November 22, 201411 yr 10 drive 19tb array (that's important), has been running peacefully for about a year on v5b16 (it was working, didn't feel the need to update to 5.06), no issues no problems. Had a drive failure about 2 months ago, no worries, power down, new drive, power up, all good in the world. Three days ago decided to upgrade the last 1tb drive to a 2tb. Overconfidence got the better of me. Precleared a 2tb, disable drive, power down, swap the drive (thank you Norco) pull tray, replace drive, put drive in, power up....... No bootable device. Can't see the USB reader (Kingston MobileLite), either drive in it. Strange. Remember reading that some motherboards get strange with > 10 drives ( 10 2tb + 2 USB now, but was > 10 before 9 2tb + 1tb + 2usb) but I do jiggery pokery and.. nothing. Can't set the boot drive. I have a 15 drive case that I was going to build a v6 server in, had motherboard, mem, drive cages, etc.. had been testing it on v6 betas and was all good... so (shrug), remove the Mobilelite reader w/v5 software/config, move the drives to the new cages, power up. No bootable device. Now I start to worry. Get to bios, no sign of the USB reader. Plug the USB reader in a normal PC, there are the two drives.. but try to select them "Please insert a disk..." Now REALLY worried. Look at the reader, pull the SD card... and there is what I can only call a MELTED HOLE IN THE END OF THE SD CARD (see attached picture) the SD card is unreadable. (used another Mobilelite to test with) after further jiggery pokery the (original) Mobilelite is not even being recognized. so... the config is lost, card not readable no didn't have a printout of the drive assignment (idiot) the reader (which has the usb UUID) is unrecognized so I can't retrieve that. but I have 10 drives full of data that I (hope) is intact, but can't really access. other than shooting myself, any suggestions?
November 22, 201411 yr Your data should be OK assuming the problem is restricted to the USB stick. So don't panic on that front. Looking at the picture, I am shocked at what I saw. USB ports are suppose to have only 5 volts on them with a limit on the current--900ma MAX. I find it hard to believe that much damage could be done by 4.5 watts. Since you indicated that you could get to the BIOS, the PS is apparently working. I would be most suspicious of that USB port. I would use another header for any further testing. (There should a minimum of two USB headers in almost all modern MB.) You might try formatting another memory stick and install unRAID on it as see if the server will boot from that stick. If it does, you might try your other Mobilelite with a new SD card. If that boots, E-mail LineTech, give them the GUID of the new Mobilite, describe what happened and request a new registration linked to that Mobilite. They have been good at supplying replacement files.
November 22, 201411 yr Author Your data should be OK assuming the problem is restricted to the USB stick. So don't panic on that front. I'm hoping so.... Looking at the picture, I am shocked at what I saw. USB ports are suppose to have only 5 volts on them with a limit on the current--900ma MAX. I find it hard to believe that much damage could be done by 4.5 watts. Since you indicated that you could get to the BIOS, the PS is apparently working. I would be most suspicious of that USB port. I would use another header for any further testing. (There should a minimum of two USB headers in almost all modern MB.) that old frame the server was on is not in the picture any more, I'm working with the new one now... but that sounds reasonable (blown port) You might try formatting another memory stick and install unRAID on it as see if the server will boot from that stick. If it does, you might try your other Mobilelite with a new SD card. If that boots, E-mail LineTech, give them the GUID of the new Mobilite, describe what happened and request a new registration linked to that Mobilite. They have been good at supplying replacement files. Did that (new card, new Mobilelite, new server, everything boots and drives are visible, but my concern is .. the original config is gone. Irretrievable. Pining for the fjords... How can I recreate the config so it won't try to format all the drives over when I assign them to the new server? Don't even know which is the parity drive (yes idiot, I deal with it) Try to fine the 5b16 software? Jump to 5.06? Be totally insane and bring it up under v6 b10? make a fresh clean v6b10 server with a 2-3 new (empty) drives and start copying things over to it? (dedicate the next few weeks for that)
November 22, 201411 yr First thing is to get that new registration. While you are waiting try to figure out which drive is your parity drive. Obviously, it is one of the largest drives on your system. I believe Narco cases are front loading. If that is the case, pull the drives and look at the manufacturing dates. You should certainly be able to narrow it down to one or two drives this way. If checking the drives require disturbing the SATA and power cables, I would skip this step. Second thing is to put the old 1TB drive back in your machine. Third, install ver 5.0.6. (You might as well get up to date.) And put your new key file in the proper place. Fourth, read this post: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=36375.msg338437#msg338437 You will be assigning your drives as data drives, when you come across one that is unformatted, that should be your parity drive. (You should find only one!!!) Pay attention to the recommendation that you not assign the parity drive until you are certain that you have the data disks properly identified. (Ver 5 does not care about the actual order of the data disks so don't be worried about that.) IMPORTANT!!!! DO NOT FORMAT ANY DRIVES UNTIL YOU GET EVERYTHING RUNNING AGAIN!!!! Then print down copies of every screen on the GUI which displays any setup information. Put those printouts on a safe place.
November 22, 201411 yr As Frank noted, the first thing you should do is create a new USB flash with v5.0.6. Then all you need to do is assign ALL of the drives as data drives; then look at which drive is shown as unformatted. THAT is the parity drive. Then just do a New Config with all drives EXCEPT that one (don't assign a parity drive), and confirm that when you start the array everything looks okay -- you should be able to access all of your data with no problem. THEN stop the array, assign the parity drive, and you're good to go. You COULD, if you're POSITIVE there have been NO writes to the array in this process, use the "trust parity" option -- but I wouldn't. Let it do a new parity sync, just to be certain.
November 23, 201411 yr Author Thanks all, something weird hit and now the other G2 won't even be recognized (just it got it from Amazon and now suddenly 'out stock and don't know when it comes back', G3 are $50-75??? seriously??? So I ordered a G4, conflicting reports on if it's bootable, will find out tuesday. Good to know I have chance of getting everything back, but would it be feasible to go for V6.0 and be up to date?
November 23, 201411 yr Personally, I'd skip the reader bit and just get a good USB Flash drive ... then there's no concern r.e. whether or not the reader is bootable. You can certainly go with the latest v6 Beta if you'd prefer -- remember it IS a Beta, but the feedback has generally been pretty good with v6, so it should be fine. The process is exactly the same in terms of setting up your array ... just assign all the drives and see which one shows as unformatted (= parity); then do a New Config without it and confirm all is okay; and finally add parity.
November 23, 201411 yr Remember, if you get into a beta stream, you will have to be devoted to continuing until a stable version is released. Betas are really for people who like to play around with systems and figure out what makes them tick. You will also have to read the posts about any issues that are found in each beta release. The problem with downloading a single beta release and sticking with it is, if you encounter a problem after that release has been superseded, there may not be an expert who can help with the problem. By the way, I would be very suspicious of other hardware if that working G2 suddenly stopped working... Reason for Editing: 'stable' was 'staple'. Thanks, garycase!!!
November 23, 201411 yr Remember, if you get into a beta stream, you will have to be devoted to continuing until a staple version is released. ... 8) I think LimeTech does a slightly better job at holding their features together than stapling them ... perhaps you meant a "stable" release ... By the way, I would be very suspicious of other hardware if that working G2 suddenly stopped working... Agree ... especially as badly as it was burned.
November 24, 201411 yr Author gave up on the reader aspect for now, snagged a 8gb Cruzer Fit (blowing them out at BestBuy for $6.99, ok a few of them) and new key received, preclearing some extra drives and will attempt reconstruction tomorrow or Wednesday... film at 11....
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.