Just returned from a couple of days away and turned on my Unraid machine only to find I can't connect to it or even see it on the network.  I connected a display to it to see what is going on and it's not even booting into Unraid.  It's set to boot from the USB but not doing so.   I've just connected the USB to my machine to find that it looks like the drive is empty!

 

Here's some screenshots:

 

What I THINK COULD have happened is that I noticed that as I shut down the machine before going away, the script to backup the USB drive just started.   I'm 100% sure but could this have caused it?

 

Either way, any idea how I can get my machine back up and running?

 

Edited August 1, 20186 yr by rctneil

If you have a backup of the config folder you can just prepare as a new install and copy the config back.

13 minutes ago, trurl said:

If you have a backup of the config folder you can just prepare as a new install and copy the config back.

 

Well I should have as the backup location of the USB drive backup I configured was to a drive outside the array on an external disk with Unassigned Devices. I ahve just plugged that disk into my Macbook but it's unable to read it and asks me if I want to initialize it.

 

How can I get access to that data on the drive so I can grab the backup?

4 hours ago, rctneil said:

a drive outside the array on an external disk with Unassigned Devices.

 

What filesystem was this disk?

6 hours ago, trurl said:

 

What filesystem was this disk?

 

That's the problem, i'm not 100% sure.  Would it have been xfs?  I precleared it and formatted it as the default filesystem to use it as an external drive.

25 minutes ago, rctneil said:

 

That's the problem, i'm not 100% sure.  Would it have been xfs?  I precleared it and formatted it as the default filesystem to use it as an external drive.

If you want to use a drive on another system you are better off formatting it on that system in the first place to ensure it is a format compatible with that system.   The default unRAID format of XFS is only readable in general on Linux systems - Mac and Windows do not have suitable drivers by default.

Ok,   Will have a go using FUSE-XFS to see if I can get it to read the drive and grab the backup of the config folder from it.  Otherise i'll try setting up a simple Linux VM to do the same, else i'll come back here!

 

Will report back. Thanks

6 minutes ago, rctneil said:

Ok,   Will have a go using FUSE-XFS to see if I can get it to read the drive and grab the backup of the config folder from it.  Otherise i'll try setting up a simple Linux VM to do the same, else i'll come back here!

 

Will report back. Thanks

Alot of work to just access the drive if FUSE-XFS dont work, just run ubuntu or any other linux from a usb pen (no need to install it) and then copy the backup to another drive

Good idea, will try that

I think i've managed to get a copy of the drive contents from my backup but it looks like it has totally killed my USB drive.  My Mac can detect the drive when it's connected but it totally fails to repair or format it.   Super annoying.  Didn't expect to have to replace the drive after only two months.

Just managed to get the server back up by downloading a fresh copy of unraid and putting it on a spare USB drive until my brand new replacement arrives.  I copied the config folder from the backup onto the drive too. It's booted up but my drive assignments are all gone. Not sure if the Shares are still available as the array isn;t started and it's pointless starting if the drive assignments are gone.

 

Any ideas on how I can fix this?

 

Thanks,

Neil

15 minutes ago, rctneil said:

Not sure if the Shares are still available as the array isn;t started and it's pointless starting if the drive assignments are gone

 

On your flash drive look in config/shares.  You should see a [share name].cfg file for each of your shares.  If those are there (you can open them as they are just text files), your share definition are intact.

 

On the root of the flash drive, is there a disk_assignments.txt file?  If so, you can use that information to recreate your disk assignments as they were before.

The disk assignments are in config/super.dat

 

And you will have shares automatically when the array starts based on the top level folders of all disks. But any specific settings for those shares must be restored from the .cfg files in config/shares.

Ok. I'll check all those files tomorrow. If super.dat is there then why don't they all get reassigned automatically?

1 hour ago, rctneil said:

If super.dat is there then why don't they all get reassigned automatically?

 

That's why I mentioned the disk_assignments.txt file.  I assumed from your description that super.dat was either corrupt or missing from your backup since you said you had no disk assignments. However, it appears you copied only the config folder from the backup.  Super.dat is stored at the root of the flash drive.  See if it is there (and anything else you may want from the root) in your backup.  DISK_ASSIGNMENTS.TXT, if you have one, is also stored at the root.

 

Of course, with a fresh downloaded copy of unRAID OS,  super.dat won't have much in it until disk assignments are made.

Edited August 3, 20186 yr by Hoopster

48 minutes ago, Hoopster said:

Super.dat is stored at the root of the flash drive.

 

No, super.dat is in the config folder just like all of the rest of your configuration.

 

If you have a recent diagnostic or syslog we can get the disk assignments from there.

3 minutes ago, trurl said:

If you have a recent diagnostic or syslog we can get the disk assignments from there.

Or array status email.

3 minutes ago, trurl said:

 

No, super.dat is in the config folder just like all of the rest of your configuration.

 

Oops, yes, you are correct.  Thanks for the correction.  I did not check to verify and mis-stated the location from my faulty memory. 

 

Since he copied the config folder, super.dat must be missing or corrupt.

Edited August 3, 20186 yr by Hoopster

Right, quick update.   Got everything back up and running.   Whatever happened totally killed my USB stick. It was brand new 3 months ago!  Not very happy at having to buy a new stick and waste my license transfer this early on. Not happy at all.   Anyway, the super.dat file was there but had .backup appended to the end so once I renamed that it all worked fine.   Appreciate your help!