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Need help reconstructing array after USB failure - uncertain of previous disk configuration

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Hi everyone,
 

I'm in a bit of a tough situation and could use some guidance. Here's what happened:

One of my 2TB drives failed, so I decided to run some disk benchmarks to check if any other disks were showing performance issues (beyond SMART reports) to determine if I should replace additional drives. I know this wasn't the smartest move, but what's done is done. During this process, the benchmarking tool somehow accessed my Unraid USB drive and corrupted it. When Unraid reported the USB failure, I made the mistake of rebooting the system, and it wouldn't come back online. All of this sounds very silly, I know :( 

I tried various recovery tools to retrieve my configuration but had no luck. While I do have a backup from a few months ago, it's not usable since I've both switched parity drives and added a disk to the array since then.

I'm now working with a fresh Unraid install and following the data recovery guide from the docs (https://docs.unraid.net/unraid-os/troubleshooting/data-recovery/). However, I'm stuck at step 3 because I can't remember my exact array configuration.

Here's what I know for certain:

  • One of my 4TB drives was the parity drive
  • One of my 2TB drives had failed Current disk listing from my system:
  • Disk 1: WDC_WD40EFRX-68N32N0_WD-WCC7K2XLK5ZX - 4 TB
  • Disk 2: WDC_WD2003FYYS-02W0B0_WD-WMAY02480547 - 2 TB
  • Disk 3: WDC_WD2003FYYS-02W0B1_WD-WMAY05114150 - 2 TB
  • Disk 4: WDC_WD2003FYYS-02W0B0_WD-WMAY02245896 - 2 TB
  • Disk 5: ST4000NE001-2MA101_WS25GVRS - 4 TB


I've attached a screenshot of my current array status. Can anyone help me determine which 4TB drive was my parity and which 2TB drive was the one that failed? I don't have any pictures of my previous array configuration to reference.

CleanShot2024-12-27at22_31.56@2x.thumb.png.50e68f8110eb7a047b76286017cec5da.png
Any help would be greatly appreciated - I really want to avoid any potential data loss from incorrect array reconstruction.

Edited by dwayneh

  • Community Expert

You might find this section of the the online documentation accessible via the ‘Manual’ link at the bottom of the GUI or the DOCS link at the top of each forum page to be useful.

Quote

During this process, the benchmarking tool somehow accessed my Unraid USB drive and corrupted it. 

What was the name of this tool? Badblocks?

  • Author
8 hours ago, itimpi said:

You might find this section of the the online documentation accessible via the ‘Manual’ link at the bottom of the GUI or the DOCS link at the top of each forum page to be useful.

Thank you going to try and follow these steps!

  • Author

It's worse then I thought, all drives have had their first 1024 MB removed with this script. So the superblock is gone. Going to see what I can salvage and likely rebuild from there...

  • Community Expert
28 minutes ago, dwayneh said:

It's worse then I thought, all drives have had their first 1024 MB removed with this script. So the superblock is gone. Going to see what I can salvage and likely rebuild from there...

You might find that a utility like UFS Explorer on Windows can recover most data.   It is a paid utility but they have a free option that can scan the disks to show what might be recoverable so you can decide whether to buy.

  • Author
54 minutes ago, itimpi said:

You might find that a utility like UFS Explorer on Windows can recover most data.   It is a paid utility but they have a free option that can scan the disks to show what might be recoverable so you can decide whether to buy.

Thanks for the input! I am using exactly that, thanks for the support!

8 hours ago, dwayneh said:

It's worse then I thought, all drives have had their first 1024 MB removed with this script. So the superblock is gone.

There are backup superblocks distributed across the disk. The data is still there. 

  • Author
1 hour ago, cuimalo said:

There are backup superblocks distributed across the disk. The data is still there. 

Indeed, I had hope when I saw that. However tools I've tried like xfs_repair don't seem to be able to restore it despite finding the alternate superblocks

Post the errors. There should be a backup partition table that you can restore as well, do that first. These drives is likely mountable as-is for read only recovery. 

 

Edited by cuimalo

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