All drives UNASSIGNED after Upgrade! HELP!!!

[disco]

Starting to freak out. Just upgraded from -rc15 to -rc15a on my second unRAID server. Copied over bzroot/bzimage/syslinux.cfg as required. Started the array up and I'm seeing this:

 

 

Did a config file get screwed up somehow or something? I have a backup of the flash drive but I think I've replaced a disk or two since the last backup

 

Just want to make sure I don't somehow wipe my data...

 

Syslog here: http://pastebin.com/X2BeCcz2

[disco]

Shit just noticed this:

 

Jun 18 22:01:35 Tower emhttp: get_config_idx: fopen /boot/config/flash.cfg: No such file or directory - assigning defaults

 

Is my flash drive dying?

[disco]

I actually don't see flash.cfg in my backup.....strange?

[disco]

Oh, maybe it's this:

 

Jun 18 22:01:35 Tower kernel: md: could not read superblock from /boot/config/super.dat

 

Going to try a check disk on the flash.

[disco]

Yup, so the super.dat file on my flash drive is a 0 byte file.

 

My backup is from Jun 3rd, but unfortunately I've upgraded/replaced a couple drives since then. I loaded up the old super.dat and it's showing "Too many missing/replaced drives". Not going to start the array like this as I'm guessing I'll lose data, but not really sure what to do.

 

Is there a way to re-initialize the array by picking my parity drive and data drives? none of the data on them should have changed...

[disco]

Ergh, guess I'm gonna go to bed and deal with this tomorrow.

 

Is there a way I can use initconfig to fix my issues? Should I use the 2 week old super.dat (or a blank one) when doing this?

 

Alternatively, can I mount the individual drives somehow and get the data off of them somehow?

[itimpi]

If your data drives are OK then it should be easy enough to get everything back to a working state without data loss.

 

If you know which is your parity drive then I would do the following:

• check your USB drive in a PC with chkdsk (or equivalent) to make sure your USB drive is OK.  The fact your config information was lost suggests there might have been a prolem writing it out to the USB drive.  Alternatively you may want to format the USB drive with a fresh install (making sure you have a copy of your unRAID license key first), and run make_bootable.bat to get it ready for use.
  
• make sure you know which drive is your parity drive
  
• use the new config option on the GUI Utils tab to clear current configuration (not necessary if going new install route).
  
• assign the data disks to the array. 
  
• start the array - any disks that are recognised as already containing data should come up and show the space used/free
  
• make any changes required to shares.  All top level folders will have been auto-recognised and assigned default settings if no existing share config information was found.
  
• if everything looks OK you can stop the array, assign the parity disk and restart the array to rebuild parity.

If when you start the array any disk shows as 'unformatted' do NOT format it or you will lose data.  The 'unformatted' status does not necessarily mean it it really is - just that unRAID failed to mount the drive for some reason.  It is likely that careful use of reiserfsck can still retrieve data as long as the disk is not damaged.

 

Note that during the above process your data is unprotected until parity is rebuilt, but it sounds as if this should not be an issue if all your data drives are not exhibiting problems and the issue is purely the config information on the USB drive having been lost.

 

The above steps do not account for saving and restoring any plugins and any related data

[disco]

Awesome, thank you so much. Parity sync is running now.

[garycase]

The more interesting question is "what happened" !!

 

Did you by chance copy the entire RC15a release to the flash drive?    If so, that wrote over your old config data ... and explains exactly what happened.    You should have only copied bizimage and bizroot (and possibly syslinux.cfg).

 

[jbartlett]

One tip that will help you in the future is to print out or take a snapshot of your drive configuration every time you make any kind of change. That way, if something like this happens again, you can put the drives exactly how they were.

[dgaschk]

One tip that will help you in the future is to print out or take a snapshot of your drive configuration every time you make any kind of change. That way, if something like this happens again, you can put the drives exactly how they were.

 

Also, saving the config folder can be very helpful. Make a backup of the entire flash before making any changes to the array.

[lars]

+1 for jbartlett's and dgaschk's tips!!!

 

also, it helps immensely to kinda analyze your prob in the first place and afterwards post, instead of #1: im freaking out..., #2: just noticed..., #3: noticed also... ....

nobody can really help you that way, you running more chances ppl get annoyed and ignore your posts.

i can see freaking out when you see all drives unassigned. but keep your pants on! you just upgraded the unraid software, shit might be happen... nothing is lost yet! send a complete as poss. problem description. and give it a little time for ppl to respond.

always backup your old usb-stick completely!!! makes it easy to reverse stuff happen during upgrades!

also keep in mind, all 5.xx releases are still 'release candidates' - that's better than beta, but not perfect. potential probs are a real possibility. if you wanna play it save, you should stay with the stable version. also, if you don't have the luxury of a 'sandbox' unraid server - give it a day or two to see what others with that luxury (or the daredevil attitude) have to say about potential issues with a new release! being at rc15a it generally should be pretty save, if you have a huge (not otherwise backed up) media library... you playing with fire and should realize the potential consequences.

 

happy it all worked out for you, was just my general 2 cents

 

regards, Lars