I physically remounted my drives. I had already added a data drive 6 before physically remounting the drives, but I haven't stored any data on it yet. All my drives are 2 TB, except a 1.5 TB drive which I plan to add as a cache drive, but haven't added yet. When reconnecting the drives, I physically connected a 1.5 TB drive instead of a 2 TB drive. Now, unRAID recognizes data drive 6 as a drive that is too small, even though I powered down and switched the physical connection to the 2 TB data drive 6.

 

Is the correct solution running the command "initconfig" to redo the parity drive?

 

After running 'initconfig', the parity drive is red, which should indicate that the parity is being created, and the data drive 6 still indicates 'safe'.

 

Since I haven't started putting data on the data drive 6, is running 'initconfig' the correct method, or should I do something else?

 

 

Dave

 

I physically remounted my drives. I had already added a data drive 6 before physically remounting the drives, but I haven't stored any data on it yet. All my drives are 2 TB, except a 1.5 TB drive which I plan to add as a cache drive, but haven't added yet. When reconnecting the drives, I physically connected a 1.5 TB drive instead of a 2 TB drive. Now, unRAID recognizes data drive 6 as a drive that is too small, even though I powered down and switched the physical connection to the 2 TB data drive 6.

 

Is the correct solution running the command "initconfig" to redo the parity drive?

That will work as long as you have the correct drive assigned as parity.

 

you did not mention which version of unRAID you are running.  If running 4.5.3 be aware of a major bug where when first powering up all the drives might show as unformatted.  DO NOT PRESS THE FORMAT BUTTON if you see this.  Instead, just Stop the array and then press "Start"

The display should then show the correct disk statuses.

After running 'initconfig', the parity drive is red, which should indicate that the parity is being created, and the data drive 6 still indicates 'safe'.

By "safe" do you mean "blue"  (I've never heard that term regarding a disk status here... so please explain)

Since I haven't started putting data on the data drive 6, is running 'initconfig' the correct method, or should I do something else?

It would not matter if you put data on it or not.  Best method would be to use the devices assignment page to put the correct disks in ther correct assigned slots in the array.  It sounds as if you are past that point, so pressing "initconfig" is as good as any.  Especially since it seems you do not have parity calculated.

I am using version 4.5.6. After running initconfig four hours, each drive was blue. I rebooted the unRAID computer and the parity is still red, the other drives are green. I don't know how many hours the parity drive will be red. Maybe I haven't waited long enough.

 

Each drive is a 2 TB green drive.

 

The parity, disk1 - disk5 have a model serial number like:

 

disk 1  WDC_WD20EARS-00M_WD-< the rest of the serial number >

 

The disk 6 is different, it is:

 

disk6 Safe_P2J1GUUIGL7TGVIKR.....

 

The disk6 should look similar to the other drives, but it doesn't.

 

The size of each disk is 1,953,514,552. The size reported for disk6 is 1,465,071,960.

 

When I try to start UnRAID, it tries to start, then goes back to a stopped state. So unRAID cannot be successfully started.

 

Is it possible to remove the disk6, then do a initconfig, then maybe run preclear on disk6 again, and try to add it to the array again? Or. should something else be done? I don't want to loose the data on disk1 - disk5, but there isn't any data on disk6 yet.

 

Dave

 

 

I am using version 4.5.6. After running initconfig four hours, each drive was blue. I rebooted the unRAID computer and the parity is still red, the other drives are green. I don't know how many hours the parity drive will be red. Maybe I haven't waited long enough.

Iinitconfig runs in about 1 or two seconds.  You have something else going on.  You might want to attach a copy of your syslog to your next post. (instructions in the wiki under troubleshooting.)

Each drive is a 2 TB green drive.

 

The parity, disk1 - disk5 have a model serial number like:

 

disk 1  WDC_WD20EARS-00M_WD-< the rest of the serial number >

 

The disk 6 is different, it is:

 

disk6 Safe_P2J1GUUIGL7TGVIKR.....

Never saw a drive with a model number like that.  What brand is it?

The disk6 should look similar to the other drives, but it doesn't.

 

The size of each disk is 1,953,514,552. The size reported for disk6 is 1,465,071,960.

Perhaps disk6 is a 1.5TB drive, and the others are 2TB drives?

