I really don't know what to do here.  I have 2 unraid servers, both get USB drive failures every 3 weeks - 2 months of use.  Ive switched out to 3 different brands and it just keeps happening.  At some point Unraid will stop responding, nothing will work and will be filled with errors.  If I can manage to pull up the web ui after some time, I see no flash detected and cant stop the array or shutdown properly.  I cant SSH in at all.

After reboot, everything works fine again, for 1-2 months again.  I'm at my wits end here and about to abandon using Unraid because of its unreliability.  Is there anything that can be done here?  Can I somehow run Unraid NOT on USB Flash Drive?

1 hour ago, 007craft said:

Can I somehow run Unraid NOT on USB Flash Drive?

No

 

Perhaps post diagnostics so someone can see what is going on with your system

You can use a USB to mSATA or M.2 SATA adapter, but not all will work since Unraid reacquires a uniquie ID, IO can post links to models reported to work if you want one or the other.

Sometimes this happens when some Docker, Plugin or VM is using the Flash/Boot drive for storage--- Often this will be for temporary scratch files.  Have a good look through the directories for recent activity.    (Modern USB flash drives have very short lives if subjected to continuous write operations...)  

This has been happening to me lately, does anyone know of a more robust USB drive brand? I've been using Samsung 64GB Flash Drive USB 3.1 (BAR Plus)

On 4/10/2023 at 5:36 AM, Frank1940 said:

Sometimes this happens when some Docker, Plugin or VM is using the Flash/Boot drive for storage--- Often this will be for temporary scratch files.  Have a good look through the directories for recent activity.    (Modern USB flash drives have very short lives if subjected to continuous write operations...)  

What setting can you disable on Docker. Plugin or VM to prevent scratch files from writing to the USB Drive?

26 minutes ago, Nanuk_ said:

What setting can you disable on Docker. Plugin or VM to prevent scratch files from writing to the USB Drive?

Your question is the wrong way around! This will only be happening if you have actually configured something to use the flash drive.

2 hours ago, Nanuk_ said:

What setting can you disable on Docker. Plugin or VM to prevent scratch files from writing to the USB Drive?

There is no general setting to prevent writing to the Flash Drive. You have to search the configuration files for entries that begin with /boot and that is the flash drive.

Understand that heat and writes are the USB flash drives killers. Further understand that today manufacturers are trying to pack more and more GB's in the basically the same size package. (I can remember when 1GB was as big as you could buy.) They do this by reducing cell size which has the effect of increasing the temperature rise in cell itself when a write operation occurs. With more storage capacity, slow write speeds can make a 256GB flash drive virtually useless as it takes (what seems like) forever to finish large data transfers. So faster write speeds are being implemented. Faster write speeds = more power required = higher temperatures. (That is why USB2 drives are often recommended for use as Unraid boot drives. But USB2 drives have almost disappeared from the market.) What we have today is the perfect storm!

Best advice for increasing boot drive live is to minimize activity. Leave your Unraid server on 24-7. Minimize the number of Dockers, plugins and VM's you install. Don't be doing continuous updates and trials of dockers and VM's.

Disclosure: I don't use USB flash drives as my boot drives. I have two USB adapters that have a unique GUID back from the 2010-2015 era that hold SD memory cards. At the present time, I have an 8GB and 16GB SD cards in them. They have lasted for at least five years from when I upsized them from 1GB SD cards. BUT--- I run a very simple Unraid setup. I have only two Docker containers installed and no VM's. So I am probably not the typical Unraid user...