I believe my SSD cache drive has "died" and entered a read-only state. I would like to replace it, but am not sure the best way to go about that.

 

I've looked up a few guides on replacing cache drives, but most make use of CA apps to assist with the migration process. I don't think I can do that as Docker fails to start due to appdata (Only: Cache) and system (Prefer: Cache) being on the dead/dying cache drive.

 

I've got hardware to replace the cache drive, just don't know what's the best way to go about it. Would it be easier to add the new drive to the cache pool, then manually migrate the data over? Open to options. Thanks for any and all help.

 

unnasty-diagnostics-20230806-1053.zip

Following my instinct to migrate the data off the cache pool, I have followed steps 1-5 of this help article https://docs.unraid.net/unraid-os/manual/storage-management#reformatting-a-cache-drive

 

Changing the Cache settings of my Shares to all be "No" or "Yes: Cache" allowed the Mover to do...something. diff'ing the shares/appdata.cfg from my earlier diagnostics and the one in this post makes me think I've successfully migrated the data as a disk was added to the list of where data resides. Unfortunately, since my Cache drive is read-only, nothing gets changed on it. So.. I think I have all the data off of the drive, but it's technically in some limbo/duplicated state. This seems like a place for "fun" edge cases.

 

I think my next step is to essentially add a step between 6 (stop array) and 7 (start array) in the "Reformatting a cache drive" article (linked above) where I physically add the drive to the box. Then remove the old cache drive from the array configuration and replace it with the new drive. 

 

I may get impatient and give it a go, but it'd be nice to have some confirmation for a confidence booster. Thanks for any and all help.

unnasty-diagnostics-20230806-1547.zip

10 hours ago, blitzvergnugen said:

I think my next step is to essentially add a step between 6 (stop array) and 7 (start array) in the "Reformatting a cache drive" article (linked above) where I physically add the drive to the box. Then remove the old cache drive from the array configuration and replace it with the new drive. 

That should work, if you confirmed all data was copied.

Well, I messed something up as the configs to my docker apps did not come back. I was able to pull the old cache drive out and put it in an enclosure, then use the Unassigned Devices plugin to retrieve and restore them. 

 

I think what could have been better would be to set my appdata share to Yes: Cache and invoking the mover (as mentioned above). Then set appdata to No: Cache and install one of the appdata backup apps/plugins. 

 

Either way, that's my next step is to install an appdata backup apps. Hope this is useful to anyone who encounters this situation in the future.