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Replacing Failing Drive, 6.1


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So I have a drive giving off smart errors, detailed in another post. I decided to replace the drive in my array with another, but want to first confirm the procedure.

 

I actually didn't have a ton of data on this drive, so i moved everything off of it on to other drives in my array. My server is currently sitting with this drive empty, but still a part of the array. What is my best procedure for pulling it from the array and adding my replacement drive? Should I just use the standard method of replacing that same slot with the new drive?

 

To add to this, I also have an old 1TB drive in my array which has little data on it, and I would like to yank it. It has power on time of over 6 years, and the other 1TB drives from this purchase period have already failed and/or been removed.

 

Since I technically right now have 2 drives I want to remove, what is the best method of doing so?

 

To clarify: From reading http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php/UnRAID_Manual_6#Remove_One_or_More_Data_Disks, it appears since I copied all data off the 2 drives i want to remove, I can simply "reset config", and then rebuild parity. This leaves me unprotected from disk failure while rebuilding though.

 

My other option, as I understand it, would be to replace the failing drive, let it rebuild(which since the drive is empty, itll have nothing to rebuild?). Then I would remove the other drive I wanted gone, but this still requires "new config" which leaves me unprotected while I rebuild parity... This is where I am not quite sure my best course of action...

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Bah hah, not long after the 3TB drive successfully replaced and rebuilt, the 1TB drive I was wanting to rid of apparently hard crashed? Got a notification, logged in to UI to see this.

 

 

I am running a pre-clear on the 3TB I removed, wanted to see if it would pass. Also on another 1TB I had laying around, an older drive but with far fewer hours on it then my current, apparently failed, 1TB drive.

 

I suppose I will wait for the other 1TB to finish pre-clear and then replace it?

 

Thoughts? What about the 3TB I removed, what if it passes pre-clear? It is the one originally starting this thread, with smart errors.

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Bah hah, not long after the 3TB drive successfully replaced and rebuilt, the 1TB drive I was wanting to rid of apparently hard crashed? Got a notification, logged in to UI to see this.

 

 

I am running a pre-clear on the 3TB I removed, wanted to see if it would pass. Also on another 1TB I had laying around, an older drive but with far fewer hours on it then my current, apparently failed, 1TB drive.

 

I suppose I will wait for the other 1TB to finish pre-clear and then replace it?

 

Thoughts? What about the 3TB I removed, what if it passes pre-clear? It is the one originally starting this thread, with smart errors.

Post a smart report of this drive that has just been disabled, or just post your whole diagnostics zip.
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Bah hah, not long after the 3TB drive successfully replaced and rebuilt, the 1TB drive I was wanting to rid of apparently hard crashed? Got a notification, logged in to UI to see this.

 

 

I am running a pre-clear on the 3TB I removed, wanted to see if it would pass. Also on another 1TB I had laying around, an older drive but with far fewer hours on it then my current, apparently failed, 1TB drive.

 

I suppose I will wait for the other 1TB to finish pre-clear and then replace it?

 

Thoughts? What about the 3TB I removed, what if it passes pre-clear? It is the one originally starting this thread, with smart errors.

Post a smart report of this drive that has just been disabled, or just post your whole diagnostics zip.

 

Doesn't want to give me an actual report, just states it failed. See attached.

 

Diagnostic also attached.

bigbang-smart-20150903-1344.zip

bigbang-diagnostics-20150903-1345.zip

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I've started work on revising and updating the Troubleshooting page, What do I do if I get a red ball next to a hard disk? section.  It's not at all complete, but has more info, and even mentions exactly what you found.  It's clearly missing further instructions though!  For most problems, it doesn't actually tell you what to do!  I knew it had problems, but didn't realize it was that incomplete.  I'm hoping to move it all to a separate wiki page, and better separate the info for the different unRAID versions.

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I've started work on revising and updating the Troubleshooting page, What do I do if I get a red ball next to a hard disk? section.  It's not at all complete, but has more info, and even mentions exactly what you found.  It's clearly missing further instructions though!  For most problems, it doesn't actually tell you what to do!  I knew it had problems, but didn't realize it was that incomplete.  I'm hoping to move it all to a separate wiki page, and better separate the info for the different unRAID versions.

 

Not sure how I hadn't come across that page in a search, sorry!

 

As I read and udnerstand, I am going to:

 

1. Wait for existing pre-clear to finish(its about done)

2. Check sata cable on the drive

3. Reboot machine

4. If still down, replace with one of the recently pre-cleared drives

 

Also, what if I don't want to, or don't have a replacement drive, but have enough spare space on the system to just remove it? For instance, 4TB free, a 1TB drive failed... Can I just remove from the system without completely losing parity protection until a new one is calculated?

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I've started work on revising and updating the Troubleshooting page, What do I do if I get a red ball next to a hard disk? section.  It's not at all complete, but has more info, and even mentions exactly what you found.  It's clearly missing further instructions though!  For most problems, it doesn't actually tell you what to do!  I knew it had problems, but didn't realize it was that incomplete.  I'm hoping to move it all to a separate wiki page, and better separate the info for the different unRAID versions.

 

Not sure how I hadn't come across that page in a search, sorry!

 

As I read and udnerstand, I am going to:

 

1. Wait for existing pre-clear to finish(its about done)

2. Check sata cable on the drive

3. Reboot machine

4. If still down, replace with one of the recently pre-cleared drives

 

Also, what if I don't want to, or don't have a replacement drive, but have enough spare space on the system to just remove it? For instance, 4TB free, a 1TB drive failed... Can I just remove from the system without completely losing parity protection until a new one is calculated?

