USB has become corrupted... what options do I have :-(

[rennige]

Hi,

 

I have just returned from a holiday, and when I went to power my unraid server up it failed.  There was an error reading the USB boot drive.

Checking the boot drive on my windows PC couldn't see any files, and after a chkdsk it created a FOUND.000 folder with a lot of FileXXX.CHK files.

 

Using a utility I found on the net I happened to be able to recover the last "syslog" file from when it last shut down.  No errors reported.

 

So now I have a USB file which is blank expect for 200+ CHK files... not very helpful.

 

Other things of note:

1. I have a backup of the flashdrive from October where the syslog says:

"Oct 13 22:02:52 unraidserver kernel: Linux version 4.0.2-unRAID (root@develop64) (gcc version 4.8.2 (GCC) ) #2 SMP PREEMPT Sat May 9 08:47:40 PDT 2015"

 

2. I suspect I have since upgraded to a newer version as the recovered syslog says:

"Dec 22 14:04:45 unraidserver kernel: Linux version 4.1.7-unRAID (root@develop64) (gcc version 4.8.2 (GCC) ) #3 SMP PREEMPT Sun Sep 20 12:57:02 PDT 2015"

 

3. I have checked the drive assignments between the recovered syslog file and the back up and they are the same

 

From what I can gather my options are:

1. Re-format the USB key and copy over the old backup:  Not sure how this goes since I suspect the backup is from an older version of unraid

2. Recreate the whole USB from scratch using the drive assignments that I can see from the recovered syslog file.

 

Any recommendations or other avenues available to me?

 

thanks, Nigel.

 

 

[rennige]

Ok.  Based on the linux kernel versions referenced in the syslog files I suspect:

 

Current corrupted version was at least v6.1.3.

Backup version was v6.0-rc1.

[SSD]

Reusing a backup is dangerous. If you have done any changes to your array configuration, for example upsizing parity and using the old parity as a data disk, installing the backup will cause unRaid to think your data disk is parity again. Starting the array will immediately start corrupting that disk.

 

I'd suggest reformatting the stick and starting from scratch. In fact, I might suggest getting a new stick if you believe that the failure was caused by a bad memory stick.

 

Whichever you do, you can reconfigure the array accurately and use the trust parity option. The disk order is not critical, but parity needs to be right and the data disks all need to be assigned. If you have non array disks installed in the machine, it is important they not be assigned to data shots.

 

There are some tricks to figure out which drive is parity. Post back if those would be helpful.

[rennige]

Reusing a backup is dangerous. If you have done any changes to your array configuration, for example upsizing parity and using the old parity as a data disk, installing the backup will cause unRaid to think your data disk is parity again. Starting the array will immediately start corrupting that disk.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

 

From what I can see the array configurations are the same in the backup syslog and the recovered sys log.

 

Backup Syslog config:

Oct 13 22:03:03 unraidserver emhttp: Device inventory:

Oct 13 22:03:03 unraidserver emhttp: shcmd (4): udevadm settle

Oct 13 22:03:03 unraidserver emhttp: WDC_WD30EFRX-68EUZN0_WD-WCC4N2ZHNRE4 (sdb) 2930266584

Oct 13 22:03:03 unraidserver emhttp: WDC_WD30EFRX-68EUZN0_WD-WCC4N5PF98K5 (sdc) 2930266584

Oct 13 22:03:03 unraidserver emhttp: WDC_WD20EARX-008FB0_WD-WMAZA9765616 (sdd) 1953514584

Oct 13 22:03:03 unraidserver emhttp: WDC_WD20EZRX-00DC0B0_WD-WMC302173631 (sde) 1953514584

Oct 13 22:03:03 unraidserver emhttp: WDC_WD20EARX-00PASB0_WD-WMAZA5273483 (sdf) 1953514584

Oct 13 22:03:03 unraidserver emhttp: WDC_WD20EARX-00PASB0_WD-WCAZA8429186 (sdg) 1953514584

Oct 13 22:03:03 unraidserver kernel: mdcmd (1): import 0 8,32 2930266532 WDC_WD30EFRX-68EUZN0_WD-WCC4N5PF98K5

Oct 13 22:03:03 unraidserver kernel: md: import disk0: [8,32] (sdc) WDC_WD30EFRX-68EUZN0_WD-WCC4N5PF98K5 size: 2930266532

Oct 13 22:03:03 unraidserver kernel: mdcmd (2): import 1 8,96 1953514552 WDC_WD20EARX-00PASB0_WD-WCAZA8429186

Oct 13 22:03:03 unraidserver kernel: md: import disk1: [8,96] (sdg) WDC_WD20EARX-00PASB0_WD-WCAZA8429186 size: 1953514552

Oct 13 22:03:03 unraidserver kernel: mdcmd (3): import 2 8,80 1953514552 WDC_WD20EARX-00PASB0_WD-WMAZA5273483

