Parity Checking after Drive Clearing? Is this normal?


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So I just made some configuration changes and I don't remember this behavior I'm currently encountering.  Just checking if it is normal or if there is a way I can move forward and stop it. 

I added new drives to my array and Cleared them.  As soon as the Clear process was complete, Unraid started an unscheduled Parity Check.  Is this normal behavior? 

I also replaced my Parity drive with a larger one before I assigned  those new drives to the array.  So I'm on day 3 of Unraid just running painfully long processes and there is no end in sight. There is no button to Cancel the Parity Check that is currently happening, and I don't fully understand why it is running.  I don't remember this happening last time I reconfigured my Array, but it has been a while since then.

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Yea I was trying to simplify the explanation and maybe I overcorrected.  

 

- I swapped my 10TB Parity drive for a new 14TB Parity drive and let Unraid Rebuild Parity.  That took approximately 24 hours.  
- I then assigned a handful of new drives to my Array.  One of which was that previous 10Tb Parity drive.  Unraid then went through the Clearing Process.  That took about 24 hours as well.

- As soon as the "Clear" Process completed, Unraid immediately started a Parity Check.  That has been going for 13 hours now and has another 13 left (by Unraid's estimate). 

I'm confused as to why the Parity Check began when the drives were cleared.  Also there doesn't seem to be any way to stop the Parity Check that is currently running.  On the "Main" page I only have the option to "Reboot" or "Shutdown" nothing else.  

Does the system need to immediately Rebuild Parity again because I added new drives?  I can kind of get that, it is just frustrating as I'm now 3 days into just trying to get some more storage in my NAS.

Diagnostic ZIP added.

hrh-unraid-diagnostics-20220610-1131.zip

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I didn’t do a Parity Swap, I just unassigned my old Parity drive and assigned the new larger drive. Unraid rebuilt parity just fine. That’s exactly as the documentation on Parity Swap said to do it. At least how I read it. 

My Parity Check is scheduled for Sundays at 10pm. So I guess maybe Unraid got confused on the date? I specifically double checked before I posted here, it’s still set to Sundays at 10pm, weekly. 
 

I’ve refreshed the GUI a couple times on the machine itself (hooked up to a screen with a keyboard) and on multiple of my computers on my network. There is no Stop button that I can find. Main just shows “Reboot” / “Shutdown” at the bottom of the array list. On the Dashboard it just tells me the progress of the Parity-Check but gives me no options. 

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Here are some screenshots demonstrating what I'm seeing.  As for the "new config" thing, I hadn't seen reference to that when looking up assigning new drives, so I didn't look at it until just now.  Seems like maybe the way I should have gone.

The Disk 5 that is in "error" has been that way since day 1 (well over a year now).  I know I should have addressed it, but never have.  It is a shucked 10TB WD drive so I never wanted to hassle with warranty replacement.  I know, shame on me, but it has never hiccuped so far and clearly its getting used.

Screen Shot 2022-06-10 at 12.28.42 PM.png

Screen Shot 2022-06-10 at 12.29.01 PM.png

Screen Shot 2022-06-10 at 12.29.20 PM.png

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Those screen shots are weird - I would not have thought a parity check could be started until the array is started..    maybe you have managed to trigger some unexpected edge case (and if so it would be nice if we could work out how to reproduce it) so it could be fixed).

 

it would be possible to stop the parity check from the command line, but at this point I would recommend that you let it finish as I am not sure what the state would be if you stopped the check.

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15 minutes ago, itimpi said:

Those screen shots are weird - I would not have thought a parity check could be started until the array is started..    maybe you have managed to trigger some unexpected edge case (and if so it would be nice if we could work out how to reproduce it) so it could be fixed).

 

it would be possible to stop the parity check from the command line, but at this point I would recommend that you let it finish as I am not sure what the state would be if you stopped the check.

Yea I’m feeling like it’s gonna be my safest bet to just let it ride out the Parity-Check. Thank you for the input. 
 

If I can provide any more (or clearer) details, let me know. 

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2 hours ago, MandicReally said:

My Parity Check is scheduled for Sundays at 10pm. So I guess maybe Unraid got confused on the date? I specifically double checked before I posted here, it’s still set to Sundays at 10pm, weekly. 

Why are you doing weekly parity checks? Parity checks aren't required for parity to be up-to-date. Unraid parity is updated realtime. Parity checks just confirm that parity is up-to-date. Many do monthly checks, some less frequently. I probably only do my backup server a couple of times a year, since it is powered down most of the time.

 

1 hour ago, itimpi said:

not sure what the state would be if you stopped the check

Not sure what the state is anyway since the screenshots indicate the array is stopped.

 

Also, df in diagnostics shows disks 1-5 mounted and vars shows those, none disabled, plus 6-9 unmountable I assume because not yet formatted.

 

2 hours ago, MandicReally said:

Disk 5 that is in "error"

I assume you are talking about that SMART warning on the Dashboard. The only thing I see in SMART attributes for that disk that would cause a warning is a single CRC. Usually we just acknowledge those (click on the icon) since it just means the drive recorded inconsistent data received usually due to connection problem, and the data is resent so nothing to worry about. If they continue to increase you will get warned again and can consider whether to check connections.

 

One thing I noticed in syslog is it looked like multiple new disks were added at the same time. I would assume Unraid would begin clearing all the new disks so parity would remain valid. Still wonder if New Config was invoked at some point.

 

Very confusing.

 

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