No, the only way to remove a drive is New Config and rebuild parity.

 

Actually, until you rebuild, either the data disk or parity, you aren't protected. Is there data on the drive you want to keep?

Link to comment

I've started work on revising and updating the Troubleshooting page, What do I do if I get a red ball next to a hard disk? section.  It's not at all complete, but has more info, and even mentions exactly what you found.  It's clearly missing further instructions though!  For most problems, it doesn't actually tell you what to do!  I knew it had problems, but didn't realize it was that incomplete.  I'm hoping to move it all to a separate wiki page, and better separate the info for the different unRAID versions.

 

Not sure how I hadn't come across that page in a search, sorry!

 

As I read and udnerstand, I am going to:

 

1. Wait for existing pre-clear to finish(its about done)

2. Check sata cable on the drive

3. Reboot machine

4. If still down, replace with one of the recently pre-cleared drives

 

Also, what if I don't want to, or don't have a replacement drive, but have enough spare space on the system to just remove it? For instance, 4TB free, a 1TB drive failed... Can I just remove from the system without completely losing parity protection until a new one is calculated?

No, the only way to remove a drive is New Config and rebuild parity.

 

Actually, until you rebuild, either the data disk or parity, you aren't protected. Is there data on the drive you want to keep?

 

Ahh I see! haha. Well, lucky for me, I actually removed all contents of the drive, yesterday. It now shows 81GB used, I am assuming last nights downloads went there. Losing them wouldn't be the end of the world, but if recoverable it would save me figuring out exactly what it was.

 

Options?

 

EDIT: Actually, clicked wrong drive contents. This actually only had some music on it. Would like to not have to reburn it all, but it wouldn't kill me.

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I've started work on revising and updating the Troubleshooting page, What do I do if I get a red ball next to a hard disk? section.  It's not at all complete, but has more info, and even mentions exactly what you found.  It's clearly missing further instructions though!  For most problems, it doesn't actually tell you what to do!  I knew it had problems, but didn't realize it was that incomplete.  I'm hoping to move it all to a separate wiki page, and better separate the info for the different unRAID versions.

 

Not sure how I hadn't come across that page in a search, sorry!

 

As I read and udnerstand, I am going to:

 

1. Wait for existing pre-clear to finish(its about done)

2. Check sata cable on the drive

3. Reboot machine

4. If still down, replace with one of the recently pre-cleared drives

 

Also, what if I don't want to, or don't have a replacement drive, but have enough spare space on the system to just remove it? For instance, 4TB free, a 1TB drive failed... Can I just remove from the system without completely losing parity protection until a new one is calculated?

No, the only way to remove a drive is New Config and rebuild parity.

 

Actually, until you rebuild, either the data disk or parity, you aren't protected. Is there data on the drive you want to keep?

 

Ahh I see! haha. Well, lucky for me, I actually removed all contents of the drive, yesterday. It now shows 81GB used, I am assuming last nights downloads went there. Losing them wouldn't be the end of the world, but if recoverable it would save me figuring out exactly what it was.

 

Options?

If you want to keep that data you will have to rebuild the data disk.

 

unRAID should be emulating the disk, so you should be able to read it anyway. It does this by reading parity and all data disks and calculating the disabled disk's data for you. This is also the way it is able to rebuild. Note that ALL other disks are required to calculate the data for a missing or disabled disk, so that is why you are not protected since you already have a disabled disk. See the wiki for how parity works. It's pretty simple and if you understand it a lot of this stuff is obvious.

Link to comment

I've started work on revising and updating the Troubleshooting page, What do I do if I get a red ball next to a hard disk? section.  It's not at all complete, but has more info, and even mentions exactly what you found.  It's clearly missing further instructions though!  For most problems, it doesn't actually tell you what to do!  I knew it had problems, but didn't realize it was that incomplete.  I'm hoping to move it all to a separate wiki page, and better separate the info for the different unRAID versions.

 

Not sure how I hadn't come across that page in a search, sorry!

 

As I read and udnerstand, I am going to:

 

1. Wait for existing pre-clear to finish(its about done)

2. Check sata cable on the drive

3. Reboot machine

4. If still down, replace with one of the recently pre-cleared drives

 

Also, what if I don't want to, or don't have a replacement drive, but have enough spare space on the system to just remove it? For instance, 4TB free, a 1TB drive failed... Can I just remove from the system without completely losing parity protection until a new one is calculated?

No, the only way to remove a drive is New Config and rebuild parity.

 

Actually, until you rebuild, either the data disk or parity, you aren't protected. Is there data on the drive you want to keep?

 

Ahh I see! haha. Well, lucky for me, I actually removed all contents of the drive, yesterday. It now shows 81GB used, I am assuming last nights downloads went there. Losing them wouldn't be the end of the world, but if recoverable it would save me figuring out exactly what it was.

 

Options?

If you want to keep that data you will have to rebuild the data disk.

 

unRAID should be emulating the disk, so you should be able to read it anyway. It does this by reading parity and all data disks and calculating the disabled disk's data for you. This is also the way it is able to rebuild. Note that ALL other disks are required to calculate the data for a missing or disabled disk, so that is why you are not protected since you already have a disabled disk. See the wiki for how parity works. It's pretty simple and if you understand it a lot of this stuff is obvious.

 

Understood, thanks much!

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