Hi All,

 

I've just tried to add a couple of drives (one at a time) to my tower but as soon as I assigned them I get thee message "Stopped. Invalid Expansion."

 

I had a search on here and ended up using the 'restore' function to get the drives to show up so they could be formatted etc... job done!

 

What I would like to know is:

a) What is causing this to happen?

b)Is any of my data going to be at risk (any more than usual)?

 

 

Thanks!

 

 

We would need to see a copy of your syslog in order to determine how to answer.  Instructions are in the wiki on how to capture one for analysis here: http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php?title=Viewing_the_System_Log

 

If you had an "unassigned" drive that was previously "assigned" then in effect, it is a "failed" drive and you cannot expand until it is either replaced, or removed (by storing a new configuration with it unassigned by using the "Restore" button)

 

The restore button does not "restore" anything.  It instead "Stores" a NEW configuration based on the currently assigned drives (as assigned on the devices page). 

It normally is needed only if you are deleting a drive from the array, or want to start over from the beginning.  When you use it, parity is completely rebuilt using the currently assigned drives.  This wipes out any data that was previously in parity from any previously assigned drives, or drives that have failed and show "red" on the management web-page. 

 

Use of the "Restore" button when you have a failed drive in the array erases any knowledge it had about that failed drive.  Any and all data that used to be on it, data that you could have used to rebuild a replacement drive, will be gone forever. 

 

There are times when the Restore button is needed. If you had a failed drive and had moved all the files off of it, and wanted to rebuild parity with the remaining drive until you could expand the array with a replacement, it would be the correct choice.  Some of us have been suggesting Tom re-name the button as one user pressed it thinking it would "restore" their data from a failed drive.  It did the opposite.  It erased the knowledge of the failed drive and rebuilt parity with it gone.

 

There was a bug in the expansion logic when doing a parity swap.  That too gave an invalid expansion message.  Tom fixed that not too long ago. (I forget what version)  He also fixed a bug recently where if you were not running a parity drive (and as a result it was marked as "invalid" in software) you could not expand either.  This too was recently fixed.

 

What version unRaid are you running?  Perhaps your issues could be fixed if you upgraded to the latest 4.3beta?

 

Joe L.

Hi Joe,

 

Ah, I'm using 4.2.4 with no parity drive yet (waiting on a few drives to arrive!)

 

This is a brand new array that I had just fired up and drives were old ones that had been cleared and formatted.

 

I will go to 4.3 and see what happens if I add another drive.

 

one user pressed it thinking it would "restore" their data from a failed drive.  It did the opposite.  It erased the knowledge of the failed drive and rebuilt parity with it gone.

OUCH!

 

 

Thanks for your help!

Prior to 4.3, if parity is not valid and you try to add additional disk(s) you will get 'Invalid Expansion'.  Parity not being valid is indicated by an orange indicator next to your parity disk on the 'Main' page.