Parity drive replacement led to "disk is disabled, contents emulated" followed by "New Device"

[mfarlow]

I wanted to upgrade my parity drive to something larger so that I could add larger drives to my array.  I started by powering down the server, installing the new larger drive, and restarting the server.  The new drive shows up just fine and everything looks good.  I stop the array, unassign the old parity drive and assign the new parity drive.  Start the array and let it rebuild the parity drive.  Everything was going smooth until I noticed a little red X on Disk4.  I immediately stopped the parity rebuild, and stopped the array. In retrospect, I am not sure that was the wisest of decisions.

 

I ran a SMART test on Disk4 only to find out the drive, thankfully,  had no errors.  So I figured it may have been the SAS cable going bad.  I shutdown the server, replaced the SAS breakout cable, and restarted the server.  Now the device names for the drives are all different, and Disk4 is listed as a new device.  

 

My drive assignments prior to this endeavor:

Parity    WDC_WD101EMAZ-11G7DA0_VCH2GM6P - 10 TB (sdb)

Disk 1    WDC_WD101EMAZ-11G7DA0_VCH464BM - 10 TB (sde)
Disk 2    WDC_WD101EMAZ-11G7DA0_VCH00BJP - 10 TB (sdd)
Disk 3    WDC_WD101EMAZ-11G7DA0_VCGWBT7P - 10 TB (sdf)
Disk 4    WDC_WD101EMAZ-11G7DA0_VCH0592P - 10 TB (sdh)
Disk 5    WDC_WD101EMAZ-11G7DA0_VCGSPPXP - 10 TB (sdg)
Disk 6    WDC_WD101EMAZ-11G7DA0_VCH16Y5P - 10 TB (sdi)
Disk 7    WDC_WD101EMAZ-11G7DA0_VCGEMZNM - 10 TB (sdj)

 

My drive assignments with the new parity drive:

Parity    WDC_WD101EMAZ-11G7DA0_VCH2GM6P - 10 TB (sdk)

Disk 1    WDC_WD101EMAZ-11G7DA0_VCH464BM - 10 TB (sde)
Disk 2    WDC_WD101EMAZ-11G7DA0_VCH00BJP - 10 TB (sdd)
Disk 3    WDC_WD101EMAZ-11G7DA0_VCGWBT7P - 10 TB (sdf)
Disk 4    WDC_WD101EMAZ-11G7DA0_VCH0592P - 10 TB (sdh)
Disk 5    WDC_WD101EMAZ-11G7DA0_VCGSPPXP - 10 TB (sdg)
Disk 6    WDC_WD101EMAZ-11G7DA0_VCH16Y5P - 10 TB (sdi)
Disk 7    WDC_WD101EMAZ-11G7DA0_VCGEMZNM - 10 TB (sdj)

 

My current drive assignments after replacing the SAS cable:

Parity    WDC_WD101EMAZ-11G7DA0_VCH2GM6P - 10 TB (sdb)  (I reset back to the original parity drive)
Disk 1    WDC_WD101EMAZ-11G7DA0_VCH464BM - 10 TB (sde)
Disk 2    WDC_WD101EMAZ-11G7DA0_VCH00BJP - 10 TB (sdd)
Disk 3    WDC_WD101EMAZ-11G7DA0_VCGWBT7P - 10 TB (sdf)
Disk 4    WDC_WD101EMAZ-11G7DA0_VCH0592P - 10 TB (sdg)
Disk 5    WDC_WD101EMAZ-11G7DA0_VCGSPPXP - 10 TB (sdi)
Disk 6    WDC_WD101EMAZ-11G7DA0_VCH16Y5P - 10 TB (sdh)
Disk 7    WDC_WD101EMAZ-11G7DA0_VCGEMZNM - 10 TB (sdk)

 

Since parity on the new parity drive is not correct, I want to set the parity assignement back to the old parity drive which should still be correct.  Unfortunately since Unraid no longer recognizes that as the parity drive, it leaves me with "Too many wrong and/or missing disks!".

 

At this point I am unsure how to proceed.  I am thinking since all the drives have the correct data, I can use the new configuration tool, but I don't know if that will affect the parity drive in any way, or how it will deal with Disk4 having a new drive designation.  Maybe I am thinking too much into it, but I would rather move forward with some advice than go blindly into it an loose data.  I truly appreciate any suggestion or advice.
 

[JorgeB]

Please post the diagnostics.

[mfarlow]

Sorry, forgot about that.

tower-diagnostics-20230619-0851.zip

[JorgeB]

Diags are after rebooting so we cannot see what happened, but disk4 look OK, run an extended SMART test and if it passes try to re-sync new parity.

[mfarlow]

I ran the SMART test and it passed with no errors.  I beleive the disk is fine, it was just a bad cable, the problem is that I cannot restart the array dut to too many wrong or missing disks.   Is there another way of re-syncing the parity?  

[JorgeB]

You can do a new config and re-sync parity.

[mfarlow]

First of all, thank you so much for the quick responses.  I really appreciate the help, and I appologize for some many questions.
Doing the new config, do I need to preserve any of the assignments?  Should I be using the new larger parity drive or go back to the old one first to get the array sorted out?

[JorgeB]

17 minutes ago, mfarlow said:

Doing the new config, do I need to preserve any of the assignments?

Yes, preserve all.

 

17 minutes ago, mfarlow said:

Should I be using the new larger parity drive or go back to the old one first to get the array sorted out?

Use the new larger one, keep the old one intact for now, but it will only remain mostly valid if you don't write to the array.

[mfarlow]

Thanks, that's exactly what I needed.  I appreciate all your help!!