SidebandSamurai Posted March 2, 2022 Share Posted March 2, 2022 Good morning everyone. I am looking for advice. I have been using unraid for the past 7 years. I love the product. Last week I noticed that unraid had disabled my parity drive. I purchased a new 10TB Ironwolf drive which arrived the next day. Its currently in the pre-clear stage before I install it. Last night a parity check ran which was unexpected as the former parity drive is actually not in the system. I have the server run parity checks every month on the 1st. This has worked out for me perfectly. I have everything on my media server. My internet router (PFSense VM) as well as Plex my media back end. So far I am not experienceing any probelmes but I do have a concern. After the parity read ran last night Unraid reported: Last check completed on Tue 01 Mar 2022 08:48:10 AM PST (yesterday) Finding 384 errors Duration: 8 hours, 48 minutes, 9 seconds. Average speed: 94.7 MB/sec Next check scheduled on Fri 01 Apr 2022 12:00:00 AM PDT Due in: 29 days, 16 hours, 56 minutes so ... for the size of array I felt that was not too bad. but before I commision the new parity drive into service, I want to make sure that the system is ok and the Parity will not be incorrect when its re-calculated. Please find enclosed my Dignostics file. Thank you for your help. Sincerley, SidebandSamurai davyjones-diagnostics-20220302-0556.zip Quote Link to comment
JorgeB Posted March 2, 2022 Share Posted March 2, 2022 26 minutes ago, SidebandSamurai said: Last night a parity check ran which was unexpected as the former parity drive is actually not in the system. Without parity Unraid does a read check, the errors are no sync errors, but read errors, from disk2 which is failing, since there's no parity best way to try and recover as much data as possible is to use ddrescue, then you can sync parity with the cloned disk. Quote Link to comment
SidebandSamurai Posted March 2, 2022 Author Share Posted March 2, 2022 (edited) Thank you very much for your quick reply. So what you are saying ... before I install the new parity drive I need to address the issue with the read errors first? Your article using DDRescue was excellent by the way. Right now as it stands, the system is up and running without parity and with Drive 2 failing with read errors. Edited March 2, 2022 by SidebandSamurai Quote Link to comment
JorgeB Posted March 2, 2022 Share Posted March 2, 2022 27 minutes ago, SidebandSamurai said: So what you are saying ... before I install the new parity drive I need to address the issue with the read errors first? You can add parity first, but there will be read errors from disk2 during the sync, so Unraid won't be able to then correctly rebuild it. Quote Link to comment
JonathanM Posted March 2, 2022 Share Posted March 2, 2022 The way I see it, you have 2 options. Attempt to build parity with the failing drive2 included, followed immediately be replacing drive2 and letting it rebuild from parity, or use the ddrescue to clone as much as possible from disk2 to a new drive, then use that new drive as disk2 and build parity from that set. Since both paths end up at the same place, I think ddrescue is a much better option since it's designed to handle failing media, where the parity building process asks for the data and if the drive doesn't immediately provide it, it gives up and moves on. ddrescue utilizes a bunch of strategies to cajole the drive and extract every available bit. How much would losing the data on drive2 hurt? If you have full backups and it's just a hassle, then I'd be tempted to give the parity build first a try. If you don't have good backups, ddrescue gives the best chance of intact recovery. Quote Link to comment
JorgeB Posted March 2, 2022 Share Posted March 2, 2022 4 minutes ago, JonathanM said: I think ddrescue is a much better option since it's designed to handle failing media, where the parity building process asks for the data and if the drive doesn't immediately provide it, it gives up and moves on. ddrescue utilizes a bunch of strategies to cajole the drive and extract every available bit. This and it's possible to list the corrupt files, unlike with the other option, unless there are pre-existing checksums. Quote Link to comment
trurl Posted March 2, 2022 Share Posted March 2, 2022 @SidebandSamurai 3 hours ago, JorgeB said: disk2 which is failing Since you seemed unaware of this, I assume you don't have Notifications setup to alert you immediately by email or other agent as soon as a problem is detected. Or you have been ignoring the notifications. You must take care of these problems as soon as they appear. Don't let an ignored problem become multiple problems and data loss. You can also see SMART warnings for the drive on the Dashboard page, and by clicking on the drive to get to its Attributes. You actually have 4 different SMART warnings for that disk. Also note that it's possible the only thing wrong with your original parity disk was a bad connection, but since it wasn't in diagnostics can't tell. If it is OK and not out-of-sync (nothing written to any array disks while it was disabled or missing) you could rebuild disk2 from that. Quote Link to comment
