Alert [TOWER] - USB drive is not read-write

[danimal86]

So i got a critical error about my usb drive not being read-write.  It popped up a few days ago, and i had been busy and not able to troubleshoot it till now. 

The server has been working fine since the error came up (plex/arr's....) but now that i'm looking at the server, i'm seeing that my Apps tab to get to CA isn't there and i cant update some plugins (CA, Unsassigned Devices, and CA Backup/Restore Appdata), but i was able to updated dockers just fine. 

 

The error hasn't come back since i first saw it, is it possible that it was a false alarm, is there any way to check it?  If not, I'm guessing i should re-create my flash drive?  Its been a while since i built the server and haven't messed with the flash drive at all.  I can create a flash drive backup right now, but is that safe to do?  I'm not sure if its a problem with the physical flash drive, or some sort of software error.  

[Hoopster]

17 minutes ago, danimal86 said:

So i got a critical error about my usb drive not being read-write.

Have you had a power outage recently on a non-UPS protected system.  This can sometime mess up the flash drive this way and corrupt the file system on the flash drive. causing unexpected bahavior.

 

One possible fix is to power down the server, remove the flash drive, insert it in a Windows PC and let Windows run a check on it (you can also run chkdsk from the command prompt).

 

This will usually fix the read/write issue and fix file system corruption on the flash drive.

[danimal86]

12 minutes ago, Hoopster said:

Have you had a power outage recently on a non-UPS protected system.  This can sometime mess up the flash drive this way and corrupt the file system on the flash drive. causing unexpected bahavior.

 

One possible fix is to power down the server, remove the flash drive, insert it in a Windows PC and let Windows run a check on it (you can also run chkdsk from the command prompt).

 

This will usually fix the read/write issue and fix file system corruption on the flash drive.

The server is on a ups and haven't had any power outages.  I  haven't shut down/restarted the server in about a month.  

 

I'm really scared (admittedly) to shut down the server and not be able to get it back up.  

[trurl]

11 minutes ago, danimal86 said:

I'm really scared (admittedly) to shut down the server and not be able to get it back up.  

If you don't already have a flash backup, the most important thing is to know your disk assignments.

 

Take screenshots of those and then try to get a backup from Main - Boot Device - Flash - Flash Backup

 

[danimal86]

1 hour ago, trurl said:

If you don't already have a flash backup, the most important thing is to know your disk assignments.

 

Take screenshots of those and then try to get a backup from Main - Boot Device - Flash - Flash Backup

 

Is it safe to make a backup now since that error showed up?  

 

edit: i had made a backup when i initially saw the error and just did one now, both completed successfully 

Edited December 7, 2021 by danimal86

[danimal86]

If i want to just re-create the flash drive from the backup, is there a procedure to do or do i just unzip and copy?

[trurl]

Start by trying to get that original flash working so you won't have to transfer the license.

 

https://wiki.unraid.net/Manual/Changing_The_Flash_Device#Using_the_Flash_Creator

 

[danimal86]

33 minutes ago, trurl said:

Start by trying to get that original flash working so you won't have to transfer the license.

 

https://wiki.unraid.net/Manual/Changing_The_Flash_Device#Using_the_Flash_Creator

 

Man i wish you would have responded sooner lol, i already made a new flash drive from a backup

 

I made a backup this morning and used the usb creation tool to make a new flashdrives on a kingston usb2.0 metal drive and popped it in the server

first issue was it said i had 2 keys (i upgraded from plus to pro during the sale), so i shutdown pulled the flash drive, deleted the "plus.key" from my config file. 

now it says The registered GUID does not match the USB Flash boot device GUID.

I tried to do the "replace key" and i'm not getting anything in my email.  

 

Edit: i still have my old flash drive, should i just throw it back in, or have i already passed the point of no return?

Edited December 8, 2021 by danimal86

[trurl]

1 hour ago, danimal86 said:

wish you would have responded sooner

Old posts sometimes get missed even when I am trying to respond first to the threads I have already posted on. Consider "bumping" the thread if you haven't had a response after several hours.

 

The original will be blacklisted if you succeeded in doing "replace key". Not clear if that is the case. You can try the original. If you do get a new key for the new flash, then you can expect the old one to be blacklisted. If you don't get a new key and get blacklisted anyway then something got lost and you will have to use the contact link at the bottom of the forum.

[danimal86]

18 minutes ago, trurl said:

Old posts sometimes get missed even when I am trying to respond first to the threads I have already posted on. Consider "bumping" the thread if you haven't had a response after several hours.

 

The original will be blacklisted if you succeeded in doing "replace key". Not clear if that is the case. You can try the original. If you do get a new key for the new flash, then you can expect the old one to be blacklisted. If you don't get a new key and get blacklisted anyway then something got lost and you will have to use the contact link at the bottom of the forum.

I know you guys are doing your best to answer stuff as quickly as possible, so i dont want to be pushy, but i'll bump it up if i haven't heard anything in a few hours. 

 

I reached out to support via the link on the "enter the code we sent to your email" pop up page.  Said it could take up to 3 days 😵 for a response.  I'll try shutting down and seeing if the old flash drive hasn't been blacklisted.  

