USB fail due to user error

[keymaster]

Hi

My German friend installed unraid on his server and purchased it and loves it, he installed the plugin Crousader and made a copy of his flash as in space invaders excellent youtube video, but when he was copying it he got an error message and now his unraid system wont boot.

   We have read the many posts on the forum but he doesnt have access to the server anymore only his Windows 10 pc .

Please can somebody confirm if I am correct that his only course of action is to do a free trial download and then copy the /config file over?

does he do this prior to install on his wondows pc or in unraid and if he does it on his servers will the trail ver not try to format his drives?

Many thanks

K

 

[doppelt]

Hi, its me doing the failure.

 

I just want to avoid losing all my data. Its a microserver and the ilo just working. For me the hardware is ok but the bootstick is damaged.

I mate a copy of the flashdrive as shown in that video.

 

 

May be i used move instead of copy in Krusader. It went so damn quick !

I feel that i lost my usb boot stick.

 

What to do to create a new bootstick? I got an identical one here in my hands, but like to avoid more failures to damage my aray.

Its a 3x 2tb array with an parity as 4th drive.

 

Just create a new usb bootstick with free unraid ? And what to do exactly to get full access back on my array?

 

Thank you very much for any reply.

 

Double-T

[wgstarks]

Were you using a trial license when the flash drive failed?

[doppelt]

No, i got license.

 

Can i create new bootstick with trial license and then using my licence ?

 

I want to avoid doing much more failures.

 

I don´t know exactly what happend - but must be same case if the bootstick is damaged or fails.

 

Just want to know can i create new bootstick and use it in the server ? are my data still present ? i made copy of Flash on the array - but can´t acess it without booting.

And after that can i copy some config files or whatever to the new bootstick to got my unraid back running ?

 

Thanks for your reply.

 

[wgstarks]

If you copy all the files from your backup to the new flash drive your system will detect that the new flash doesn’t match your key file (when you boot). This should start an automated process which will blacklist the old key and allow you to install a free replacement.

 

Just wondering, have you tried restoring the files to the old flash drive?

[trurl]

2 hours ago, doppelt said:

May be i used move instead of copy in Krusader.

 

5 minutes ago, wgstarks said:

Just wondering, have you tried restoring the files to the old flash drive?

And then maybe run make_bootable again.

[doppelt]

I don´t understand and I wrote - I don´t have acess to unraid and GUI !

 

How can I copy things directories and files from an Array i don´t see and having no access to ?

 

What is procedure if your bootstick is defectiv ?

 

What to do to get a new(replacement) bootstick to work on an existing unraid and array on a server ?

 

Thanks

 

[trurl]

1 minute ago, doppelt said:

I don´t understand and I wrote - I don´t have acess to unraid and GUI !

 

How can I copy things directories and files from an Array i don´t see and having no access to ?

 

What is procedure if your bootstick is defectiv ?

 

What to do to get a new bootstick to work on an existing unraid on a server ?

 

Thanks

 

What makes you think the stick is defective? Do you have the backup copy you made? Can you put the "defective" stick in your PC and read it, even if it is empty?

 

No need to panic. Your data is fine. Even if we have to start over.

[doppelt]

In my mind I thought it would be better to do nothing with the defective bootstick and create a second working identical one on a second usb on a windows machine.

 

As it would happen when your bootstick fails.

What to do?

 

What could it be else if you fail in choosing move instead of copy ? All files than are copied in test directory and subdir called Flash.

Again - this is on the unraid array !!!!! How can i access it with a nonworking system that does not boot ?

 

I think i have to create a new booting usb stick ! and leave the old one as it is !

 

How can I do this ? Not more not less.

 

Thank you

[keymaster]

Hi

To be clear his backup is on his server that he can no longer access, I believe he may have clicked move rather that copy when he backed up his USB.

as I asked in my first post am I correct in the following steps for him.

1) make new usb with trial unraid on

2) boot up his server using it

3) copy /config from back up on server on to his trial usb

 

is that it?

Thanks

 

[doppelt]

I´am not that familar with linux and unraid and my homelanguage is not english.

 

I just want help how i can solve that prob to start unraid and my array.

 

Tried to avoid problems to put defective stick in windows machine and may be create throughout this more probs.

 

It just my suggestion in logical sense to make new bootstick.

 

And ok - you are telling me take the old defective one and have a look to on a windows machine? yes ?

 

Ok i will do.

[trurl]

Just now, keymaster said:

Hi

To be clear his backup is on his server that he can no longer access, I believe he may have clicked move rather that copy when he backed up his USB.

as I asked in my first post am I correct in the following steps for him.

1) make new usb with trial unraid on

2) boot up his server using it

3) copy /config from back up on server on to his trial usb

 

is that it?

Thanks

 

If you have already paid for a license, and if there is nothing actually wrong with the original USB stick except perhaps all the files are gone, then it really makes more sense to try to get the original USB stick working again, since the license is tied to it, and there are restrictions on how often you can get a new key for a new stick.

 

Whether you try with the same stick or with a new stick, you are still going to have to know (or figure out) the disk assignments in order to access the data again. Do you have a copy of at least the license key file? Do you have a printout or a diagnostic file or syslog that will help us figure out the disk assignments?

 

[trurl]

And for future reference, recent versions of unRAID make it very easy to simply download a copy of the boot flash from the webUI. No krusader docker or anything else required.

[keymaster]

Hi

thank you for your response, he has moved files from usb stick onto his server by mistake using krusader, he made this mistake.

his usb now has nothing on it, his backup is on the server.

