Greetings

 

I have run into a problem with one of my SSD drives that was acting as a cache drive. After a restart the disk disappeared from the "main"-view and it can no longer be found in either Unraid or windows. It feels like there is some sort of corruption or similar with the disk. The disk is relatively new and I've tried changing sata cables and power cables without any result. I also tried booting it from different pc's and the same problem appears with extremely slow boot time and not recognizing the disk either in the OS or BIOS. I also tried using different SATA connectors on the motherboard without any changes. 

 

I will attach sys-diagnostics.

 

Thanks in advance, best regards

 

Edited February 7, 20251 yr by Tobbo

Is it being seen in the BIOS?    If not then it may have failed (assuming there is no SATA or power connection related issue).

22 minutes ago, itimpi said:

Is it being seen in the BIOS?    If not then it may have failed (assuming there is no SATA or power connection related issue).

Hi, and no it is not being seen in BIOS. It does show up in Windows disk manager as "0" and it has nothing allocated, no information, not possible to add it as a disk. It's like it doesn't even know it is a hard drive.

That suggests it failed.

Any chance of something useful from the logs?

The logs reset when you reboot. After reboot, Unraid didn't see the drive at all. If BIOS doesn't see it then Unraid can't.

Just now, trurl said:

The logs reset when you reboot. After reboot, Unraid didn't see the drive at all. If BIOS doesn't see it then Unraid can't.

Thanks for the reply. Any suggestion on what I could do to wake it up again?

I also did notice that ..

 

and ..

 

 

was missing. I did wonder if id had something to do with that, so I re-installed the entire usb device from scratch, and re-started the whole process of setting everything up. It did not take too long since this is a fairly new system. But after the fresh install I could still see that the same errors remained.

2 minutes ago, Tobbo said:

I also did notice that ..

 

and ..

 

 

was missing. I did wonder if id had something to do with that, so I re-installed the entire usb device from scratch, and re-started the whole process of setting everything up. It did not take too long since this is a fairly new system. But after the fresh install I could still see that the same errors remained.

I would expect those to be auto-created when you enable docker - have you done this yet?

35 minutes ago, itimpi said:

I would expect those to be auto-created when you enable docker - have you done this yet?

I recommend leaving those disabled until you get cache working again, so those don't get created on the array.

2 hours ago, itimpi said:

I would expect those to be auto-created when you enable docker - have you done this yet?

 

I never got around to enable docker yet, like i said, the system was all new.

 

1 hour ago, trurl said:

I recommend leaving those disabled until you get cache working again, so those don't get created on the array.

 

My array is currently doing its parity check. I have added a new ssddrive as cache but I've not allocated it for anything yet.

After all is done with the pairity check what would you recommend I do as my next step to get this functioning?

Should I start the docker and allocate the file paths to the cache ssd? Do you have a good guide or tutorial to share on best practice regarding the two topics on docker file path and the VM file path that was missing?

Thanks for the replies and help

https://docs.unraid.net/unraid-os/manual/shares/user-shares/#default-shares

 

appdata, domains, system shares are created with default settings that will make them get written to cache if you have one, else they get created on the array.

 

Ideally, these shares would have all files on cache or other pool with nothing on the array, so Dockers/VMs will perform better, and so array disks can spin down since these files are always open.

Those diagnostics you posted seem to indicate you had no plugins other than CA. Was this a mostly new Unraid installation? Had you installed any dockers before cache failed?

 

Also, those diagnostics were taken without the array started or started in maintenance mode. No disks were mounted so there are a lot of things we don't know yet about your configuration and how it is working.

15 hours ago, Tobbo said:

My array is currently doing its parity check. I have added a new ssddrive as cache but I've not allocated it for anything yet.

 

If you didn't start the array in maintenance mode, your disks should be mounted now, so post new diagnostics.

10 hours ago, trurl said:

https://docs.unraid.net/unraid-os/manual/shares/user-shares/#default-shares

 

appdata, domains, system shares are created with default settings that will make them get written to cache if you have one, else they get created on the array.

 

Ideally, these shares would have all files on cache or other pool with nothing on the array, so Dockers/VMs will perform better, and so array disks can spin down since these files are always open.

 

 

10 hours ago, trurl said:

Those diagnostics you posted seem to indicate you had no plugins other than CA. Was this a mostly new Unraid installation? Had you installed any dockers before cache failed?

 

Also, those diagnostics were taken without the array started or started in maintenance mode. No disks were mounted so there are a lot of things we don't know yet about your configuration and how it is working.

