Potential boot USB failure - key loss / corruption, unable to back up, unable to link key to account

[VanGoghComplex]

Hello! I woke up this morning to my NAS shares not responding, and went to check on my server and found the attached.

 

This is a paid Plus license from before the licensing change. It's been in service and on this flash drive for the last couple years.

 

Once I get into the menus on the server, I get this message:

 

Also, the UI in general is kindof a mess:

 

I've attempted to take a backup of the flash drive, but get a 404 Not Found error.
I've attempted to download the diagnostic log, but get a 404 Not Found error.

I've attempted to install the key using the key file URL from the email from the original purchase. It shows "Downloading... ERROR:1" in the Install Key dialogue.
I've attempted to login to Unraid.net to link the license file to the USB key. I get this error:



My array (and the services on it) are still alive, but I'm worried about rebooting the server and having it not come back up.

I've ordered a new USB drive and it should arrive tomorrow.

Is there anything I missed?

[JonathanM]

Do you have a current list of your drive assignments?

 

Do you have ANY flash drive backups?

 

https://docs.unraid.net/unraid-os/manual/changing-the-flash-device/

[VanGoghComplex]

My array is still running and the menu is still (more or less) navigable, so I took a screenshot of the assignments.

 

I thought I had a flash backup, but am having trouble locating it. It's possible that it's saved to my array.

 

Guess those questions mean my flash drive is toast, eh?

 

[JonathanM]

5 minutes ago, VanGoghComplex said:

Guess those questions mean my flash drive is toast, eh?

Not conclusively, but it's good to be prepared for the worst.

 

After you are satisfied you have done everything you can do before the inevitable, stop the array, then power down. Doesn't really matter if you use the shutdown function of Unraid or just kill the power, as long as the array is stopped before you kill it.

 

Then put the USB drive in another machine and see if it's readable. If so, make a copy of the config folder immediately. If it's not readable, even after a checkdisk, then proceed with disaster recovery.

[VanGoghComplex]

Gotcha. I will wait until I have the planned replacement drive in-hand and then proceed. Thank you for the quick response!

[JonathanM]

Keep in mind that without a writeable flash, any changes to configuration will be lost. I'd keep the array usage to a bare minimum just to be safe.

[VanGoghComplex]

Alright, finally got home and have enough time to work on this. I was unable to pull a backup from the server via the web UI while it was running, as the USB was throwing I/O errors any time I attempted to access it.

 

I pulled the drive from the server and plugged it into my laptop. Windows told me it had errors and to repair it. I did not, and copied the entire drive to a folder on my laptop. A few files failed to copy.

 

After that, I told Windows to go ahead and repair it, after which I copied it to a new folder on my laptop. This time the whole copy succeeded. So now I've got a pre-Windows-repair copy of the drive and a post-Windows-repair copy.

 

I've downloaded and used the USB Flash Creator to make a fresh flash drive on a new device. From here, what do I want to do? I know the config folder is necessary. I want to just copy the whole backup over the new drive and let it replace everything it asks about, but I'm not sure that's correct.

 

[JonathanM]

3 hours ago, VanGoghComplex said:

From here, what do I want to do?

The config folder should have all your customizations, so that's the only folder that you need to copy.

 

All those files should be plain text except for the super.dat file which has your drive assignments, so if you take a look at the files you suspect could be corrupt it should be pretty obvious.

[VanGoghComplex]

Perfect. I found the same info a bit further down in the guide on swapping drives and did that. Seems to have done the trick. I'm back up and running on the new stick with no losses and the license successfully transferred. Thanks!