Oct 13 22:03:03 unraidserver kernel: md: import disk2: [8,80] (sdf) WDC_WD20EARX-00PASB0_WD-WMAZA5273483 size: 1953514552

Oct 13 22:03:03 unraidserver kernel: mdcmd (4): import 3 8,16 2930266532 WDC_WD30EFRX-68EUZN0_WD-WCC4N2ZHNRE4

Oct 13 22:03:03 unraidserver kernel: md: import disk3: [8,16] (sdb) WDC_WD30EFRX-68EUZN0_WD-WCC4N2ZHNRE4 size: 2930266532

Oct 13 22:03:03 unraidserver kernel: mdcmd (5): import 4 8,64 1953514552 WDC_WD20EZRX-00DC0B0_WD-WMC302173631

Oct 13 22:03:03 unraidserver kernel: md: import disk4: [8,64] (sde) WDC_WD20EZRX-00DC0B0_WD-WMC302173631 size: 1953514552

Oct 13 22:03:03 unraidserver kernel: mdcmd (6): import 5 0,0

Oct 13 22:03:03 unraidserver kernel: mdcmd (7): import 6 0,0

Oct 13 22:03:03 unraidserver kernel: mdcmd (: import 7 0,0

Recovered syslog config:

Dec 22 14:05:01 unraidserver emhttp: Device inventory:

Dec 22 14:05:01 unraidserver emhttp: shcmd (5): udevadm settle

Dec 22 14:05:01 unraidserver emhttp: WDC_WD30EFRX-68EUZN0_WD-WCC4N2ZHNRE4 (sdb) 2930266584

Dec 22 14:05:01 unraidserver emhttp: WDC_WD30EFRX-68EUZN0_WD-WCC4N5PF98K5 (sdc) 2930266584

Dec 22 14:05:01 unraidserver emhttp: WDC_WD20EARX-008FB0_WD-WMAZA9765616 (sdd) 1953514584

Dec 22 14:05:01 unraidserver emhttp: WDC_WD20EZRX-00DC0B0_WD-WMC302173631 (sde) 1953514584

Dec 22 14:05:01 unraidserver emhttp: WDC_WD20EARX-00PASB0_WD-WMAZA5273483 (sdf) 1953514584

Dec 22 14:05:01 unraidserver emhttp: WDC_WD20EARX-00PASB0_WD-WCAZA8429186 (sdg) 1953514584

Dec 22 14:05:01 unraidserver emhttp: array slots: 24

Dec 22 14:05:01 unraidserver emhttp: cache slots: 1

Dec 22 14:05:01 unraidserver kernel: mdcmd (1): import 0 8,32 2930266532 WDC_WD30EFRX-68EUZN0_WD-WCC4N5PF98K5

Dec 22 14:05:01 unraidserver kernel: md: import disk0: [8,32] (sdc) WDC_WD30EFRX-68EUZN0_WD-WCC4N5PF98K5 size: 2930266532

Dec 22 14:05:01 unraidserver kernel: mdcmd (2): import 1 8,96 1953514552 WDC_WD20EARX-00PASB0_WD-WCAZA8429186

Dec 22 14:05:01 unraidserver kernel: md: import disk1: [8,96] (sdg) WDC_WD20EARX-00PASB0_WD-WCAZA8429186 size: 1953514552

Dec 22 14:05:01 unraidserver kernel: mdcmd (3): import 2 8,80 1953514552 WDC_WD20EARX-00PASB0_WD-WMAZA5273483

Dec 22 14:05:01 unraidserver kernel: md: import disk2: [8,80] (sdf) WDC_WD20EARX-00PASB0_WD-WMAZA5273483 size: 1953514552

Dec 22 14:05:01 unraidserver kernel: mdcmd (4): import 3 8,16 2930266532 WDC_WD30EFRX-68EUZN0_WD-WCC4N2ZHNRE4

Dec 22 14:05:01 unraidserver kernel: md: import disk3: [8,16] (sdb) WDC_WD30EFRX-68EUZN0_WD-WCC4N2ZHNRE4 size: 2930266532

Dec 22 14:05:01 unraidserver kernel: mdcmd (5): import 4 8,64 1953514552 WDC_WD20EZRX-00DC0B0_WD-WMC302173631

Dec 22 14:05:01 unraidserver kernel: md: import disk4: [8,64] (sde) WDC_WD20EZRX-00DC0B0_WD-WMC302173631 size: 1953514552

Dec 22 14:05:01 unraidserver kernel: mdcmd (6): import 5 0,0

Dec 22 14:05:01 unraidserver kernel: mdcmd (7): import 6 0,0

Dec 22 14:05:01 unraidserver kernel: mdcmd (: import 7 0,0

 

Would be worthwhile if someone could double check this for me.

 

Also, is there a setting that I can change to stop the array from starting automatically?

 

thanks.