USB drive will not boot, can I reinstall Undraid on a new USB without losing data?

[Erik M]

This morning I assume bricked the USB drive that Unraid is on as it will not boot. 

I know I can install Unraid on a new drive.

I unfortunately do not have a backup to restore (Lesson learned, I will have monthly backups after this is fixed)

I would like to do this with out losing any data.

The array was (5) 4TB HDD's. (1) Parity and (4) Data. I did have (2 docker containers installed, Krusader and Plex Media Server. I'm at work right now so I cant look but I'm 90% sure I marked which drive was the Parity and I do know which drive is assigned as #2 in the array as I just replaced that a week ago.

 

I believe that after installing Unraid on the new USB, I need to go into the config file and turn off the Autostart Array feature before I try and boot the server.

After that, I'm lost.  From what I've read, I need to set up the new array assigning the disks exactly as they are now.

Assuming I do know which drive is the Parity, I can assign that as such and Drive 2 as well. For the remaining 3 data drives, how can I determine which is drive 1, 3 and 4?

 

And I assume I'll have to redo the shares which I think I can handle and then reinstall Plex and redo that whole mess.

 

Can anyone provide me some guidance on how to do this without losing any data?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

 

[AndrewZ]

From another computer, make a copy of the /config folder on the flash drive

 

Setup (USB Flash Creator or manually) another stick.  Copy the /config folder onto the flash drive.

 

System should walk you through transferring the registration to a new flash drive.  If it doesn't, then you're not eligible for the automated system, and send a copy / paste (no screenshots) of what appears in Tools - Registration via https://unraid.net/contact

 

Your data (even in an absolute worst case scenario) is completely safe, and if the /config folder is intact with no corruption, you won't need to reconfigure anything at all.

[Erik M]

I tried to copy the config file but the usb drive is corrupt and it would only copy 30 of 146 files in the config folder.

I did look at the physical HDD's in the array and I had labeled them as 1, 2, 3, 4 & Parity. Given that, I should be able to rebuild with out Unraid preclearing. Correct?

 

Update: 

I did manage to reinstall Unraid and updated the registration successfully.

I have assigned the drives to the array as they were but the Parity drive has this message next to it. 

All existing data on this device will be OVERWRITTEN when array is Started. I haven't started the array yet.

If my thinking is correct, this just means that the parity drive is going to go through the 4 data drives and set itself up without clearing the data drives. Am I correct? I am paranoid, that I do know!

 

I did just see a little checkbox next to the start array button that if checked says parity is already valid. If I check that will it not have to clear the parity drive and just start working normal?

Edited May 18, 2022 by Erik M
Added info

[JonathanM]

1 hour ago, Erik M said:

 

I did just see a little checkbox next to the start array button that if checked says parity is already valid. If I check that will it not have to clear the parity drive and just start working normal?

Assuming you assigned the drives accurately, yes. You still need to do a parity check to be sure things are synced up, but there should be few if any errors.

 

If you are at all unsure about which drive is parity, don't proceed until you are absolutely positive, as the drive assigned to the parity slot will be overwritten. Drives in the data slots will be left as is.

[Erik M]

2 hours ago, Erik M said:

I tried to copy the config file but the usb drive is corrupt and it would only copy 30 of 146 files in the config folder.

I did look at the physical HDD's in the array and I had labeled them as 1, 2, 3, 4 & Parity. Given that, I should be able to rebuild with out Unraid preclearing. Correct?

Wonderful! Thank you for your assistance. I'm sure about the drive as I labeled them wih their serial # and the order. Glad I did that!