155.37 kB · 0 downloads

 

There i think there is s some ambiguity with your description :(

 

When you have pre-cleared a disk then as long as you add it to Unraid at that point then it should be accepted immediately and show as umountable because it has has not yet been formatted and Unraid should be offering the format option.  You also mention then formatting it in UD - this should not be possible if the drive is currently part of the array as it should no longer show up under UD.

Link to comment
1 minute ago, itimpi said:

 

There i think there is s some ambiguity with your description :(

 

When you have pre-cleared a disk then as long as you add it to Unraid at that point then it should be accepted immediately and show as umountable because it has has not yet been formatted and Unraid should be offering the format option.  You also mention then formatting it in UD - this should not be possible if the drive is currently part of the array as it should no longer show up under UD.

Sorry if i wasnt clear. i had the drives in UD initially and was using the pre clear whilst they were mounted there, after they finished pre clear i formatted them whilst still in UD, i then stopped the array and assigned them to the slots i wanted, then i started the array and they started pre clearing again, i was under the impression that once they are pre cleared they have a special signature on them so they dont get pre cleared again, anyway i let it carry on and after finish they were part of the array and saying unmountable, as i said, these disk have nothing on them.

Link to comment

Just did the same with 2 data drives. Also formatted in UD as XFS an afterwards added the drives to the array. However the drives cleared again - do not know if this has to do with building parity - afterwards the drives where shown as unmountable but you need to scroll down and tick format. Thatˋs it. The drives then will be formatted again and finally available in the array.

  • Like 1
Link to comment

I think that formatting a disk in UD before adding it to the Array removes the signature.

The proper procedure with drive from preclear is to simply put them in the Array, then Unraid knows it is all 0s and it will then propose to format the drive to the appropriate FS.

 

@loady is there a question about format at the bottom of the Main page ?  (you can post a screenshot if unsure)

  • Like 1
Link to comment
38 minutes ago, loady said:

after they finished pre clear i formatted them whilst still in UD, i then stopped the array and assigned them to the slots i wanted, then i started the array and they started pre clearing again, i was under the impression that once they are pre cleared they have a special signature on them so they dont get pre cleared again,

Clear means the partition contains ONLY zeroes. When you formatted the disk, you changed some of those zeroes to ones, undoing the clear status, so Unraid had to put them back to zero before it could add the drive.

 

Think of the disk as a room to hold papers. Formatting adds filing cabinets and alphabetized folios with labeling and blank index cards. The room is no longer empty, but it still doesn't have any of your papers (data) yet. The file system takes up space, but makes it much easier to organize your papers instead of just dropping them on the floor.

 

Unraid parity works with the whole room, not the individual papers, so it doesn't matter whether your file cabinets are old and small ReiserFS, or modern XFS, or fragile BTRFS, Unraid parity can reconstruct it. To add a room, it must be totally empty so anything added can be computed into parity. If you want to add a room with existing contents, even an empty file system, then you have to rebuild parity instead. 

 

BTW, the paper filing analogy works for formatting as well. Reformatting doesn't remove the paper, it just resets the index cards to blank entries. The ones and zeroes are still all there, but the addresses and file names are erased.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
1 hour ago, ChatNoir said:

I think that formatting a disk in UD before adding it to the Array removes the signature.

The proper procedure with drive from preclear is to simply put them in the Array, then Unraid knows it is all 0s and it will then propose to format the drive to the appropriate FS.

 

@loady is there a question about format at the bottom of the Main page ?  (you can post a screenshot if unsure)

 

Yes...where did that come from !!....seems to be fine now...thanks.

 

I got 2 mo4re drives trying to pass pre clear..lets see if i can add them properly 

Link to comment
29 minutes ago, JonathanM said:

If any bits are changed after the pre-clear, that's correct.

In my experience, when I pre-clear new drives and add to the array, no formats, no changes just straight from pre-clear to the array - every time it starts clearing again. I've never had a "cleared" drive add to the array without having to clear again. From cold spares to drives that dropped for one reason or another and I've pre-cleared to make sure they're good, each time it's needed to clear them again when adding to the array

Link to comment
3 minutes ago, matty2k said:

Especially because in UD is shown that formatting the disk in UD is compatible with Unraid Array .. however .. next time I will preclear and than add disk to array without formatting before.

 

It is compatible, you can format, add data or not, and then add the disk to the array, but you have to set a new config so parity is calculated with that information included. If you want to add a drive and keep parity valid, the new drive must not have anything on it, including a file system, like I explained in the post above.

Link to comment
2 hours ago, Michael_P said:

In my experience, when I pre-clear new drives and add to the array, no formats, no changes just straight from pre-clear to the array - every time it starts clearing again. I've never had a "cleared" drive add to the array without having to clear again. From cold spares to drives that dropped for one reason or another and I've pre-cleared to make sure they're good, each time it's needed to clear them again when adding to the array

This suggests something went wrong during the preclear so that Unraid does not recognise the drive has been cleared.

Link to comment
2 hours ago, itimpi said:

This suggests something went wrong during the preclear so that Unraid does not recognise the drive has been cleared.

 

Indeed, but I can say that I've done pre-clears on a half dozen drives or so and not once has unraid allowed them to be added to the array without clearing them again.

 

I just basically use the plugin as a stress test at this point, but if anyone has any insight as to what exactly I'm doing wrong, I'm all ears

Link to comment

Let me start by saying that I have been using 'Preclear' to stress test and detect infant immortality failures for years-- the script, the plugin and the Docker.   I still have a version of the preclear script on my Test Bed server.   Furthermore, I have not added any additional disks to either array for several years now. As a result I have no personal knowledge of any problems of precleared disks requiring a separate preclear when added to the array.

 

First, my comment about that prescript script.  It was originally written by @Joe L. back before 2010 as I recall.  It has required patching over the years to continue working with the various releases of Linux.   There are several versions of it available from various posts on the forum.    One problem is that unless you look at the script (and in some cases look for actual changes to the code), you don't know what 'version' you are dealing with. 

 

If you are using the script and having problems, good luck with getting any issue addressed!   If you are using either the plugin or the Docker, there are support threads for both of these and you should be asking about any problems you are having in those threads!

Edited by Frank1940
Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.