Hi - been using unraid 5.0-rc16c for a while with no issues - recently noticed the parity drive has errors according to the main page (see attached)

 

Ran the myMain smart view (see attached)  and the parity drive does have pending sectors. also see a potential issue with disk 6.

 

Should i replace the parity drive asap? What about disk 6?

 

any advice much appreciated

 

thanks,

 

inamak

I wouldn't trust parity with that many pending sectors.  You could always run a  preclear on the drive to try and get rid of the pending sectors, but with that many errors its probably only going to get worse sooner rather than later.

 

Disk 6 with 6 reallocated isn't a big concern right now, but you do want to keep an eye on it, and once it starts to grow you'd want to replace it.

There are several ways to go here.

 

One is to replace parity. This would not be a bad option, and I might recommend it if you have a precleared spare standing by, and if you have drive cages and don't need to open the server box to swap it out.

 

But I think what I would do is run a correcting parity check. It is possible that the parity check will cause the pending sectors on parity to clear or reallocate. Or alternatively get worse.  This would likely point towards either keeping parity or needing to replace it.

 

The parity check will also cause disk6 to be re-read - and we'll see if the reallocated sector count increases. If it does, and continues to increase, you'd need to replace it. If it holds steady, disk6 may be ok for now.

 

My rule of thumb with deteriorating reallocations is if you can run 3 consecutive parity checks and have them hold steady, then the drive is ok for the time being. But if each parity check results in a few more reallocations, you are on a deteriorating path and should replace it and RMA the drive if you can.

 

thanks for the speedy responses guys - i'll run a correcting parity check to see if that helps, but i think ill also buy another drive anyway as i feel i will be better off swapping it out

 

lets see what happens with disk6 - ill let you know the results

 

cheers!

Ok so I did the correcting parity check - screenshots of the results attached.

 

For the parity disk, the errors reported on the unraid main page increased, but the smart report pending sectors decreased. I reckon I should change this based on this result even though the pending went down as it still has quite a few - opinions?

 

For disk6, the reallocated sectors has remained steady at 6, so I think I will just monitor that for now - right thing to do?

 

Cheers!

 

inamak

I tend to agree. I personally would keep running parity checks two more times and monitor disk 6. As I said before, I like 3 consecutive parity checks with the reallocation holding steady to trust a drive.