So a new year and time to revisit my unraid server that has been shutdown for over a year due to forgetting my passkey PW for the array to startup. 

 

My original thread is HERE

 

I tried to go back to a previous build but that had no affect on the PW and the array staying offline. Only option was to choose a format.

 

The cache drive is since I forgot the PW was the only encryption drive as I had changed the format of the cache drive from XFS to ZFS so I could do snap shots. But something happened and it asked for my passphrase and I've been stuck since.

 

Now 2025 I plan to just format the cache drive and start the array. I can see all my shares and folders are accessible with the exception of the docker and vm filesystems as these all resided on the cache drive which is now waiting to be formatted and the GUI shows it as FS:LURKS unmountable wrong filesystem.

 

All apps and folders and addons are visible and accessible and while I had a backup it appears even the backup script was not doing what I thought it was doing - more on that later.

 

My ASK

Once I format the cache drive, I assume I will I need to reconfigure every docker container that I had and used from scratch even if the folders are on the designated drives?

 

While Im at it, I plan on changing what the server is used for as in the past it ran jellyfin, but nowadays its just easier to stream from services anything I feel like watching and 1080p is fine for me and the family with no real demand for the hoards of movies I acquired over the years.

 

I plan on adding a suitable apple Time Machine storage for multiple MACS and add home assistant and a few small dockers. Really need to good tool for photos on our apple phones too. Lancache is a must at my place too

 

As for VM's, I may try my hand at running an arcade emulation and see if I can make use of the 2080 GPU sitting in the server doing nothing like a Minecraft server or a CS:GO for the kids play, not really sure what sort of grunt I will need to make that work..

 

Now for my backup script I tried to use the option for when I inserted a UBD drive to back up the files of selected folders and directories and used this thread HERE

 

I am not sure what went wrong as my external HDD 20TB HDD has all the shares backed up and can be access all files except the backup of the cache drive as all files show 0 bytes which I assume is possibly due to it being ZFS and or encrypted or both?

 

Not sure as I also had a backup of my unraid USB stick too and that also is 0 bytes..meh! 

 

Next ASK

ZFS, I do like the idea of snapshots, do I reformat all drives as single raid 1 ZFS drives just to have this feature, what are people doing as my NAS is simple all the same drives 12TB x 4 with 1 parity and 1 cache

 

Im running 7.0.0 and ready to format, I usually base my configurations and builds using ibracorp and space invader tutorials

 

 

 

 

Edited February 7, 20251 yr by Kosti

Just circling back here, 

Is there a guide on how to recover from a cache storage forced format given folders are intact on the shares and backup folders showing zero bytes?

 

Do I need to start from scratch? If starting from scratch how should I clean up the old directories of docker containers etc without leaving behind junk?

 

Does formatting filesystems to ZFS as single drives offer anything other than capabilities for snapshots or keep this as xfs & btrfs and work on improving the script of backing up to external drive?

 

Would love a nudge in the right direction

Cheers

Kosti

Ok I have tried to format the cache drive and it still shows up as LURKS FS and unmountable

 

Is this because this was zfs encrypted?

/dev/nvme1n1p1: UUID="xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-fxxxxxx" TYPE="crypto_LUKS

 

Do I need to run some sort of disc rescue?

If the cache was formatted, the only recovery option is trying to use a file recovery app like UFS Explorer.

Thank you for suggesting this @JorgeB , there use to be a ddrescue or similar app under the nerd pack. I am at a loss as to why the format of the cache drive has resulting this is being in an unknown state

 

I will give the UFS Explorer a go tonight and provide an update

Cheers

Kosti 

 

 

Just to clarify I do not need to recover I just need to format in order to start again since I have forgotten my passphrase, so not sure if this has any relevance to the procedure, but will boot up the server and find UFS explorer

 

Can I confirm if I should format the cache drive while in unraid GUI or outside unraid?

 

Edited February 10, 20251 yr by Kosti
added picture

Never mind, Im an idiot!!! I simply booted up, removed from pool, added it back, picked btrfs and not zfs encryption this time and formatted again once I restarted the array. Now I noticed where there passphrase comes in, by choosing zfs encryption

 

Now I will go ahead and attempt to rebuild my docker and reset the servers tasks

 

Thank you @JorgeB and apologies for wasting your time...I'm a noob! and was being thrown off by not thinking straight and should've just kept it simple