 

If you didn't start the array in maintenance mode, your disks should be mounted now, so post new diagnostics.

 

Thanks for the replies. 

 

Unfortunately appdata, domains, system shares have not been created for my by default. The system is completly new and fresh just as of yeasterday evening, I have made no changes or started anything but the pairty check on my array and added and cache drive.
The pairity has just finished its works and everything seems fine, but these share you're speaking of ahs not been created.

 

Here are the new diagnostics and the latest images of the system.





What am I doing wrong?

Best regards and thanks

 

Edited February 7, 20251 yr by Tobbo

4 minutes ago, Tobbo said:

appdata, domains, system shares have not been created for my by default.

 

20 hours ago, itimpi said:

those to be auto-created when you enable docker

 

1 minute ago, trurl said:

 

 

 

Alright, let's try it. I must have missed this. 
Any suggestions on what to do with my cache drive? Would you recommend puting docker paths on to the cache instead of the array?
 

Thanks

The paths you already have specified in those settings should result in them being created on cache.

/mnt/user/... are the user shares, which include all array disks and all pools.

2 hours ago, trurl said:

appdata, domains, system shares are created with default settings that will make them get written to cache if you have one, else they get created on the array.

Enable Docker and VM Manager, then post new diagnostics

 

 

7 hours ago, trurl said:

The paths you already have specified in those settings should result in them being created on cache.

/mnt/user/... are the user shares, which include all array disks and all pools.

Enable Docker and VM Manager, then post new diagnostics

 

 

Thanks you. 
I took a bit of time because I was going through the settings trying to learn along the way. I hope I did set this up correctly.




Thanks again for helping out, very much appriciated
 

 

Edited February 7, 20251 yr by Tobbo

Looks good!

1 minute ago, trurl said:

Looks good!

Thank you, and also, no disk failures this time *knock on wood*  
I just need to add a account that is not public to the VM's, I can see the warning in the system right now.
So if I understand this setup correctly now the docker and vm files will be shared on both the array and the cache, but the cache is preferred over the array as a first location for storage?

I guess it's time to setup my first docker container  
Thank you so much for all the assistance it's been of great help and good for understanding the concept of how things work!

Just some other random advice.

 

You must always have a current backup of flash. Everything about your configuration is in the config folder of flash. ALL settings from the webUI. You can download a zipped copy of flash at Main - Boot Device - flash - Flash Backup. Also, Unraid Connect plugin can keep a backup of your flash drive on Unraid Cloud.

 

Setup Notifications to alert you immediately by email or other agent as soon as a problem is detected.

 

You must always have another copy of anything important and irreplaceable on another system. Parity is not a substitute for backups.

 

Some other plugins to get you started, you can install these from Apps:

Unassigned Devices

Fix Common Problems

Appdata Backup

1 minute ago, trurl said:

Just some other random advice.

 

You must always have a current backup of flash. Everything about your configuration is in the config folder of flash. ALL settings from the webUI. You can download a zipped copy of flash at Main - Boot Device - flash - Flash Backup. Also, Unraid Connect plugin can keep a backup of your flash drive on Unraid Cloud.

 

Setup Notifications to alert you immediately by email or other agent as soon as a problem is detected.

 

You must always have another copy of anything important and irreplaceable on another system. Parity is not a substitute for backups.

 

Some other plugins to get you started, you can install these from Apps:

Unassigned Devices

Fix Common Problems

Appdata Backup

 

Thanks you, excellent advice for a beginner like myself. I did read about the parity and array and how it isn't a full backup per say but more looking at the odd and even numbers of the disks and trying to rebuild from what i remembers was the last calculated setup between the disks.

 

Maybe there's a way of automating a flash backup onto another flashdrive in the server? Like a weekly backup onto another usb drive.

I am going to scan through the settings in notifications and setup some mail alerts among other usefull notifications like the once you mentioned.

 

Thank you for the tips and help!
 

4 minutes ago, Tobbo said:

Maybe there's a way of automating a flash backup onto another flashdrive in the server? Like a weekly backup onto another usb drive.

You could backup to an Unassigned Device, whether another flash drive or something else. Make sure you keep the backup in a subfolder of the Unassigned Device. Might be confusing at boot if the backup is identical to the boot flash.

 

User Scripts plugin will let you create and schedule scripts.

 

I would still recommend Unraid Connect plugin and its flash backup feature.