Followed standard procedure for replacing one of my parity drives to a new larger drive. Received disk errors immediately after parity check start on the new parity drive and on one of my array drives. Stopped the parity check and restarted the server. The array drive emulates correctly. I removed the new parity drive since nothing was done on it. The system did not complain about the removal. I still have my remaining parity drive.

I have re-seated power cables and replaced SATA cables. My guess is that it will be suggested that it is a bad PSU. I wish PSU's had half a brain and could take responsibility when they are in error, taking the guessing out of it.

Is it safe to rebuild the array drive now, then if everything is good try to add the new parity drive again?

janus-diagnostics-20251004-1138.zip

You can try rebuilding, but only do it if the emulated disk is mounting and the content looks correct. If it doesn't, post new diags after array start.

I rebuilt the drive and added the new parity drive separately. All is well.

I have a running theory. I think it is my SATA PCIe card. It is StarTech brand. It works fine, and is intended for up to eight drives at once. I have it on a PCIe 3.0 x8 slot, but the two times I have had all eight drives plugged into it at once, I get two drives with errors. You helped me the last time when two drives disappeared. I shuffled my connections around and put only five connections on the PCIe and it hasn't given me issues or errors since then. Last week I got my new drives and just thought I'd use all eight connections again. Same issue.

I emailed the brand support asking if this is a known issue. I'll probably end up getting it traded in or something. I need fully working parts I can trust.

Edited October 7, 2025Oct 7 by Chandelin
Spelling errors and terminology corrections.

Can you post a link to the controller?

https://a.co/d/7q9jmzD

I called it the wrong brand before.

I've seen other users with issues when using that controller with Unraid, recommend replacing it with one of these:

I am not sure if it will help the community, but this is what I got back from the customer support. Very encouraging, but not a problem solver. I did make note to them that the Amazon posting, which is where I ordered it from, does not say anything about not supporting non-LTS Linux kernels. It says it supports Linux 2.6.32 and up, and that it supports Linux. Nothing about certain version exceptions.

"Thank you for reaching out and for providing such detailed information about your setup using the 8P6G-PCIE-SATA-CARD in your Unraid 7.1.4 server.

 

We understand your concern regarding the drive errors when all eight SATA ports are in use. Based on your description—and similar feedback from other users—it’s likely that the issue stems from compatibility with non-LTS Linux kernels. As noted on our product page (https://www.startech.com/en-ca/cards-adapters/8p6g-pcie-sata-card), this card is officially supported only on Linux kernel 2.6.32 and up – LTS versions only.

 

Since Unraid uses a custom Linux kernel, it’s possible that version 7.1.4 is not based on an official LTS release, which could lead to instability when all ports are active. Additionally, this card uses ASMedia ASM1061 controllers with port multipliers, which can sometimes result in bandwidth saturation or drive dropouts under load in certain Linux environments.

 

Recommended Next Steps:

• Check your kernel version in Unraid using the command uname -r, and compare it against the official LTS kernel list here: https://www.kernel.org/category/releases.html.

• Limit usage to 6 drives, as you’ve already found this configuration to be stable.

• Disable IOMMU (VT-d) in your BIOS if it’s currently enabled—this has resolved similar issues for other users.

• Consider alternative SATA controllers if you plan to expand your server:

→ ASM1166 chipset based SATA cards (e.g., 6P6G-PCIE-SATA-CARD)
→ LSI SAS HBAs in IT mode (e.g., LSI 9201-8i or Dell H310)
(Note: StarTech.com does not currently offer LSI-based SAS HBAs in IT mode so I provided third party options)

Please note that while the card may function with non-LTS kernels, we only provide support for configurations using officially supported LTS versions. If possible, we recommend testing the card in an LTS-based environment to confirm stability."

Unraid 6.12, 7.0, 7.1 and 7.2, all use LTS kernels, basically since ZFS was introduced.

Hey, you bring up a good question, why does my Unraid say I'm running 6.12.24 when I send "uname -r" if I'm on Unraid 7.1.4? Is this explained somewhere, or am I a dunce? Though both could be true.

Also is what you are saying refuting the customer service response of Unraid is a non-LTS kernal?

5 minutes ago, Chandelin said:

why does my Unraid say I'm running 6.12.24 when I send "uname -r" if I'm on Unraid 7.1.4?

Because Unraid 7.1.4 uses kernel 6.12.24, which is an LTS kernel, Unraid version is completely unrelated to the kernel version.