[SOLVED] Disk Failure - Unraid 4.5.6 - Upgrade to new version, 4k mode

[DrMexSS]

Hi!

 

My situation before the problem:

Software: Unraid plus version 4.5.6.

Hardware: A system with 6 disks (1 parity 5 data)

Disks: Model - Temperature

Parity : WD20EARS - 38º

Disk 1 : ST31000528AS - 35º

Disk 2 : WD20EARS - 35º

Disk 3 : WD20EARS - 35º

Disk 4 : ST31000528AS - 35º

Disk 5 : WD20EARS - 36º

 

When I did the last software upgrade the newest version was 4.5.6 so I wasn't aware of the jumpered/unjumpered thing. Therefore, all the EARS drives are unjumpered (as I bought them) and I suppose that aligned at sector 63.

My parity check speed was about 90 MB/s

When copying a big file to the server the speed was about 15 MB/s

 

The problem:

Disk 5 (WD20EARS) has failed. The symptoms were greater temperatures than others disks (44º) and some read errors appeared (green ball and log said that). However, today, while doing a parity check, the system has stopped and the disk 5 has a beautiful red ball.

 

What I want:

-Repair the disk (repleace it with a new WD20EARS)

-Upgrade the system to unraid 4.7 or better.

-Put all the disks in 4k mode (64 sector)

 

The Question:

What are the correct order of steps?

What version of unraid should I use? 4.7 or the last v5 beta?

 

Thank you so much.

 

 

[ohlwiler]

I would suggest that you run a smart report on the problematic WD drive.

 

http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php?title=Troubleshooting#What_do_I_do_if_I_get_a_red_ball_next_to_a_hard_disk.3F

 

If you wish to replace the drive and use a WD EARS drive, I would use the jumper and perform the disk swap. In order to utilize the 4k alignment you need to be running 4.7. You should get your problem solved first. I would strongly advise against moving to 4k alignment. It would involve moving the data to another disk, removing the disk from the array, preclear the removed disk, add the drive back in the array, and then move the data back. Probably 3-4 days per disk for very little benefit. Aligned and unaligned disks can coexist in an array.

 

If you are concerned about loss of performance on the EARS drives you could perform this procedure:

 

http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php?title=Advanced_Format_Drives

[DrMexSS]

thanks!

 

I will do what you suggest but I have a dubt: Should I first upgrade to version 4.7?

 

I see two possibilities:

 

A) Upgrade to 4.7. Then replace the disk5 with a new EARS (but with a jumper). Rebuild. Finally apply the procedure of putting a jumper in each other EARS drive following the steps of http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php?title=Advanced_Format_Drives

 

B) Replace disk5 with a new EARS (but with a jumper). Rebuild. Upgrade to 4.7. Finally apply the procedure of putting a jumper in each other EARS drive

 

Which one is the best?

 

Thank you.

[prostuff1]

thanks!

 

I will do what you suggest but I have a dubt: Should I first upgrade to version 4.7?

 

I see two possibilities:

 

A) Upgrade to 4.7. Then replace the disk5 with a new EARS (but with a jumper). Rebuild. Finally apply the procedure of putting a jumper in each other EARS drive following the steps of http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php?title=Advanced_Format_Drives

 

B) Replace disk5 with a new EARS (but with a jumper). Rebuild. Upgrade to 4.7. Finally apply the procedure of putting a jumper in each other EARS drive

 

Which one is the best?

 

Thank you.

B

 

Do not update your unRAID version until you have a healthy and working array.

[Joe L.]

thanks!

 

I will do what you suggest but I have a dubt: Should I first upgrade to version 4.7?

 

I see two possibilities:

 

A) Upgrade to 4.7. Then replace the disk5 with a new EARS (but with a jumper). Rebuild. Finally apply the procedure of putting a jumper in each other EARS drive following the steps of http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php?title=Advanced_Format_Drives

 

B) Replace disk5 with a new EARS (but with a jumper). Rebuild. Upgrade to 4.7. Finally apply the procedure of putting a jumper in each other EARS drive

 

Which one is the best?

 

Thank you.

B

 

Do not update your unRAID version until you have a healthy and working array.

I 1000% agree...

[lionelhutz]

I say never change the jumper on a working WD disk. Doing so has caused headaches for a number of people.

 

Do not mess with the unRAID version at this time. Put a jumper on the new disk and replace and rebuild the failed disk.

 

If you ~must~ correct the other disks then you can upgrade to 4.7 after the array is healthy again. You then basically do this;

Set the disk aligment setting to 4k-aligned.

Unassign one disk from the array and start the array. It should appear as missing with no disk serial number given for the missing disk.

Clear the MBR of the unassigned disk.

Stop the array and assign the disk back to the array so that unRAID will rebuild on it.

Repeat for each disk until they are all changed.

 

Be aware that you can lose the data on 2 disk each time you do this if another disk just happens to fail during the process.

 

Peter

 

[DrMexSS]

 

Thank you so much for your responses. This is such a great community!

 

I will do that. Maintain version 4.5.6, replace the failed disk with a new jumpered drive and prey for a good rebuilding.

 

In a next chapter I will do the upgrade.

 

Thank you so much.

 

 

[ohlwiler]

In my testing if you rebuild a disk the MBR alignment that was present on the old disk will be present on the new disk regardless of the "Settings/Disk Settings/default partition format". It makes using a EARS drive as a spare a little tricky. If the drive being replaced was unaligned then you should use the jumper, if aligned then you should not use the jumper.

[Joe L.]

In my testing if you rebuild a disk the MBR alignment that was present on the old disk will be present on the new disk regardless of the "Settings/Disk Settings/default partition format". It makes using a EARS drive as a spare a little tricky. If the drive being replaced was unaligned then you should use the jumper, if aligned then you should not use the jumper.

And that is why the MBR must be cleared, as instructed in the prior post by lionhutz.  Otherwise, the same partition start as previously used on that disk by unRAID will be used.

[lionelhutz]

In my testing if you rebuild a disk the MBR alignment that was present on the old disk will be present on the new disk regardless of the "Settings/Disk Settings/default partition format". It makes using a EARS drive as a spare a little tricky. If the drive being replaced was unaligned then you should use the jumper, if aligned then you should not use the jumper.

 

In my testing, I found the alignment setting was used. I have changed/re-arranged drives and now have 2 or 3 which are 4k-aligned where the originals in those slots were not.

 

You probably tested this using disks which had a valid partition (pre-cleared or pre-used in unRAID) and in those cases the partition gets re-used, meaning it won't be moved to sector 64.

 

Peter

 

[ohlwiler]

My bad, I forgot to zero the MBR, I just repeated my test and found my error.