Cannot boot server - broken USB? Need help please!

[MaTi]

Hi all,

 

My Unraid server does no longer boot, after trying to reboot it last night.

I was trying to update one of my docker containers, like I always do, but it downloaded 0 bytes and the app (Plex) would no longer start as a result of that with no further errors. Also when tryign to view the logging it seemed empty.

 

Weird, so I figured 'lets try a reboot'.

Then nothing ever came back online anymore, so I checked with a monitor what was going on.

 

When booting it hangs halfway with errors on the screen.

Now, my linux knowledge is limited, but I 'think' it is trying to read content from the USB stick, which is failing.

 

1. Is this correct?

 

if no, please enlighten me  

 

If yes, then I guess I will have to replace the USB stick by creating a new one.

I then would like to do an attempt to see if I can recover any config files from the broken USB stick and manually copy them to a new stick. Which files/folders would be important? Also, I don't think these data are on the USB stick but on my hard drives. However, how do I ensure that if I make a new USB stick, Unraid will be using existing configs for docker and all its containers? (primarily the Plex config etc is important to me).

 

Thanks for all help, appreciated!

 

Edited December 22, 2023 by MaTi
additions

[itimpi]

You could try this process as it often fixes issues reading from the flash drive.

 

In terms of settings they are all stored on the flash drive in the 'config' folder.   You should see if you can make a copy of that while on a PC/Mac trying the process mentioned above.

[MaTi]

@itimpithanks! Will try that this afternoon. (something with work and being busy due to end of the year  ).

Just one last thing Id like to check with you for now though:

 

Should I still trust this current USB stick? Would it make more sense for me to go buy a new one, flash it with the normal Unraid installer and manually copy the config folder from the old/corrupted USB stick to it?

[MaTi]

So, I tried just that as I had many weird issues trying to copy the /config folder from the USB stick.

Went and bought a new one, which didn't work (usb3) as it wouldn't boot. Found an old 4GB one somewhere in a closet and used that. Copied back the contents of my old /config folder and got all up and running again (after also transfering the license to thenew usb).

 

Thanks for your help!!