Replace bad disk: stuck at first stage

[gabier]

Hello everybody,
I ran for years a freenas 0.7.2 system with 2 disks in a raid1 array. A few month ago, there were problems in the shutdown process, and, thanks to folks in this forum, it turned out to be a disk problem. The failing disk keeps synchronising with the other one, and the shutdown process cannot close the processes and buffers correctly.
I ordered a new disk, and I got rid of the failing disk (and of the very long shutdown processes) by disconnecting it from the SATA plug, and by asking to the raid to "forget" the disconnected drive. Maybe this was a newbie mistake to do this.
When I received the new disk, I connected it in the computer, and I wanted to format it with an UFS file system, but I could not find it in the dropdown list of the Disks->Format panel.
I also tried to insert it without formatting in the raid array, but it id not work.
Then I searched the forum for a similar problem, and I found the FAQ Item "How to remove/replace a disk in a SoftRAID1 array"
http://wiki.nas4free.org/doku.php?id=faq:0058
I realised that in order to apply this recipe, I should not have removed the old drive before unmounting and deactivating the raid array. Thus I removed the new disk and replaced it with the old one and reinserted it in the array with the webgui (Disks->Softraid->Tools).
The old disk is now in the array, and again stuck in the synchronising status. The "Information" panel in Disks->SoftRaid page displays

Code: Select all

Geom name: RAID1A
State: DEGRADED
Components: 2
Balance: round-robin
Slice: 4096
Flags: NONE
GenID: 0
SyncID: 2
ID: 4213309998
Providers:
1. Name: mirror/RAID1A
   Mediasize: 2000398933504 (1.8T)
   Sectorsize: 512
   Mode: r2w1e2
Consumers:
1. Name: ad8
   Mediasize: 2000398934016 (1.8T)
   Sectorsize: 512
   Mode: r1w1e1
   State: ACTIVE
   Priority: 1
   Flags: DIRTY
   GenID: 0
   SyncID: 2
   ID: 911020513
2. Name: ad6
   Mediasize: 2000398934016 (1.8T)
   Sectorsize: 512
   Mode: r1w1e1
   State: SYNCHRONIZING
   Priority: 0
   Flags: DIRTY, SYNCHRONIZING
   GenID: 0
   SyncID: 2
   Synchronized: 1%
     ID: 3306752052

The failing disk is again stuck in the synchronizing state, and will probably stay in this state for ever. As a consequence, if I try to unmount the raid array, the changes cannot be applied and the system does not answer to the request (it seems to loop in the command).

What can be done now to make this replacement cleanly ?

gabier

[gabier]

There does not seem to be any obvious solution to my problem.
The data on the only good disk being without any mirror or backup, I began to backup it on another computer. I think I need a few days to make this transfer (about 230 Gb of data to transfer).
If after this backup I still have not found any solution, then I will reinstall from scratch on the NAS computer a new NAS4Free 9.3 system with a new RAID1, format the raid, retransfer the data into it, and restart the synchronization.

gabier

[gabier]

Hello,
I began to backup my data, that is transferring the data on the RAID1 to another computer before reconstructing the RAID1 array, via my domestic network. It is much longer than I had expected. I suspect that the reconstruction of the bad disk, which is going on at the same time, makes the process much slower. It is no use to wait until the reconstruction is 100%, because at the next start-up, it goes back to 0% !!! I tried also to get rid of it by disconnecting it and asking the raid to "forget" it, but then the files in the raid disappear. Impossible to read them.

Is it possible
WETHER
To replace the bad disk by a new one ? The howto I know suppose the raid is dismounted first, an my raid cannot be dismounted, probably because one of the disks is in the reconstruction process.
OR
To access the files on the good disk while stopping the reconstruction of the bad one, or, better, while removing it from the array ?

The solution of one of these two possibilities would help me a lot.

gabier

[supernova777]

it seems nas4free is lacking support staff to help people

[gabier]

In fact I solved the problem by myself. I managed to backup the data, I do not remember how, then I began to install a brand new NAS4Free on a brand new USB stick, and I discovered that under this new system there was no more bad disk. The culprit of the strange messages was not a disk, but the system USB stick !!!!
Next time I will test this first !!!!!

gabier

[supernova777]

interesting i wonder if thats my problem