Can I remove and not replace a faulty drive?

[KeithLM]

I have a drive that is failing, and currently it is not even being used to store anything so its failure is not a problem.  But I can't figure out how to remove it.  Because there's a drive failure apparently there is no parity taking place either, which really bothers me.  My array is now unprotected, and I don't even see the option to run a parity check. 

 

So is there some way to remove this drive altogether since its existence in the array is inconsequential?  This is disk 7, and I have 7 disks plus the parity drive and cache drive.  When I stop the array I look at my array devices and it says no device on Disk 7.  So I'd just like to delete it, but there doesn't seem to be an option for that. 

[JorgeB]

Take a screenshot of curret array assignments then go to Tools and select New Config.

 

Reassign all disks except for the one you want to remove (double check parity disk is in the parity slot ) and start array to begin a parity sync,  array will be unprotected until the sync finishes.

 

[KeithLM]

Is that going to screw up any of my shares or dockers or anything that?  "New Config" sounds all encompassing and I don't want to go down a path that will screw everything up.

[JorgeB]

 

 

Is that going to screw up any of my shares or dockers or anything that?

 

No.

 

 

[KeithLM]

Cool thanks.  Seems like they should change the wording on that.  Alter, restore, recover, change, anything but new. 

[RobJ]

Cool thanks.  Seems like they should change the wording on that.  Alter, restore, recover, change, anything but new.

 

That's a road we really don't want to go back down! 

 

Long ago, the comparable function used to be called 'Restore', and caused so much confusion and trouble!  It really is a brand new configuration, not a restored configuration.  A parity drive is valid for a particular configuration of drives, and depends on each drive, whether it's present or not.  To remove a drive, you have to start over, or find a way to remove the bits of that drive exactly like you were adding the drive to the array.

 

People used to have issues with their array, see that 'Restore' button, and think that was gong to restore their array to operation, when what it would do is destroy their configuration and invalidate their parity!  Nowadays you can start over with a new config, but also have the option to accept the current parity drive as already valid.  That's not something you (KeithLM) want to do though, as you do need a fresh parity build.

[KeithLM]

I see what you are saying, I guess what I'm doing isn't really the norm.  I was fortunate with my failure in that I was dealing with a drive that had yet to be used.

 

This is what threw me though:

This is a utility to reset the array disk configuration so that all disks appear as "New" disks, as if it were a fresh new server.

 

This is useful when you have added or removed multiple drives and wish to rebuild parity based on the new configuration.

First line sounds scary, second line sounds fine.  By saying "fresh new server" I felt like it was going to reset everything back to defaults.  I had actually seen this fix recommended in my searching, but I just wasn't willing to go that route without confirmation that wasn't going to end up with a "fresh new server" which I expect to be empty. 

 

Thanks for the help.  I have my array redefined and am rebuilding parity.

 

 

[gundamguy]

Cool thanks.  Seems like they should change the wording on that.  Alter, restore, recover, change, anything but new.

 

That's a road we really don't want to go back down! 

 

Long ago, the comparable function used to be called 'Restore', and caused so much confusion and trouble!  It really is a brand new configuration, not a restored configuration.  A parity drive is valid for a particular configuration of drives, and depends on each drive, whether it's present or not.  To remove a drive, you have to start over, or find a way to remove the bits of that drive exactly like you were adding the drive to the array.

 

People used to have issues with their array, see that 'Restore' button, and think that was gong to restore their array to operation, when what it would do is destroy their configuration and invalidate their parity!  Nowadays you can start over with a new config, but also have the option to accept the current parity drive as already valid.  That's not something you (KeithLM) want to do though, as you do need a fresh parity build.

 

This all makes sense.

 

Suggestion though, modify the wording from "New Configuration" to "New Parity Configuration" because that makes it more clear that this changes the parity not the rest of the settings the user might have customized.

[itimpi]

Cool thanks.  Seems like they should change the wording on that.  Alter, restore, recover, change, anything but new.

 

That's a road we really don't want to go back down! 

 

Long ago, the comparable function used to be called 'Restore', and caused so much confusion and trouble!  It really is a brand new configuration, not a restored configuration.  A parity drive is valid for a particular configuration of drives, and depends on each drive, whether it's present or not.  To remove a drive, you have to start over, or find a way to remove the bits of that drive exactly like you were adding the drive to the array.

 

People used to have issues with their array, see that 'Restore' button, and think that was gong to restore their array to operation, when what it would do is destroy their configuration and invalidate their parity!  Nowadays you can start over with a new config, but also have the option to accept the current parity drive as already valid.  That's not something you (KeithLM) want to do though, as you do need a fresh parity build.

 

This all makes sense.

 

Suggestion though, modify the wording from "New Configuration" to "New Parity Configuration" because that makes it more clear that this changes the parity not the rest of the settings the user might have customized.

That is not very good either as some people do not have a parity drive.  Maybe something like "New Drive Configuration" might work or perhaps "Reset Drive Configuration"?  What I cannot think of is an easy phrase that makes it clear that data on drives already used by unRAID the data is left intact, but if you add a drive not previously used by unRAID then the data is lost.

 

I have also wished for ages that there was a version of the New Config that gave a way of leaving the current assignments in place, but the array in the state it would be if the drives had just been assigned and the array never started.  In my view this would significantly reduce the chances of error in many scenarios.

[tdallen]

@itimpi - I like "New Drive Configuration"  .

[gundamguy]

@itimpi - I like "New Drive Configuration"  .

 

I agree, after reading itimpi's comment I agree New Drive Configuration seems better.

[KeithLM]

Well it turns out this wasn't a complete success.  While my shares all came back, as well as my dockers, I've lost my VM.  I had Ubuntu installed on one VM, not sure which of the two VM managers I used, I have two showing up in the main menu.  Any ideas how to recover that?

[Squid]

If you have a kvm tab and a vm tab then you need to uninstall vm Manager via the plugins rab

 

Sent from my LG-D852 using Tapatalk

 

 

[mrmarkfr]

I wish there was an option to automatically move the data and calculate the new parity, it feels safer(maybe just in my head) to have the data moved, before creating a new parity.

I have to do this tomorrow with a dying drive, and have plenty of space in my array for the data

Edited November 19, 2017 by mrmarkfr

[FreeMan]

16 hours ago, mrmarkfr said:

I have to do this tomorrow with a dying drive, and have plenty of space in my array for the data

 

Use the unbalance plugin to scatter the data from the dying drive. It makes it pretty simple to do this with just a few clicks and a nice GUI interface to make it obvious what you're doing at each step of the way