When I try to start UnRAID, it tries to start, then goes back to a stopped state. So unRAID cannot be successfully started.

 

Is it possible to remove the disk6, then do a initconfig, then maybe run preclear on disk6 again, and try to add it to the array again? Or. should something else be done? I don't want to loose the data on disk1 - disk5, but there isn't any data on disk6 yet.

 

Dave

If a drive is "red" it was marked as disabled.  That is different than having a parity disk that is not currently valid because you have a new disk configuration.

 

A disk is disabled when a "write" to it fails. It could be as simple as a disconnected cable, or as complicated as a defective disk or disk controller.

 

Again to know what is happening you must attach a copy of your syslog.

 

Joe L.

I decided to get my unRAID system working again with just the parity drive plus data1 - data5 drives. It will take about 10 hours for the parity drive to rebuild. Meanwhile, I am formatting and testing the disk6 2 TB drive and the 1.5 TB cache drive with a Windows computer to test them out. Both drives came from RAID 1 arrays in a Windows computer.

 

All the drives are Western Digital WD20EADS 2 TB Green drives, except for the drive that was going to become the cache drive, which is a Seagate ST31500341AS 1.5 TB. I assuming that the cache drive does not also have to be a 2 TB drive. If the cache drive does need to be a 2 TB drive, I can use a 2 TB drive for the cache drive. I wanted to use the 1.5 TB drive since it is a 7200 rpm drive, which should be faster than the 2 TB green drive.

 

I'm not sure where the syslog is located

 

I did try disconnecting the 2 TB drive and the 1.5 TB cache drive. When trying to select a drive for the cache drives, none were available. Then I tried using a different 1.5 TB drive for the cache drive, and the Safe_P2J1GUUIGL7TGVIKR.... was the drive that would be available for the cache drive, which does not match any of my drives.

 

After the parity finishes and I run tests on both drives with a Windows computer, I will run preclear again and try to add the drives.

 

Dave

Five data drives are setup and working fine. When I try to add additional drives, the serial numbers do not display in the GUI. The word "Safe" appears in each new drive I try to add, plus numbers that are not the serial number.

 

The one drive in the screenshot, with the word safe, is identical to the parity drive plus drives 1 - 5. It is a Western Digital 2 TB Green drive. The other drive is a Seagate 1.5 TB.

 

I tried removing all new drives, and rebuilt the parity drive from the data drives 1 -5. After the parity was rebuilt, I get the same "Safe" in the new drives names, not the drive serial numbers I expect.

 

Is there a solution to this type of problem?

 

Dave

syslog.txt

All I can think of is that is something your BIOS is doing... Are those two disks connected to a different disk controller than the other disks in your server?  (or, if on the motherboard, are they on a different disk controller chip?)

 

I've never seen that "Safe" preface before.

 

What specific make/model motherboard are you using?

 

Joe L.

Joe, you lead me the right direction! I am using a Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5 system board. The system board has two on-board RAID controllers. One RAID controller is called Sata 2 ICH10R, which is a six drive controller. The drive connected to this controller are working normally. The other on-board controller is a four drive controller and is called Gsata2 Gigabyte JMB322.

 

The six drive controller RAID settings were configured in Windows, when I had the system setup with Windows. I don't know if the six drive controller can be configured at all with unRAID, although it works great.

 

The four drive controller is configured within the BIOS. There are a number of settings for the four drive controller.

 

Sata RAID/AHCI mode: AHCI is selected

Disabled

RAID

AHCI

 

Sata port 0 - 3 Native Mode: Disabled is selected

Enabled Sata port 0 - 3 work at native IDE mode

Disabled Sata port 0 - 3 work at legacy IDE mode

 

Disk RAID status, Smart Backup Config;

RAID 0  fast

RAID 1  safe

JBOD large

Normal (port multiplier)

 

I don't know how this last item was configured, since I think I changed it before seeing what it was set to before I changed it. I assume it must have been set for RAID 1 - safe.

 

I set the Smart Backup Config for Normal (port multiplier).

 

Then I tried booting into unRAID again, and I could see the serial numbers on the drives in the unRAID drive configuration screen.

 

Thanks for pointing me the right direction!

 

Dave