SidebandSamurai Posted March 2, 2022 Author Share Posted March 2, 2022 @trurl Quote Since you seemed unaware of this, I assume you don't have Notifications setup to alert you immediately by email or other agent as soon as a problem is detected. yes guilty as charged. I have since corrected this issue. but its like closing the door after the horses have already left the barn. Quote Or you have been ignoring the notifications. You must take care of these problems as soon as they appear. Don't let an ignored problem become multiple problems and data loss. Yes this is also the case. Until recently it has been a money issue. I now have started to have a little discretionary income which is why it went so long without addressing it. It was only after the Parity drive was disabled that I pushed for the replacement drive that is now testing. My wife has promised me a second 10T drive next payday. She knows how important this system is to the family. Quote Also note that it's possible the only thing wrong with your original parity disk was a bad connection, but since it wasn't in diagnostics can't tell. If it is OK and not out-of-sync (nothing written to any array disks while it was disabled or missing) you could rebuild disk2 from that. No this was not a connection issue, I am certain of that. This system has been rock solid for 7 years. Which means the 3T drives are the original drives in this system. It has been in continuous use for the 7 years without problems. I believe they are 3T green drives if I remember correctly. The cables I use all have locking tabs on them and I am using the 5x3 hotswap bay. I have 3 of these bays in an mid tower case. This was back when they made mid-tower cases with the ability to put that many drives in one case. Quote Link to comment
SidebandSamurai Posted March 2, 2022 Author Share Posted March 2, 2022 So I believe I will go the ddrescue route. cloning the smaller drive to the bigger one is not an issue, after the clone is done will the drive show up as a 3T drive or a 10T drive in the array? I will have to locate another drive to put in as a temporary because I only have one 10T drive and that has to be the parity drive. Quote Link to comment
JorgeB Posted March 2, 2022 Share Posted March 2, 2022 11 minutes ago, SidebandSamurai said: cloning the smaller drive to the bigger one is not an issue, after the clone is done will the drive show up as a 3T drive or a 10T drive in the array? Unraid won't accept that since it requires the partition to use the full device capacity, but you can always copy data from the clone to other drives after mounting it with for example UD pluign. Quote Link to comment
SidebandSamurai Posted March 2, 2022 Author Share Posted March 2, 2022 @JorgeB Quote Unraid won't accept that since it requires the partition to use the full device capacity, but you can always copy data from the clone to other drives after mounting it with for example UD pluign. So this is the Chicken before the egg scenario. So If I clone the drive I will loose the whole array because at that point two drives will have now "failed". Sick with me here. The reason I say this is If I choose to clone this drive to a larger 10T drive the array will not accept the drive because the partition is not the full capacity of the drive. thus the array is now down. This looks to me the only solution is to rebuild the parity just as it is then replace the failing drive. Would this be correct? or would I have to expand the partition on the new drive to occupy the entire disk. THEN unraid will be sort of happy. As I have not completely read your article on ddrescue I might have missed a step. I don't have space on the remaining good drives, they are all full. Quote Link to comment
trurl Posted March 2, 2022 Share Posted March 2, 2022 23 minutes ago, SidebandSamurai said: they are all full Another bad place to arrive at. 25 minutes ago, SidebandSamurai said: loose the whole array New Config will let you make a new array out of the remaining disks. Since each disk is independent in Unraid, they aren't lost. 1 hour ago, SidebandSamurai said: not a connection issue, I am certain of that. Do you still have that original parity drive? Maybe it is in better condition than disk2. 3 hours ago, trurl said: since it wasn't in diagnostics can't tell Quote Link to comment
SidebandSamurai Posted March 2, 2022 Author Share Posted March 2, 2022 Quote Do you still have that original parity drive? Maybe it is in better condition than disk2. I do, and what would you like me to do with it? Quote Link to comment
trurl Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 Post diagnostics with it plugged in so we can take a look at its health. Quote Link to comment
SidebandSamurai Posted March 3, 2022 Author Share Posted March 3, 2022 No problem. My 10T drive is still in pre-clear. when it finishes I will put the 3T parity back in the system. It will take a few days. Quote Link to comment
