October 24, 20169 yr Current setup in unRAID 6.2.2: Description: Array has 4 disks (including parity) External 4TB Seagate - Parity - ST4000DM000-2AE166_WDH0TG23 (sdb) - standby [OK] External 4TB Seagate - Parity2 - ST4000DM000-2AE166_WDH0SXZE (sdd) - standby [OK] Internal 1TB HD - Disk 1 - ST1000DM003-1SB102_Z9A5ABXX (sdf) - active 39 C [OK] External 1TB WD - Disk 2 - ST1000DM_003-1SB102_1-0:0 (sda) - active 37 C [OK] Parity is valid Last checked on Sun 23 Oct 2016 11:28:15 PM EDT (today), finding 0 errors. Duration: 8 hours, 55 minutes, 51 seconds. Average speed: 124.4 MB/s The 2 parity drives are exactly the same make/model (seagate 4TB external HD STDT4000100). I have a third drive of exactly the same make/model (seagate 4TB external HD STDT4000100) that I would like to add as a Disk 3 data drive. I did the pre-clear, formatted the drive, stopped the array, selected that drive as Disk3 (got the blue mark beside it), clicked start the array. And nothing happened. It took me right back to the same drive selection page that I was just on. Clicked Start the Array again, and again it takes me back to the same page. No errors, no mention of anything wrong. Nothing. I am still on the trial version and am not sure if that's the problem. I've read int the forums that there is a device limit with the trial version, then I've read that there's not - so I'm not sure. If that solves the problem I will definitely just buy a license now, but I would hate to do that and not have it fix my problem here. There have been some mention of this happening in other posts but nothing that matches my circumstances. I also asked this question on the IRC #unraid channel and was told that you cannot use external hard drives and they are the cause of my problem. I did not see that anywhere in the specifications page and wanted to dig further into this. Thanks very much for any information or wisdom you can share. Joe.
October 24, 20169 yr I think this page contains the most up to date information about the Trial licence: https://lime-technology.com/try-it/ The number of devices used to be limited (to three, I think) but with unRAID 6.2 that limitation was removed. unRAID 6.2 does support USB-attached array disks, though previous versions did not - hence the confusion.
October 24, 20169 yr Author Thanks very much for your time. John_M that would explain it - thank you for clearing that up. Sorry - I forgot to run and attach this report this morning; The diagnostics report is attached now. winter-diagnostics-20161024-1558.zip
October 24, 20169 yr I wonder if it is having some sort of problem with your flash? The smart folder in your diagnostics seems to think you have 2 flash drives and a card reader. And syslog is complaining about not being able to read sdc. Maybe you could try a different flash since this is only a trial. When you say external drives do you mean drives in an external USB enclosure? Or do you mean bare drives you have removed from an external? I know unRAID is supposed to support USB drives in the array now but I don't know how many people are actually using it this way. And USB interfaces seem more prone to being flaky than actual SATA connections.
October 25, 20169 yr Author Is there a way to change USB flash drives and keep all of my data/configuration in place with a trial key? I found reference how to do it with a purchased key, and I found how to start all the way over again - but not how to keep what I have set up with a trial key. Not a huge deal if you cannot do it, but it would be nice to keep everything and just use another flash drive. my externals are: The SEAGATES are purchased as external drives (Parity 1, Parity 2, and the future disk 3). Disk 1 is the internal HD that came with the computer. And Disk 2 is an WD internal drive that I mounted in an external case. All external drives are external hard drives in external cases connected via usb. thanks for your time.
October 25, 20169 yr Is there a way to change USB flash drives and keep all of my data/configuration in place with a trial key? I found reference how to do it with a purchased key, and I found how to start all the way over again - but not how to keep what I have set up with a trial key... The files to keep are the same whether trial or purchased.
October 25, 20169 yr The ability to use USB-attached data disks is a new feature that was introduced in version 6.2. I know that one or two people have tested it with one or two disks and reported that it works but you're the first person I've read about who's using more USB-attached disks than SATA-attached disks. If it was me, I'd try to get the parity disks inside the computer on SATA connectors, at least. Good luck and do let us know how you get on.
October 28, 20169 yr Author Thank you very much for all of the information. It turned out to be the drive - I have no idea why. It is the same drive as all of the others -4TB Seagate external USB drive - but it just would not join the array for whatever reason. So I went out and bought another identical drive, used fdisk to wipe the Windows partitions and then mkfs.xfs to format it. Then joined it to the array and it worked perfectly. And since I'm new at unRAID - it never occurred to me that you could not use USB externals so I went out and bought a bunch of them before I started. But they are now up and running perfectly. Thank you for taking the time to give me information that helped me figure this out. I appreciate your time very much. Regards, Joe.
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