[danimal86]

51 minutes ago, trurl said:

Old posts sometimes get missed even when I am trying to respond first to the threads I have already posted on. Consider "bumping" the thread if you haven't had a response after several hours.

 

The original will be blacklisted if you succeeded in doing "replace key". Not clear if that is the case. You can try the original. If you do get a new key for the new flash, then you can expect the old one to be blacklisted. If you don't get a new key and get blacklisted anyway then something got lost and you will have to use the contact link at the bottom of the forum.

Looks like my flash drive wasn't black listed.  I was able to swap the flash drive back to the old one and get the array running, but upon starting the array it started a parity check.....14tb seems like it take about 30hrs.   

At least this will buy me some time to get a response back from unraid support.

 

And it looks like the apps tab is back now.

[trurl]

58 minutes ago, danimal86 said:

Looks like my flash drive wasn't black listed.

The "black" list is updated on new releases. They have no access to your server.

[danimal86]

2 hours ago, trurl said:

The "black" list is updated on new releases. They have no access to your server.

I got an email back from unraid support.  

"What is the new USB GUID?

In order for us to issue you a replacement key, please email us from the account used to purchase Unraid and provide both the previous and new Flash GUIDs. If you cannot access the old GUID, attaching a purchase receipt or old license keyfile will suffice."

 

I'm trying to figure out how to do this without a lot of down time.  The parity check is running now and should be done late tomorrow.  So once my parity check is complete, i can swap flash drives back over to the new one and get the new guid, send that to them and wait for a response with a new key?  It took them about 4ish hours to respond, so i guess thats not the end of the world as far as down time goes.  Is there a better way, or any way to get the new flash guid off of the drive itself?

 

[trurl]

The Unraid Flash Drive Creator will show the GUID when you select the flash drive. You don't actually have to finish creating it.

[danimal86]

27 minutes ago, trurl said:

The Unraid Flash Drive Creator will show the GUID when you select the flash drive. You don't actually have to finish creating it.

Ooooooo.  That will make things much easier!

 

So what happens after they issue me a new key?  

[trurl]

The licence .key file belongs in the config folder on flash. Each .key file only works with the specific flash drive GUID it was registered to.

[danimal86]

1 hour ago, trurl said:

The licence .key file belongs in the config folder on flash. Each .key file only works with the specific flash drive GUID it was registered to.

Ok, i'm going to wait till the parity check is closer to being complete before i have them transfer the license.  

 

Once its transfered, i should be able to make a fresh flash drive backup, use the USB creator tool to make the new flash drive, and then copy the config file from the old flash drive to the new flash drive and boot it up?

[trurl]

14 minutes ago, danimal86 said:

use the USB creator tool to make the new flash drive, and then copy the config file from the old flash drive to the new flash drive and boot it up?

yes, except not the .key file from the old config

[danimal86]

21 minutes ago, trurl said:

yes, except not the .key file from the old config

The new .key will be provided by unraid support?

[wgstarks]

They will probably give you a link that you will copy/paste into the webUI on startup. The key will be downloaded and installed automatically. At least that’s how my replacement went last week.

[danimal86]

23 hours ago, trurl said:

yes, except not the .key file from the old config

 

22 hours ago, wgstarks said:

They will probably give you a link that you will copy/paste into the webUI on startup. The key will be downloaded and installed automatically. At least that’s how my replacement went last week.

My parity check is complete and i gave Limetech the goahead to transfer my license.  

I did a flash backup and used that with the USB creation tool to make a new flash drive.  I then copied the pro.key that they sent me with the one on the flash drive and plugged er' in and booted er' up.  

 

Another parity check has been started, hopefully this USB IS NOT READ-WRITE is behind me (it popped back up since then).  

 

Anyone know what is the cause of this kind of error?  Is it an issue with the physical drive or a software thing?

[trurl]

2 hours ago, danimal86 said:

Anyone know what is the cause of this kind of error?

Probably starts as a connection problem to the flash drive. USB2 ports are recommended and are often more reliable.

[danimal86]

12 hours ago, trurl said:

Probably starts as a connection problem to the flash drive. USB2 ports are recommended and are often more reliable.

Interesting.  I'm using both my old and new drives are both USB2 drives and i'm using one of those adapters to take a mobo usb2 connector and gives an usb port inside the case.  

I'll keep an eye out to see if it comes back.  

 

Would my diagnostics show that error now that i've migrated over to a new flash drive.  

[trurl]

syslog restarts on reboot so diagnostics after reboot don't show anything that happened before. They are usually asked for anyway because they show lots of other things about your hardware and configuration.

 

You could setup syslog server so syslogs would be saved, but not recommended to log to boot flash for extended time since that might cause problems of its own.

[danimal86]

1 hour ago, trurl said:

syslog restarts on reboot so diagnostics after reboot don't show anything that happened before. They are usually asked for anyway because they show lots of other things about your hardware and configuration.

 

You could setup syslog server so syslogs would be saved, but not recommended to log to boot flash for extended time since that might cause problems of its own.

i'll remember that moving forward if that error shows up again.