February 25Feb 25 v6.12.14I THINK I’ve figured out what to do through researching others’ posts in the past, but wanted to make sure before crossing a point of no return:Dual-parity setup. Had two 12tb parity drives going, and upgraded Parity 1 to 16tb last week. After that successful upgrade, I ran a non-correcting parity check on the mixed 16tb/12tb dual parity, which came back clean.No additional data was written to the array during or after this upgrade.Immediately following this successful upgrade and parity check, I replaced the other 12tb drive from the Parity 2 slot with a new 16tb drive, and started rebuilding parity on that drive.In the middle of that Parity 2 rebuild, one of my data disks threw up 4000+ sequential read/write errors, so I stopped the Parity 2 rebuild. Short smart test came back OK, but I don’t trust that data disk due to a number of factors, including age and heavy use, and can easily replace it with another.I have now removed the new 16tb Parity 2 drive and replaced it with the old 12tb Parity 2 drive that made it through the non-correcting parity check earlier today. The questionable data disk shows up in the array list, and the hover tab says “Disk disabled, content emulated,” as expected.It sounds like my next steps should be:-Change Parity 2 from “no device” to the old 12tb Parity 2 disk in the drop-down GUI menu-Tools -> New Config -> Retain Current Configuration: All -> Apply-Check “Parity is already valid and start the array”-Stop Array, Shut Down-Replace disabled HDD with backup replacement HDD (must be same size? Or could use larger replacement?)-Power On, Re-Assign replacement data HDD in drop-down GUI menu-Start Array, Let Data Drive Rebuild, Non-Correcting Parity Check….and then I’ll return to my original process of upgrading that 12tb Parity 2 to 16tb afterwards.If I am missing any steps or should be doing anything different, any confirmation or guidance would be really appreciated! Edited February 25Feb 25 by wheel
February 25Feb 25 Errors on disk1 are not logged as a disk problem, and SMART looks OK, I would recommend replacing its cables and rebuilding on top. Assuming the emulated disk is still mounting and contents look correct, you can sync parity2 at the same time.
February 25Feb 25 Author Thanks for the new plan! My only concern is how many older (6+ year) drives are in the array, which is what led to the dual parity setup in hopes of being ready for what feels like an inevitable two-drive failure some day when it takes over a day to rebuild any of the 12tb-sized disks.Just wanting to make sure I’m understanding before starting the rebuild - are you saying after replacing cables I should NOT mess with New Config and the old 12tb Parity 2, just turn it back on now as-is with the single 16tb Parity 1 intact, and use only that single parity to rebuild Disk 1 (having moved the new 16tb Parity 2 back into the system, being synced from blankness in the same rebuild operation)?
February 25Feb 25 38 minutes ago, wheel said:should NOT mess with New ConfigNew Config will make it so you can't rebuild a data disk. It will consider all disks enabled, and rebuild parity instead.You must not have found the docs in your research, but hopefully you would have read the screenshot before you proceeded. See here:https://docs.unraid.net/unraid-os/using-unraid-to/manage-storage/array/array-health-and-maintenance/#reset-the-array-configuration
February 25Feb 25 45 minutes ago, wheel said:how many older (6+ year) drives are in the arrayDo any show SMART warning (👎) on the DASHBOARD page?
February 25Feb 25 Author No SMART warnings on the dashboard, just general fear of a mostly-aged array, and yes, I absolutely misunderstood the New Config process if that makes the disabled Disk 1 unrecoverable even with the “old” parity back.I was mostly working off older posts (generally non-dual parity) that seemed to focus around using New Config to “trust” the old parity when no data changes had been made to the array, but it’s sounding like (by starting the process of upgrading the second parity disk but getting a disabled data drive during that second parity sync) I already broke Dual Parity when starting the new dual parity sync, there’s no getting Dual Parity protection back from the old 12tb Parity 2 drive, and my best shot at quickly re-establishing Dual Parity at this point is hoping cables from my LSI card to the five-drive hotswap cage containing the disabled Disk 1 were the issue - rebuilding Disk 1 using the current 16tb single parity is my only safe path there, and the added drive stress of syncing the new Parity 2 shouldn’t be much (or even any) riskier than just rebuilding Disk 1 in a first operation before separately syncing Parity 2 afterwards, right?
February 25Feb 25 29 minutes ago, wheel said:and the added drive stress of syncing the new Parity 2 shouldn’t be much (or even any) riskier than just rebuilding Disk 1 in a first operation before separately syncing Parity 2 afterwards, right?Correct.
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