I want to get a double check to see if I have my order of operations correctly.

Current situation, 1 HDD is blocked/unloaded. Can't remember the exact state but it had a red cross. I believe the sata cable might have been disconnected.

Current setup:
1 parity drive of 14TB.
4 data drives of 14TB
2 data drives of 8TB.

I've ordered 3 new 24TB drives. Two of them will become the new parity drives and one of them data.

Do I have to;

1) Restore the data on the broken drive themself? (Already had to do that twice in the last couple of years, I no longer trust this drive and will remove it in the end)
2) Replace the parity drive with the new 24tb parity drives
3) Add the 24tb as a data drive, copy the data from the old 14tb broken drive onto the new drive, remove the old drive and add the old drive as a parity drive

Or can i;

1) Add one of the 24tb drives as a new data drive
2) Rebuild the broken content to that 24tb
3) Replace the parity drives


tl;dr; can I skip rebuilding the broken 14tb drive onto itself? Would save me a day and a half rebuilding. At the moment I still believe that the drive is fine with fine SMART data, but I'm waiting for a new power supply to come in before I can confirm.

The end goal system will be
2 24TB parity drives
1 24TB data drive
4 14TB data drives (3 already present, 1 old parity drive, 1 removed)
2 8TB data drives

Or are there better suggestions? Rebuilding those large drives takes forever, so before I start such a process I want to double check some stuff.

Edit: I will attach a diagnostics zip as soon as the new hardware arrives. Thnx in advance for the advice.

Edited December 4, 2025Dec 4 by Nightfox89

Attach Diagnostics ZIP to your NEXT post in this thread.

tower-diagnostics-20251205-1432.zip

Alright. The new power supply just arrived and I've installed it.

Background info; last sunday night I noticed a disabled disk. (TOSHIBA_MG07ACA14TE_12V0A2CXF94G). First thing I tried was just a regular reboot (using the reboot button in the dashboard), but it never came back on. I first thought it should be the motherboard, so I bought a new one. That wasn't the problem. I figured out it was the CPU eventually so I ordered a new CPU too. I no longer thrust the power supply since a CPU breaking isn't something that should happen, so I ordered a new one. Replaced the "be quite" with a Seasonic 750watt.

The new motherboard/cpu/psu booted up my unraid just fine and I'm back to where I started when I noticed the disabled disk. I haven't done anything else yet, just waiting for the experts.

I did put the SMART report of the disabled disk into ChatGPT, and it seems to come to the same connection. Bad sata cable and/or bad power supply. Sadly, I didnt take care of keeping track which sata cable went to which hdd so if I'm going to have to replace them, I'll replace them all with new ones.

I also received the three new HDD's (24TB), two of them needs to end up as the parity disks. The third one (and the current parity disk) can be added to the data array.

Couple of small questions:
a) Should I (or do I have to) rebuild the disabled disk to itself, or can I rebuild it to one of the new 24TB disks even if my parity drive is only 14TB at this moment?
b) Would you still trust the disabled disk to add it as a data disk in the array or would you suggest to stay away from it in the end?

Some notes:
1) The new drives haven't been added to the system yet.

2) I am not in a direct hurry since rebuilding the array itself will probably take at least 1,5 day and I think that adding the new parity drives may even take longer, given the size of it all.
3) The smart values of all disks say healthy

4) I am able to start the array, with the disabled disks contents being emulated. (unraid works great, took me 3 weeks to notice the disabled disk and only noticed it by chance).
5) Last parity check found 0 errors or anything

6) I realise that I need to update unraid, but I'm guessing that should be the last step

Thanks to anyone who's willing to put in the time to help me with determening the order of operations or who can point me in the correct direction.

On 12/4/2025 at 7:45 AM, Nightfox89 said:

Current situation, 1 HDD is blocked/unloaded. Can't remember the exact state but it had a red cross. I believe the sata cable might have been disconnected.

Was that data cable loose or disconnected? If so, that is the reason that disk was disabled! Once disable, it can not be simply re-enabled. Unraid does not work that way.

IF you think this is the problem, see here:

https://docs.unraid.net/unraid-os/using-unraid-to/manage-storage/array/replacing-disks-in-array/#re-enabling-a-disabled-disk-rebuilding-onto-itself

I would first try this procedure and see if you can get that disk back in service. (Oh, before you actually start start the rebuild, double and triple check that all the SATA connectors (data and power) are firmly seated. SATA connectors are prone to 'loosening' whenever they are 'touched'!!!)

Then install one of the new 24TB drives as parity 2 and build parity 2. You will then have dual parity protection as you proceed onto the next step.

Now replace the Parity 1 disk with the new 24TB replacement.

5 minutes ago, Frank1940 said:

Was that data cable loose or disconnected?

Nothing that I noticed when I took the system apart to diagnose why it refused to post anymore. I do use those locking kind of sata cables. But it may have an internal break or something.

The smart data indicates short interrerupts which may indicate either a bad sata cable or a power issue.

If the rebuild fails, am I able to try again? If not I’ll just order new data cables first just to be sure. Psu is already replaced.

(This was the third time a disk got disable. Previous 2 times I’ve followed the guide in the linked post I believe. System has been running for a good 3 years without other issues so far so its not that common to happen)

Edit: I’ve reread the guide. It answers most of my questions. Thanks for the help. I’ll update the topic after a few days when everything is done and up and running again.

Edited December 5, 2025Dec 5 by Nightfox89

1 hour ago, Nightfox89 said:

I do use those locking kind of sata cables. But it may have an internal break or something.

Watch out for this gotcha---

https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detailweb/a_id/15954

I don't know if anyone is making drives without the shroud but it is worth verifying that yours do have one. (As I understand it, the locking SATA cables do not have the internal nib to provide a force fit of the connector surfaces...)

Couple of weeks later (those drives take a lot of time).

Everything is working again and up to date.

I've replaced all sata cables as well just to be sure.
First I rebuild the drive (14tb), then added parity 2 (24tb), removed the original party 1 (14tb) and added new parity 1 (24tb) and lastly added the two remaining drives as data drives.

I've also ran extended smart reports on all drives and they all look healthy. Updated to unraid 7, and I should be up to date and good to go again.

Thanks for the help.