All drives in array unassigned, and clicking Identify doesn't identify any

[jang430]

Hi!  I'm helping a friend with his unraid.  The condition I saw when I arrived to take a look is, all drives are unassigned.  Clicking Identify doesn't actually identify the drives.  I attached diagnostics here, hoping it will shed some light.  Please help.  I'd hate to re-configure all drives all over again.

allan-diagnostics-20161203-2049.zip

[Frank1940]

Take a quick look at the Flash Drive in the config  folder and see if the super.dat and the disk.cfg files are there. 

[jang430]

Sorry I don't have access to the unit mentioned.  But if it's there?  What's the next step? 

[JorgeB]

super.dat is 0 bytes, there was a bug with v6.1.9 where this could happen sometimes.

 

You'll need to reassign all disks, you just need to know which one was parity, if you don't you can assign them all as data disks and start the array, the unmountable disk is parity, if there's more than one grab new diagnostics and post them.

 

Oh, and update to v6.2 after fixing this.

[jang430]

I have 3 units of 3 TB, 2 units of 2 TB.  It is logical to choose from the 3 units of 3 TB.  But no idea which is which.  Are you saying I just assign randomly drives, and start it?

[JorgeB]

I have 3 units of 3 TB, 2 units of 2 TB.  It is logical to choose from the 3 units of 3 TB.  But no idea which is which.  Are you saying I just assign randomly drives, and start it?

 

Assign all as data drives, leave the parity slot empty.

[trurl]

Just to elaborate so you don't make a very bad mistake. If you make the mistake of assigning a data disk to the parity slot, it will be overwritten with parity, thus destroying the data. As long as you don't assign any disk to parity your data will be OK and you will be able to see which drive is parity since it will be unmountable.

[jang430]

Understood.  So I assign all 3 units of 3 TB as data drive, and see which doesn't mount.  It's the Parity.  After doing so, how do I go about with the rest?  2X 2TB, 2X 3TB?

[JorgeB]

As long as the parity is correctly assigned the data disks order is irrelevant (with single parity).

 

So, do a new config, assigned all disks, check the box "parity is already valid" before starting, start array and run a parity check.

 

A few sync errors are normal after this.

[jang430]

Great!  Again, thanks guys (Frank1940, trurl, johnnie.black)!

 

You mentioned single parity, why?  Is there an option for dual parity now?

 

 

[JorgeB]

You mentioned single parity, why?  Is there an option for dual parity now?

 

v6.2 supports dual parity.

[jang430]

So does this mean I should quickly move out of v6.1.9?  If there's no bug, I would be able to see original assignments of drives?

[trurl]

Upgrading might prevent unRAID from forgetting your drive assignments again, but it will not help it remember them now.

[Frank1940]

If you want a record of how your drives are assigned today, make a printout of the 'Main' page.

 

You should also make a backup of your Flash Drive if everything is working correctly.  Do it by stopping the array and copying the entire contents of your Flash drive to a folder on another computer. (In fact, if you are going to upgrade, you should do before you do the upgrade.  Then if things really go awry you can easily move back to this working setup. It is better to send three minutes making a backup [that you will probably never need] then half a day trying to recover!)

[jang430]

Thanks to you both.

 

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