Problems w/ Cache Drive

[hernandito]

I had a cache drive fail on me yesterday; I was getting i/o errors when trying to copy files from it. I was able to rebuild it using an older 2TB drive I had laying around. I copied all my appdata folders, created a new docker image on it and rebuilt all my dockers. In addition, I have an img file I created from a real Ubuntu Server using dd. I am able to run it as a VM.

 

Today my server seemed to hang up, and the only way I could get it to come back was to do a physical reboot (pushing and holding the power button). No reboot commands on the cli worked.

 

Upon boot up, I got a  few warnings about my new (but re-used) cache drive. The below is what shows up when I click on the cache drive:

 

 

Do I need to worry about this? Is there a command I can use to scan and fix errors?

 

It seems like problems with 2 consecutive drives... I am tempted to go out and buy a couple 1 TB drives to use as a cache pool.

 

If anyone has an idea of what is going on, please let me know.

 

Thanks!!

[itimpi]

That disk looks very sick.    Any disk with Pending sectors should not be used with unRAID as it cannot be read reliably.  Reallocated sectors are not necessarily a problem as long as the number stays stable, but experience suggests that when you get any significant number the drive is likely to be on the way out.

[hernandito]

thank you itimpi.... going to stop by computer store on the way home to buy a new one...

[hernandito]

OK, last night I bought and added two 1TB drives to use as a cache pool. Adding them went without a hitch. Once all were formatted, I clicked on the first cache drive, and I hit the button labeled "Balance".

 

I then restored everything I had from my cache drive backup (the appdata folder, and a VM). Made sure that appdata share was "cache only". Finally I recreated my dockers (saving the docker image in cache drive) and all is working nicely.

 

I clicked the first cache drive again, and I notice the below:

 

 

Do I need to hit "Balance" again? How often does one need to "balance"?

 

Many thanks for all the advice.

 

H.

[hernandito]

anyone...?? 

[trurl]

That is the way mine is working. I think balance should only be required if you change the configuration by replacing, adding, or removing a disk.

[hernandito]

That is the way mine is working. I think balance should only be required if you change the configuration by replacing, adding, or removing a disk.

 

thank you.... when I changed the number of array drives by subtracting one, and adding one to the slots of the cache pool, the system wants to rebuild the parity drive. Once the parity is complete, I will give "Rebuild" a try again... only 11+ hours to go on my 4TB parity drive.