I am having a couple issues with unRAID at the moment but right now I having an issue with a Data disk in my array. It is a 1TB disk and out of the blue it has a red X appear next to it and says that the device is disabled. I have tried restarting the server, swapping out cables with a known working cable, plugging the drive into another computer to make sure it spins up, and swapping the power cable going to the drive. This is the second time this has happened this month and after letting it sit for a while I get a message saying that the "array turned good". unRAID will still let me run a SMART test on this drive and it says that the drive is functioning normally and passes the test. Any help would be great!

 

Also, I mentioned this is the second time this has happened, the other time was on a different drive all together and that drive was brand new and verified working before installation. So I'm leaning towards saying this is something to do with unRAID.

This and the problem in your other thread leads me to ask what make and model of power supply are you using?

I was starting to wonder about the power supply. Its an old old Lite On rated for 270 watts. The fan pumps luke warm air out of the power supply during normal operation with all disks spun down, but during large file transfers or parity checks it pumps out hot air (my cx430 in my other server never has hot air coming out of it). FYI, I am running 4 x 7200 rpm HDD, 1 x SanDisk SSD Cache, and 2 x92mm fans all on a SuperMicro X8SIL-B Mobo. Also, if it makes a difference, that drive that was clicking in my other thread is my largest drive at 4TB so i assume that would need more power than the other drives, hence why its having trouble spinning up sometimes?

Your power supply is not a good choice for a server that has a number of disks because it has a split 12 volt rail. Single rail power supplies are a much better choice, as you have discovered with your Corsair CX430. Also, 270 watts is on the low side for this kind of application. I think it's running out of current on one of the 12 V rails.

 

Have a read of the thread that's dedicated to power supplies, here: https://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=12219.0 then think about replacing that LiteON with one of the recommended ones and I think both your problems will be solved.

 

Thank you for the response. I definitely will be picking up another CX430 soon. Seems like once a month Newegg has them on sale for $20 plus a $4 promo code. Can't beat that for $16! I'll give that a shot and hopefully that's my problem. Thank you!

 

Also, I just thought of this. I forgot that it had 2 rails and I realized all the drives were on the same rail. I moved the 4TB over to the other rail so it was by itself and now I'm not noticing the issue anymore. So I believe you were right. I will definitely still get a new PSU.

 

Question:Do you think the reason why my 1 drive was disabled is because it was writing to that drive and didn't get enough current and failed to write? I checked the drive that was disabled and it was fine so I had it rebuild the data and now its running again no problem.

I wouldn't be surprised that the extra power needed to write (it is a measurable amount) tipped the balance and made the power supply limit its output current on that rail. I'm pretty sure that's what made the disk drop offline. All manner of otherwise unexplained oddities can be dealt with by simply fitting a decent power supply. Yes, you can juggle drives and try to balance them across multiple supply rails, as you've done. But thinking ahead, you might want to add a couple more disks in the future. You pay a lot for decent hard disks so don't be cheap with the power supply. Hopefully your reconfigured power arrangements will keep you going until Newegg have their next sale!

Looking back I should have remember to check the power across the two rails when building the box. Silly me. I am going to be adding a new drive that I ordered soon so maybe i'll wait to put that drive in until i get a new psu. Thank you for the help!