unRAID flash not working

[fonzie]

So my unRAID stopped booting up.  I swapped usb flash drives and used a new fresh one with unraid 6 and it booted.

 

I then put the "failed" usb flash drive in my windows pc to see if I could back it up to transfer to the new flash but it wouldn't read it.  When I try to open it in windows explorer it tells me:

You need to format the disk D: before you can use it

I cancel that option, then it says:

D:\ is not accessible

The volume does not contain a valid recognized file system.
Please make sure that all required file system drivers are loaded and that the volume is not corrupted.

 

I think it may have stopped working because I tried using that USB flash drive on another system that I was testing unraid on and I changed the profile from the USB from: from Hard Drive to FDD to Optical.  I fumbled with the settings essentially and it must have written something on the USB flash drive to prevent it from booting.

 

Is there any way I can restore the file structure so that I can boot into it again?  I read a little bit on CHKDSK and tried running it through the GUI in Windows 10 but it gave me an error that it wasn't in NTFS

 

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2nd question:

If that fails and I cannot restore the USB flash drive, can I just start with a fresh unRAID and mount the disks in the same order to preserve the files that are stored within them?  Would I have to create the exact same shares before starting the array or how would this work?

 

I'm okay with losing system settings, dockers, addons, etc....but I don't want to lose the media that I had stored on it.

 

My setup is simple: one 2TB parity, one 2TB data, one 500gb cache

[Russ Uno]

Sometimes Flash Drives just die without warning. I've had a number of them go that way, lucky none for UnRaid.

Rule #1 - always make backups whenever you make changes.

You could try to check it in a Mac, using Disk Utility, if you know someone with one.

If you get the same results it is probably dead.

[fonzie]

So lets say that my flash drive did in fact die.  How can I recover the data on my hard drives?  Can I just install a fresh copy of unRAID on a new stick and set the drives in the same order that they previously were (not too difficult since I only had 3 drives total)?  Would I have to create the shares the same exact way that they were on my old unraid build before I start the array?  Or am I out of luck and have I lost the information on my drives?

[RobJ]

Nothing at all is lost, except the configuration on the flash drive, and it can be recreated.  Are you saying you have no backup at all for it?

[fonzie]

No, I just set up this unraid about a week ago for a friend and filled the drives.  Stupidly, I did not back up the flash drive.  I just want to recover all the files I put on it.  I don't mind if I have to re-do the configuration or settings.  I just want to avoid preclearing and copying all the data over on the 3 drives.

[trurl]

You can start over anytime with a new flash. The most critical thing is to know which drive is parity and cache.

 

unRAID will create the User Shares with default settings. All top level folders of cache or data disks are automatically considered User Shares.