I had been working on my system this morning, and had a unclean shutdown, but it was working normally afterwards. Hours later I found an error saying the key was invalid or missing. I think it said this can be caused by corruption. I copied the key to the drive from my PC and I ran a disk check from Windows, which it came back error free. Putting the drive back in gave the same key error. I tried to backup the flash, but gave me a 404 error instead of downloading. This isn't exactly a big shock since the drive wasn't brand new, and was made by Inland. It's a miracle it lasted this long.

I was able to copy the data off it manually, but the USB utility wasn't able make the replacement drive bootable using the custom install process. I'm wondering is it safe to run the USB utility to make a fresh install on a new drive, and copy over the configuration files from the old one?

7 hours ago, eliptical said:

I'm wondering is it safe to run the USB utility to make a fresh install on a new drive, and copy over the configuration files from the old one?

Yes, and you only need to restore the complete vconfig folder from the backup.

Thank you. I was able to get started again with a new install, but I don't see a vconfig folder to copy over. I was only able to manually copy the data from the bad flash drive. Is it possible to get the old configuration restored that way?

The bigger issue now appears to be replacing the key. The docs show Replace Key as an option, but the registration options in the WebGUI I see are start free trial, purchase key, redeem activation code, and recover key. Recover key looks like the closest option, but that says it's for the existing GUID. Do I need to open a support ticket because of the new GUID?

8 hours ago, eliptical said:

I was only able to manually copy the data from the bad flash drive.

There should still be a config folder; if there wasn't, it was missing data, if you need help restoring the assignments, see here:

https://docs.unraid.net/unraid-os/system-administration/maintain-and-update/changing-the-flash-device/#recovering-from-a-failed-flash-device-without-a-backup

8 hours ago, eliptical said:

The bigger issue now appears to be replacing the key.

For the replace key option to appear, you need to have the old key installed. You should be able to recover it from your account, or just contact support.