[SOLVED] 6.1.9 zero byte super.dat - all drives unassigned


Recommended Posts

So... I have seen read through several threads about this same issue.  And I just need confirmation that what I plan to do to recover is the best option.

 

History

I had noticed a drive mark X on the main page and a comment stating the data was being emulated.  SMART showed passed so I figured I would get to it when time permitted.  I ended up not getting to it before I suffered an unclean reboot.  What I now see is a 0-byte super.dat and not drives assigned.

 

Question

Should I follow the steps from HERE?

Note: I have not been able to find the exact drives assignments.  I DO know which drive was parity. 

I see info in my disk.cfg that lists:

diskComment.1="S/N: 9QJ6D0S000009022A1LG"
diskComment.2="S/N: 9QJ6AJT300009021N373"
diskComment.3="S/N: 9WK0FR710000C038DKM1"
diskComment.4="S/N: 9QJ6EGPT00009019T6AB"
diskComment.5="S/N: 9QJ669CY00009020YYCE"
diskComment.6="S/N: 9QJ6EEBJ000090206DZ1"
diskComment.7="S/N: 9QJ643VA00009019RQ3D"
diskComment.8="S/N: 9QJ6D0S300009022Y6A3"
cacheComment="S/N: OCZ-7139ICMP6O4OG353"

Can I trust this as the assignments?  I should also note these are all SAS drives and that I have 5 other drives (SATA) installed.  Those 5 SATA drives don't show up in the disk.cfg.

 

Plan

[*]Assign SAS drives based on the disk.cfg (disk 8 in the original array was the drive with the X prior to reboot)

[*]Assign SATA drives as best I can from memory and info from Server Layout plugin info

[*]Upgrade to 6.2 (as this has fixes for a known cause of this type of issue)

[*]Assign Parity drive and rebuild

[*]Hope for the best

 

Anything I should check first or do differently?

 

Thanks

Link to comment

Thanks for your response.

A1: No, unfortunately my backup is normally on my second licensed USB drive.  I typically copy the the current prior to upgrades so that I can roll back easily, but I had used that for drive for spinning up a beta release of 6.2 a few month on a different box.  I had not restored the current production configs to that drive.  That said, I may have one on my cache drive or on the array, but until I spin up the drives I won't know.

 

A2: No, I have had so few problems I have never run the diagnostics before last night.  I do have a SMART report from the drive that showed offline that was taken 5 days ago.

 

A3: No, as stated in the title I am running 6.1.9 so no dual parity.

 

My apologies for not attaching the diag when creating the thread.  Attached now.

deadpool-diagnostics-20161108-2221.zip

deadpool-smart-20161103-1951.zip

Link to comment

In the post you linked, that user decided to not bother with rebuilding the data disk. If you want to rebuild the data disk then you will have to tell it to trust parity when you assign the drives or it will rebuild parity instead.

 

I think I will mount the suspect disk with unassigned devices and see if it truly has problems (assuming that is possible).  SMART test, is the file system readable, etc.  If there are issue I will junk the drive and replace with a hot spare.

Link to comment

In the post you linked, that user decided to not bother with rebuilding the data disk. If you want to rebuild the data disk then you will have to tell it to trust parity when you assign the drives or it will rebuild parity instead.

 

I think I will mount the suspect disk with unassigned devices and see if it truly has problems (assuming that is possible).  SMART test, is the file system readable, etc.  If there are issue I will junk the drive and replace with a hot spare.

Technically, your parity is correct and it is the data disk that is wrong, even if the drive is OK, so you might want to rebuild it instead of parity.
Link to comment

trurl, thank you.  I was just about to post how incorrect my comment was in this regard.

 

I was looking through the files on the questionable drive.  I can see via a NextCloud nginx syslog file entry stored on that disk that the drive stopped functioning in the array on Oct. 23.  It happened to be the drive with the least used space and was getting all the new array data.  I can also see that no new files were added to the drive after Oct.23.

 

I will let parity do its thing and rebuild the drive.  I assume that I don't need to get the drive order exactly the same as it was prior as long as my parity disk is accounted for correctly.  Although I think I can piece together most of the drive order from the bits of information I have been able to find.  I will just need to repopulate which disks should be included/excluded with shares.

Link to comment

In the post you linked, that user decided to not bother with rebuilding the data disk. If you want to rebuild the data disk then you will have to tell it to trust parity when you assign the drives or it will rebuild parity instead.

 

Where do I tell it to "trust parity" so that i rebuilds the data that was written directly to parity during the time the disk was offline?  I don't see an option on the start array section.  Currently it say "Stopped. new parity disk installed"

 

I assume this is done via the Tools==>New Config.  Reassign drives as before but now I should see the option.  Scary based on the warning on the New Config page. But I take it this will force the drive in question to start reconstructing off the parity information.

Capture3.PNG.046ee408f4251d467d5e73a376b3f4a7.PNG

Link to comment

Do this:

 

-tools -> new config

-assign all disks, double check parity disk is on the parity slot

-important, check the box "parity is already valid" before starting array

-start array

-stop array

-unassign the problem disk (select "no device") and start array

-check that the emulated disk mounts and data looks OK

-if all looks good, stop array, re-assign disk and start array to begin rebuild

Link to comment

Thanks johnnie.  I didn't see your reply until after I had worked my way through it, but those were the exact steps I used.  Your post also saved me from writing out the steps should someone else run into the same problem and need the reassurance of knowing exactly what to do.

 

Thanks to all the took the time to respond and provide assistance.  It is much appreciated.

 

Marking this as [sOLVED].

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.