I am new to UnRaid and just setup my server today. While formatting all my drives, one came up with errors so I powered down the server as I was not sure where the failed drive in question was, located it, replaced it with a same size drive and powered up the server. The array mounts, but says the parity is invalid. There is an icon next to the new drive I put in indicating the contents are emulated. I am unable to format the drive it curently sits in 'unmounted' status, not can I rebuild the array. There is nothing on these drives or the array yet, its completely empty. I have 22 disks plus one parity drive. What should my next move be?

Since it would seem from your post that all the drives are blank, but none were really tested prior to attempting to use them, I'd strongly suggest running each drive through at least 1 preclear cycle, so you can be confident that they will be able to store your data safely. Unraid requires flawless performance from all drives except the single failed drive, so having multiple failures will result in lost data. Many times when unraid drops a drive, it's not really the drive going bad, but since a write failed, unraid has no choice but to fail the drive. It could be controller, cable, PSU, or memory issues that can cause a drive failure.

 

The 3rd party preclear script thoroughly tests the drive, as well as providing smart diagnostics to examine. It will take many hours to complete, especially with 22 drives to test, but if you value your time and data, I'd strongly suggest testing things out now before you have it loaded with information.

 

It would also be a good idea to post a diagnostics zip file, and a short list of pertinent hardware, like PSU, Motherboard, HBA's, etc.

Thanks for the valuable piece of information, I will certainly do that as some of my drives are four years old. In the meantime, how would you suggest I resolve my current problem? I have replace a drive however it has an orange triangle next to it indicating its contents (empty) are being emulated. Its currently unmountable and although there are two options, format the drive or rebuild my array as it reports the data is invalid, neither option when I try them, does anything. I cannot format the drive I replaced, nor rebuild my array? Not sure what to do next.

I have found and installed a pre clear script, I am trying to use it but it seems to want a Y or N to continue and I cannot figure out how to enter that so it will proceed.

 

AM