I've been having a rough time replacing a failing drive in my Unraid array, and now I can't even get a parity rebuild to start. Hoping someone here can help.

 

Background

I had a failing drive (Disk 7) that was giving read errors, so I precleared a replacement drive in advance. I had been having on and off problems with this drives, so I had also replaced my HBA and cables to isolate the issue. When I stopped the array, unassigned the bad drive, assigned the precleared replacement, and started the array, it immediately began throwing errors on the new drive. I did not remove the old drive, I simply unassigned it and assigned the new drive to the slot.

 

I then shut down the system, but ran into another issue:

• I used the shutdown option in the UI, which showed "the system is powered down," and the display that the system was connected to was blank (not sure if it had been blank for a while since it's connected to my TV on a different input).
• However, the fans were still spinning, and the system never fully shut off. I had to hold the power button to force it off.

 

Current Issue

After rebooting, I tried to start the parity rebuild, but Unraid no longer recognizes that it needs to rebuild anything.

• When I assign the new drive to Disk 7, the UI does not say a parity rebuild will take place, just that the array will come online.
• I tried temporarily assigning the old bad drive (original disk) back to see if it would recognize the need for a rebuild, but that resulted in an error saying it can’t start with a smaller drive.

 

I just want to get this parity rebuild going, but Unraid seems to have forgotten that it needed to do one. How can I force a rebuild at this point?

 

Would appreciate any guidance.

rashserver-diagnostics-20250205-1940.zip

Start the array and post new diags.

6 hours ago, JorgeB said:

Start the array and post new diags.

Thanks for the response  

 

Here you go. Disk 7 is still in a disabled state, I suppose since it was throwing errors before I rebooted?

rashserver-diagnostics-20250206-0730.zip

That's expected, just wanted to see if the emulated disk was mounting, it is, so try rebuilding again, and if it fails, grab the diags before rebooting.

 

https://docs.unraid.net/unraid-os/manual/storage-management#rebuilding-a-drive-onto-itself

1 hour ago, JorgeB said:

That's expected, just wanted to see if the emulated disk was mounting, it is, so try rebuilding again, and if it fails, grab the diags before rebooting.

 

https://docs.unraid.net/unraid-os/manual/storage-management#rebuilding-a-drive-onto-itself

 

You're amazing - thank you! I'll update this thread (hopefully don't have to) if I get errors along the way.

 

Well, the rebuild went fine, then I started and stopped the array a couple of times for a different reason, and now the same disk is giving errors. Any thoughts? Diagnostics attached.

rashserver-diagnostics-20250207-2053.zip

Edited February 8, 20251 yr by ikiya13
clarity

Looks more like a power/connection issue, replace cables and try again.

8 hours ago, JorgeB said:

Looks more like a power/connection issue, replace cables and try again.

Can you help me learn more about how you figured that out?

 

I knew that these kinds of errors could be connection related, so I already replaced my HBA and data cables, but how does power play a role here, especially since the system had already been on for a couple of days with no issue, then something crops up midway?

 

For context, all of this started a couple of months ago with two unclean shutdowns after the prime95 blend test locked up my machine. I ran memtest overnight and saw no issues. System also would not lock up on the small fft test. These errors all began after this. 

A bad/underpowered PSU or using splitters for example, can also cause these issues.

On 2/9/2025 at 2:19 AM, JorgeB said:

A bad/underpowered PSU or using splitters for example, can also cause these issues.

I replaced the PSU, and so far so good for a couple of weeks now. I'll update this thread if anything does wrong. Thanks again!