He has a paid for licence but this is on the server in the file he mistakingly moved instead of copied.

we are going round in circles here.

 

[trurl]

Just now, keymaster said:

Hi

thank you for your response, he has moved files from usb stick onto his server by mistake using krousader, he made this mistake.

his usb now has nothing on it, his backup is on the server.

He has a paid for licence but this is on the server in the file he mistakingly moved instead of copied.

we are going round in circles here.

 

 

I understand the situation. We aren't going around in circles here since I have asked some questions that you haven't answered yet:

7 minutes ago, trurl said:

Whether you try with the same stick or with a new stick, you are still going to have to know (or figure out) the disk assignments in order to access the data again. Do you have a copy of at least the license key file? Do you have a printout or a diagnostic file or syslog that will help us figure out the disk assignments?

 

 

[keymaster]

Thank you

He has the link to the file from original email, yes

[trurl]

4 minutes ago, keymaster said:

Thank you

He has the link to the file from original email, yes

Use that link to download the key file again, and prepare the original flash drive as if it is a new install using the method for Manual Installation (Zip file download) explained here: https://lime-technology.com/download/

 

Then copy the key file to the config folder on flash.

 

What about disk assignments? Anything we can go on there? It is not critical if there isn't. The most important thing is knowing which drive is parity. If not then we can proceed by not assigning a parity drive.

[doppelt]

I try again - on the old defective bootstick are following dirs and files.

 

First picture is root. In all dirs in the root, except of the config dir are no !  files.

 In second picture are the dirs and files of config dir.

 

I hope i made it clear now.

 

And again - what to do ?

[doppelt]

ok, dowloaded now unRAIDServer-6.4.1-x86_64.zip

 

and licence key file named basic.key

 

you suggest now to copy all files from unzipped file unRAIDServer-6.4.1-x86_64.zip to the old "defective" usbstick yes ?

 

But there are still files in config folder of old usbstick. Doesn´t it make sense to copy all of unzipped unRAIDServer-6.4.1-x86_64.zip files to the usb stick except of the dir config?

 

otherwise it would overrite all that files or wouldn´t it? I decided to copy whole directory config for safty to windows machine as well.

 

And I´m pretty shure that i did ecaxtly that failure by clicking move instead of copy - right ? Silly me !

 

Thanks again

 

[trurl]

My guess is those files were written after the move, since they have a recent timestamp and there are other files missing that should be there, such as the key file.

 

But most importantly, it looks like you still have super.dat, which is the disk assignments.

 

Make a copy of everything you still have on the original flash just in case there is something useful there. Most importantly, make a copy of super.dat because it is useful.

 

Then proceed as I said about preparing the original USB for a new install, but in addition to copying the key file to config, also copy super.dat.

 

Then try to boot up with it.

 

 

[doppelt]

ok, - copied all files from unRAIDServer-6.4.1-x86_64.zip to "old" usbstick. But didn´t format the stick - right or ?

 

but one more question. I´m asked now to overwrite

- old docker.cfg wich is about 168 bytes with new install one wich is about 21 Bytes

- old domain.cfg wich is about 199 Bytes with new install one wich is about 17 Bytes

- old template-repos wich is about 44 Bytes with new install one wich is about 44 Bytes

 

Shouldn´t i keep old docker.cfg and domain.cfg ?

Just asking for savety and my logic !

 

After that i would copy Basic.key and super.dat to config directory of usb stick.

 

Am I correct in that ?

 

Than I will give it a try to boot the microserver

 

Thanks

[trurl]

6 minutes ago, doppelt said:

Shouldn´t i keep old docker.cfg and domain.cfg ?

Like most files on flash, these are text and you can examine them yourself and see how they differ from the download. Did you have any dockers or VMs?

[doppelt]

yes dockers for plex and Krusader and no VM´s.

 

In my mind i like to keep both files.

 

Thanks mate

 

[trurl]

6 minutes ago, doppelt said:

yes dockers for plex and Krusader and no VM´s.

 

In my mind i like to keep both files.

 

Thanks mate

 

Yes keep them

[doppelt]

Hurraaay - Back to life !

Thank you very much !!!

 

All is there and everthing is working.

The only thing was to change NIC adress to my prefered one and maybe a small issue:

Errors Found	Suggested Fix
Docker application Krusader has volumes being passed that are mounted by Unassigned Devices, but they are not mounted with the slave option	To help with a trouble free experience with this application, you need to pass any volumes mounted with Unassigned Devices using the slave option. Fix it here:

 

What does that mean and how to solve ?

 

 

But this was a perfect lesson for me, to understand more about unraid and how it works, boot e.g.

I had the right feeling about what i did wrong.

 

Please apologize asking again and again. But what I have lerned in my life is - better ask twice before doing a mistake. It could be the last mistake for your server.

Naturaly there is a backup of the files, but there is always a gap in time and you are always missing something - just a few things.

 

First of all I made a complete copy of the Flash and saved it to a directory of my windows machine. Safty first !

Its good to understand what files and configs are important and that you should have a copy of them.

Its also clear now what to do if an usbstick chrashes - I think same procedure.

 

I don´t understand clear what happened during that past second copy of the flash dir(or the move I launched) whether its was the fault choosing wrong option move, or by droping it into Krusader to same directory of existing FLASH dir and it launches than a move ! (makes no sense in logic for me). Must have been my fault !

But I actually don´t want to test that again

 

Thanks for all your support - great forum and great unraid !