Hello,

I have an issue in my Unraid. I have a total of two drives. One is a parity of the other.

Initially the problem was against Disk 1: Device Disabled, Contents Emulated. I could not spin up the disk as it was in a persistent error state.

Server was shut down to check cable connections. After boot up, Disk 1 says "Not Installed," yet the main page shows the Used Space and Free Space of Disk 1.

• Swapped SATA power cables for Disk 1 and parity - Only parity shows up. Disk 1 not installed

• Replaced the SATA data cable for Disk 1 - Disk 1 not installed

Is Disk 1 dead?

I have attached diagnostics

mk-unraid-diagnostics-20251211-0730.zip

2 minutes ago, mgkwong said:

yet the main page shows the Used Space and Free Space of Disk 1

It is showing the disk as emulated by parity. The fact that the emulated disk is mounted is a very good sign that your data is OK and can be rebuilt to the same or another disk.

Can you see the disk in BIOS?

Well that's good news.

My motherboard is Gigabyte GA-H170-D3HP ATX LGA1151. It's an old gaming desktop rig.

How do I enter the BIOS to check?

Typically by pressing the delete key during post.

24 minutes ago, JorgeB said:

Typically by pressing the delete key during post.

Sorry had a brainfart.

Unfortunately, only 1 of 2 drives show's in BIOS.

Every other SATA Port (0-5) shows Empty

Disk 1 is connected to SATA Port 0

I entered maintenance mode to Check Filesystem Status. It appears Unraid can talk to the Not Installed Drive but doesn't find anything wrong?

That is to be expected if parity is valid so it can be emulated perfectly.

It is not clear from your earlier answers that you realise if a disk fails then Unraid can emulate it using the combination of parity plus other data disks (if any) and act as though the disk is still present.

Ok I missed that detail. I wasn't aware that a filesystem check on a disk can be completed by parity emulation.

Considering Disk 1 is not present in the BIOS, what would my next steps be?

I would recommend swapping both cables with the other disk, if disk 1 is still the one missing from Unraid after that, it's likely dead.

Cables were the solution. I am using a SATA to SATA power adapter on the parity and disk 1 because the hard drives have the 3.3V Power Disable Pin. The adapter for the drive failed since the HDD booted up with the parity's adapter.

I opted to cover Pin 3 on the SATA power connector with electrical tape since I did not have another adapter cable. Once the pin was covered, Unraid was able to recognize the drive. However, I had to rebuild it. Everything is back to normal after rebuild.

On 12/13/2025 at 10:19 PM, mgkwong said:

SATA to SATA power adapter

MOLEX to SATA is better, and can't have the 3.3v problem since it isn't one of the pins in MOLEX.