RAID 1 and not Not enough devices to start the array

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fre0n
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RAID 1 and not Not enough devices to start the array

Post by fre0n »

Hello there !

so I have this setup here:

Model name: TS-419P-II
Firmware version and Build Number: 4.3.3.1945
Operation System (OS): Linux 3.4.6 #2 Thu Mar 3 11:45:37 CST 2022 armv5tel
OS Language: English
Number of HDDs 2
HDD model : Seagate ST2000DM001 (x2)
HDD capacity 1863 Gb
RAID configuration RAID 1

Some more context:

Presently:
Disk 1 is green (Status Ready, SMART=GOOD)
Disk 2 is red (Status Read Write error, SMART=Warning). For this one in the system log, I had things like this:

Type Date Time Users Source IP Computer name Content
Error 2023/05/21 14:46:20 System 127.0.0.1 localhost [Mirror Disk Volume: Drive 1 2] Error occurred while accessing Drive 2.

My RAID 1 array was first in 'degraded mode', and now 'not active'

Not sure why, for a bit, my Disk 1 failed too, and came back after a successful 'Scan Now'. Present status is Ready

If I try 'Recover' for my RAID 1 in the RAID management panel, it says after a few seconds

Type Date Time Users Source IP Computer name Content
Error 2023/05/22 06:16:21 System 127.0.0.1 localhost [Mirror Disk Volume: Drive 1 2] RAID Recovery failed: Not enough devices to start the array.

My question:

If I go buy a new disk and put it in, to replace Disk 2, and launch recover, any chances it work? Or my RAID is toasted?
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dolbyman
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Re: RAID 1 and not Not enough devices to start the array

Post by dolbyman »

If both disks had errors you will have to resort back to backups and start your system from scratch.
fre0n
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Re: RAID 1 and not Not enough devices to start the array

Post by fre0n »

good morning Dolbyman and thank you for the swift answer,

not sure I have a backup of all of this,

so my next steps are to call a professional who can do disk and data recovery

but I was wondering if there was a mean to 'check' what is on Disk1 at this stage; would a pro-team equipped with proper hardware+software+knowledge be able to look at this, from your experience? Just trying to figure out before throwing a ton of money on something kinda hopeless.
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dolbyman
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Re: RAID 1 and not Not enough devices to start the array

Post by dolbyman »

An expensive and professional data recovery specialist will have no problem with recovery..even more so with both disks (to fill the gaps)

Next time simple and cheap backups will save you a LOT of money
fre0n
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Re: RAID 1 and not Not enough devices to start the array

Post by fre0n »

Totally hear you,

I feel bad enough already lol, since it is my personal stuff and I was cheap about how I managed this,

should definitely have known better as someone working with that stuff since late 90's

ok will try this out thanks again.
dosborne
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Re: RAID 1 and not Not enough devices to start the array

Post by dosborne »

QNAP support may be able to help you to get the one drive accessible, but, it may hamper recovery efforts if that drive doesn't last long (as you indicate it failed at one point but now shows as ok).

If they got you running for a short time, you may be able to backup some or all of the data at significantly lower cost than a data recovery company.
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fre0n
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Post-Mortem: RAID 1 and not Not enough devices to start the array

Post by fre0n »

So I posted this a couple of weeks ago: viewtopic.php?t=170709

Summary: Due to a RAID array failure, I was not able to access anything on my NAS, I had to visit a HDD recovery business, two grands later and I got it all back.

Now I was wondering what went wrong and how to not repeat my failure. Here is my 'analysis':

First: I will have a backup

Second: What happened with my RAID 1 and my failure: my NAS reported that my array got tagged as in degraded mode and a disk was reported as not healthy with possible errors. There was an option to fix it; I tried to fix the array, it went to ~75% in the process of repairing and stopped; after that, I was not able to access the array, it was reporting as not active.

My hypothesis is that I should not have tried to repair it, I should have instead put another new disk in, right? So a hot swap, where I first remove the disk with errors and replace with the new disk, which would have got formatted and updated with the data, thus reconstructing the RAID.

And in the event that this would have failed, I would have all the data on my backup anyway, where I could have recopied everything.

Anyone could tell me if I am kinda on track ? Would this have been a possibility if I had this course of action (with in the end, a reconstructed RAID) ?

Thanks 8)
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dolbyman
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Re: RAID 1 and not Not enough devices to start the array

Post by dolbyman »

topics merged (why open a new one?)

correct, if a drive fails in your array, fiddling with any commands will not fix it, the fix is to swap the defective disk

And the backups are are given
fre0n
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Re: RAID 1 and not Not enough devices to start the array

Post by fre0n »

Hello Dolbyman,

oh sorry for the new topic, I was not sure about this. Merge makes more sense.

Thank you again for your opinion, really appreciated, I will get this back on asap

fre0n
fre0n
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Re: RAID 1 and not Not enough devices to start the array

Post by fre0n »

Hello everyone,

tl;dr of the above until now: In a few words I had a TS-419P-II with two disks in in RAID 1; one disk broke physically (like bad sectors) and instead of removing it when the OS told me about the issue, I tried to repair it (there is this option in the QNAP interface) and broke logically the second disk, loosing my data and leading my to a recovery business, those which cost a lot of money. Got my data back, and got a huge cloud space too

Just got the money to re-buy 3 new NAS drives, recommended by QNAP for my model

I would like to simulate a disaster. So what I was thinking is the following:
  1. put two disks in as RAID1
  2. put some dummy data on it
  3. try a hot swap - with the unused disk; wait for rebuild
  4. check if I can access my data
  5. be confident that if something break, I can hot swap
Is this it ?
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dolbyman
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Re: RAID 1 and not Not enough devices to start the array

Post by dolbyman »

The test should work(why 3 new drives ?)

Most importantly, did you learn your lesson and have backups from now on?
fre0n
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Re: RAID 1 and not Not enough devices to start the array

Post by fre0n »

Hello Dolbyman !

thank you for your answer
why 3 disks
good question: since disks fails, in the sense of not if, but when, I thought that I will build my RAID 1, and have a compatible, same sized disk in standby, to be ready when it happens. Then I will hot swap the standby one in, and have plenty of time to buy a replacement with a minimum of downtime.
did you learn your lesson
I hope I learned a lesson - I was able to implement a 3-2-1 strategy, which I did not have before:

1 copy on our notebooks/workstation, the data we work with
1 copy on disks (QNAP)
1 copy on an external drive
1 copy in the cloud

So I think when corruption or failure happens I will have an instance somewhere to work with
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dolbyman
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Re: RAID 1 and not Not enough devices to start the array

Post by dolbyman »

Ok, the 3rd disk as a cold spare .. gotcha .. makes sense
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