I decided to create a build with some old hardware lying around. Setup is as follows: 

asus p8z68 deluxe with an i5 2500k. 16 gigs of ram....even though unraid only shows 8???

Parity drive: WD Purple 8tb

Array: 1 WD Purple 8tb, 2 WD black 6tb

Cache: 2 samsung evo 860 500gb ssd

 

I managed to load everything and start my array. Initially the parity sync time estimated like 16 hours. I am aware that during the sync any data on the array would not be protected, but I went ahead and started to transfer about 150gb of pictures to my "Pictures" share. At this time parity sync was at 3%. Went to bed and checked the progress before heading to work. It then stated that the parity sync was only at 5% and estimated 100 DAYS. ummmm i dont think something is right???? Any advice on what to look for when I get home and where to start? Other than creating shares i installed the CA and the dynamix plugins recommended in the video by gridrunner. 

You aren't going to get very good performance syncing parity or good performance writing 150GB if you are trying to do both at the same time. Syncing parity requires reading all disks, calculating and writing parity. Writing 150GB to array requires reading data disk to be written and reading corresponding parity, calculating parity change that results from data write, and writing data and corresponding parity. Doing parity sync and writing a large volume of data simultaneously will do all this, and of course they won't be working at the same sectors, so in addition to all that it will be doing a lot of seeking.

 

I would advise slowing down and not trying to do everything at once. That includes not installing a lot of addons all at once. You need to learn as you go, and it's best if you only have one thing to troubleshoot at a time.

 

Some people recommend not adding a parity drive until you have done the initial data load. That will make writing a lot faster since parity is not involved. And if you are just copying data you already have somewhere else, parity isn't as important to prevent data loss. In any case, you should always keep backups of important and irreplaceable data. Parity isn't a substitute for backups.

 

I haven't looked up all of your "old" hardware to see how suitable it is, but I will say that it is very important to only use reliable disks in the array. In order to reliably recover all the data from a failed disk, every bit of every other disk must be reliably read.

The really lengthy sync was showing after the 150gb of data completed the transfer.

As far as going slow, i just installed what was listed as "essential plugins" in the guides section of the forum. 

Go to Tools - Diagnostics and post the complete zip.

Will do when I get home. Thanks

tower-diagnostics-20180903-0428.zip 

i dont know what to look for in the zip. however i see the following message in system log : 

 

Fatal error:  Allowed memory size of 134217728 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 134115360 bytes) in /usr/local/emhttp/plugins/dynamix/include/DefaultPageLayout.php(383) : eval()'d code on line 73

There are read errors on disk3, since it's failing:

 

197 Current_Pending_Sector  -O--CK   171   100   000    -    3554

 

Also change your onboard SATA controller from IDE to AHCI.

it is in ahci

43 minutes ago, Glenn said:

it is in ahci

No, it isn't:

 

00:1f.2 IDE interface [0101]: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family Desktop SATA Controller (IDE mode, ports 0-3) [8086:1c00] (rev 05)
    Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family Desktop SATA Controller (IDE mode, ports 0-3) [1043:844d]
    Kernel driver in use: ata_piix
    Kernel modules: ata_piix

00:1f.5 IDE interface [0101]: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family Desktop SATA Controller (IDE mode, ports 4-5) [8086:1c08] (rev 05)
    Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family Desktop SATA Controller (IDE mode, ports 4-5) [1043:844d]
    Kernel driver in use: ata_piix
    Kernel modules: ata_piix

 

my bios setting says it is.......... so what do i do?

 

Board has multiple SATA controllers, you're likely looking at the extra controllers, those are in AHCI, the main 6 ports Intel SATA controller is in IDE mode, look at the manual for the correct bios setting, IIRC on those boards it should be under PCH storage or similar.

13 hours ago, Glenn said:

I decided to create a build with some old hardware lying around.

 

7 hours ago, johnnie.black said:

There are read errors on disk3, since it's failing:

 

197 Current_Pending_Sector  -O--CK   171   100   000    -    3554

 

 

13 hours ago, trurl said:

it is very important to only use reliable disks in the array. In order to reliably recover all the data from a failed disk, every bit of every other disk must be reliably read.

 

This is the smart report for that particular drive. Its only about 2 years old or so. Im assuming I need to RMA it??

loop-smart-20180904-0435.zip

13 minutes ago, Glenn said:

Im assuming I need to RMA it??

Yes, besides the pending sectors it has a failing now SMART attribute.

is there a way to see what drive my currently has data on it? is it possible to remove the drive from the array and operate that way until i get a replacement? or would that require me to start fresh without that drive?

 

You can enable disks shares and browse that disk, or on the command line, it will be under /mnt/diskX

 

To remove the disk from the array, without keeping any data there since parity isn't valid, you can always do a new config without it.

ok.

also, i rechecked my bios settings. it says its ahci. the only thing under pch is high precision timer. all other sata options are under the sata tab. i looked in every menu option for additional sata settings. 

Then the bios is broken, look for an update.

would you mind explaining how you come to that conclusion?

also is there a "guide" anywhere explaining how to sort through the diagnostics log and what to look for? 

after all of my recent changes i reran my diagnostics. my current info is attached. 

loop-diagnostics-20180904-0549.zip

2 minutes ago, Glenn said:

would you mind explaining how you come to that conclusion?

If the bios is set to AHCI and the controller is operating in IDE mode then that option is not working correctly, nothing else but the bios controls that option, so bios broken.

how do i navigate to my diagnostics log to see where you are seeing that?

 

system/lspci.txt, instead of how it is currently it should look similar to this:

 

00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 6 port Desktop SATA AHCI Controller [8086:1c02] (rev 05)
    Subsystem: Super Micro Computer Inc 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 6 port Desktop SATA AHCI Controller [15d9:0624]
    Kernel driver in use: ahci
    Kernel modules: ahci

 

if i reflash my bios i just want to know how to check to see if it is working correctly

 

You can also try toggling that setting to see if it works.

did you look at the last diag report i posted? 

it says : 00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 6 port Desktop SATA AHCI Controller [8086:1c02] (rev 05)
    Subsystem: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. P8 series motherboard [1043:844d]
    Kernel driver in use: ahci
    Kernel modules: ahci

 

is that not right?