Hi,

 

In the last few days I noticed that my Unraid array had very poor write performance. Further investigation suggested that the cache disc wasn't being used. I was preparing to upgrade to latest RC, but a reboot seemed to rectify. I then tried to transfer some new files to the array and recieved a weired IO error from Win7 (which I have not been unable to reproduce to grab a pic).

 

I was able to write a couple of files directly to disk shares (not user shares), but this was hit and miss. I went back to the web console (which previously showed no issues), and now I see this (attached):

 

Im 99% sure that disk 8 (with shows as having a heap of errors) had a red ball for a small period (despite being green in the attached image).

 

I'll post a log when I can, but any thoughts/suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!

Something is clearly wrong, but you'll need a Linux expert to jump in with some ideas as to just why => but Parity, disk7, and disk8 are showing with hd.. designations instead of the sd... they should be showing.    Are these drives on a different controller than the rest?

 

Further, your parity is not good, so your recover options are limited. 

 

It would help understand what may have gone wrong if you could provide more details about what actions you've recently take on this system.  [Version upgrade; internal cabling changes; etc.] 

 

 

 

... as for the question you asked in the title [should I be worried?] ==> YES, something is clearly wrong and could result in (a) an unprotected array or (b) loss of data (on at least one drive).

 

Hope for (a) 

Thanks for replying!

 

I actually haven't changed anything... no new cables, drives or software upgrades... have been running this setup for months without issue until now

Hopefully a knowledgeable Linux guru will look this over and provide some insight.

 

I do not know why 3 of your drives (including parity) have hdx designations -- they should all be sdx as far as I know.    Does your system have multiple SATA controllers -- and, if so, is there any chance you've changed the settings for one of them in the BIOS (perhaps to IDE legacy mode)?

 

Something has clearly changed -- if you didn't do anything, then you've had a failure of some kind.  One of the Linux experts can hopefully gain some insight into just what that is from your system log.

 

Just noted you haven't posted the system log.  You should do so -- it can provide valuable clues as to what's happening.

 

You have the BIOS setting for that set of ports in IDE mode (or legacy mode) rather than AHCI mode as it should be for SATA drives.  Many BIOS come that way as Windows XP and prior had no saTA drivers, and if a purchaser tried to boot XP, it would not find any drives unless set to emulated legacy mode.

 

The emulated mode is often slower, so set it correctly and you;ll have less issues.

I refreshed the webpage and it reported disc 8 as missing, and no parity assigned... I shutdown the system and found that both drives were connected to (and were the only drives connected to) a PCIe SATA RAID card. Re-seated the card and all cables and powered up the system.

 

I could see the drives reported during POST, and they were assigned to the same device slots, however the system reports that a new parity disc is installed (dark blue orb) - even though it is the same drive.

 

I was able to start the array and can now read/write to user shares, but am yet to trigger the parity-sync.

 

Given that these drives are on a PCI-e card, is it still possible to change them to AHCI?

 

Syslog attached.

syslog.txt

It should be possible. Enter the SATA card BIOS during startup.

Given that these drives are on a PCI-e card, is it still possible to change them to AHCI?

 

What's the make/model of the SATA card?    As noted above, you probably just have to enter the card's BIOS and change the mode.    Ctrl-A is often the key sequence for this; but it depends on the specific card you have.

 

There's nothing descriptive on the card anywhere - I just can see jmicron when it boots, but missed the key combo on last boot to get any further.

 

Bigger issue now though, with disk 8 absolutley dead... cannot even feel it spin up when it gets power. That in itself wouldn't be a big issue except that my parity drive was detected as changend/new (as per previous post) so now I suspect I have lost a considerable amount of data...

 

Because both drives were (the only drives) connected to the same SATA controller, I don't know whether it's got something to do with my issues or not.

Multiple issues like you're seeing could easily be caused by power instability.  I'd try a different power supply.