JorgeB Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 14 hours ago, SidebandSamurai said: So this is the Chicken before the egg scenario. If don't have enough space on the array on can do this: -do a new config with the larger cloned disk and all the remaining disks -start array to begin parity sync, the cloned disk will be unmountable due to unsupported partition layout -wait for the parity sync to finish -stop array -unassign that disk -start array, emulated disk will now have the correct 10TB partition created and should mount immediatly -stop array -re-assign the disk to rebuild on top, now using the new larger partition. Quote Link to comment
SidebandSamurai Posted March 3, 2022 Author Share Posted March 3, 2022 @JorgeB The method you stated above is only if the original parity drive is still good, right? Right now I am waiting on my new 10T to complete a pre-clear which will take a couple of days. Quote Link to comment
trurl Posted March 3, 2022 Share Posted March 3, 2022 1 hour ago, SidebandSamurai said: The method you stated above is only if the original parity drive is still good, right? The method begins by syncing parity, and doesn't continue until after parity sync has completed. Then the cloned disk is rebuilt from parity so it has the correct partition. Quote Link to comment
SidebandSamurai Posted March 6, 2022 Author Share Posted March 6, 2022 (edited) @trurl Quote The method begins by syncing parity, and doesn't continue until after parity sync has completed. Then the cloned disk is rebuilt from parity so it has the correct partition. Now this does not make any sense. so let me ask you a question. in unraid when you have a parity protected array, the parity must be the largest drive in the array. Correct? Going on that assumption, I can not use a 3T cloaned disk to a 10T drive because (and my apologies because you can see this in the original posting of my diagnostics) because the drive was removed from the system, My parity drive is only 3T. Its serial number is W1F12655 My pre-clear has finished. my 10T drive did 3 pre-clear cycles with no errors. I have re-installed the failing 3T parity drive in exactly the same slot it came out of and re-ran the diagnostics. Please advise. Thank you for the time you have spent with me. It is appreaciated. davyjones-diagnostics-20220305-2322.zip Edited March 6, 2022 by SidebandSamurai Quote Link to comment
JorgeB Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 2 hours ago, SidebandSamurai said: My parity drive is only 3T. If current parity is 3TB then no, you can't use a 10TB in the array, use the old parity to clone the bad disk then use the 10TB as the new parity when you do the new config. Quote Link to comment
trurl Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 5 hours ago, SidebandSamurai said: serial number is W1F12655 yes that drive is failing In order to clone the data disk, you need another disk. If the other disk is the same size as the original data disk, then you don't have the problem of needing to rebuild the cloned disk to fix its partition size. If the other disk is not the same size as the original data disk, then you need to rebuild it from parity after cloning to fix the partition size. That requires that you already have parity built on a new disk. So, you can't do this without having another disk besides the one you precleared to use as parity. Quote Link to comment
trurl Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 Or you could just New Config and rebuild parity without that data disk, and worry about its contents later. On 3/2/2022 at 12:06 PM, JonathanM said: How much would losing the data on drive2 hurt? If you have full backups and it's just a hassle, then I'd be tempted to give the parity build first a try. If you don't have good backups, ddrescue gives the best chance of intact recovery. Do you have another copy of anything important and irreplaceable? Quote Link to comment
JorgeB Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 1 minute ago, trurl said: yes that drive is failing Oops, sorry, forgot old parity was failing, like trurl mentioned in you need another drive. Quote Link to comment
trurl Posted March 6, 2022 Share Posted March 6, 2022 3 hours ago, JorgeB said: use the old parity to clone the bad disk Looks like old parity is also bad Quote Link to comment
SidebandSamurai Posted March 6, 2022 Author Share Posted March 6, 2022 Thanks for all your responses. so the plan of action would be ... Pull the failing disk 2 Pull the bad Parity drive. Do a new config build an array with the new 10T drive and the remeainng drives. recover as much data from Drive 2 add a new 10T drive (yes the minimum drive will now be 10T) to take the place of the old 3T drive copy recovered data back to the array. Would there be any other suggestions? If I do a new config, what would happen with my VMs and Dockers, plugins and how everything is setup? Quote Link to comment
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