Degraded boot drive alert

[Itobin]

Hi,

i am getting this alert

The boot volume state is DEGRADED: One or more devices has experienced an error resulting in data corruption. Applications may be affected.



however, the drive is an internal m2 ssd with no mirror, how can i stop this alert from occuring or have the system recognise its not a fault tolerant drive.

thanks

 

[Chris Moore]

The error is telling you exactly what happened. Your drive might be fine with other operating systems, but it is not working for FreeNAS. Get a pair of regular SATA drives and have a mirror. Relying on one drive is failure waiting to happen.
Yes, there's kinds of SSDs that contain controller chips that don't play nice with BSD/ZFS the most reliable brand is Intel.

 

[Itobin]

so even with 2 of these I would still get the error? I went for an internal m2 drive as there was no free HD slots, all were needed for ZFS. I could probably get another PCI card to match and put another m2 drive in.

 

[pro lamer]

slots

Did but you mean bays or SATA connectors?

Sent from my phone

 

[Itobin]

i have a HP DL180 G6, its has 12 slots or bays if you prefer. they are all in use so in order to have a boot volume i had to install an internal pci card with an attach m2 drive.

 

[pro lamer]

If you have vacant SATA connectors you can buy a compatible SSD and velcro it somewhere inside and thus have a mirror boot pool while saving a pcie slot....

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[Itobin]

tbh adding another PCI card isnt a problem, it wont be used for anything else. i guess im just trying to establish if there is an actual issue with using the m2 drive? the error indicates a degraded array which i can obviously understand given its using one drive, if it will be resolved by adding an additional m2 drive then so be it.

i am confused why freenas thinks its a mirror though, i did a fresh install to the m2 drive, there was never a mirror setup.

thanks

 

[pro lamer]

if there is an actual issue with using the m2 drive

We don't know yet. What are the hardware details?

if it will be resolved by adding an additional m2 drive then so be it

The drive has some data errors I guess so some data is already lost. Do you have configuration backup?

freenas thinks its a mirror

What way have you learned this?

Sent from my phone

 

[Itobin]

its a western digital WDS120G2G0B drive, purchased new in Nov 18, ive had this error since freenas was installed, i just assumed it was saying degraded because it thought part of the mirror was missing.

I will take a backup of the config today.

Can i mirror the drive to an external USB drive? i can send one to the DC and get the staff to install it for me just as a precaution.

 

[pro lamer]

WDS120G2G0B

This is WD green. I don't know its controller but some WD green use some specific silicon motion controller that is not compatible with FreeNAS. There is some workaround - disable trim.

just assumed it was saying degraded because it thought part of the mirror was missing.

I'm not sure. Maybe post zpool status command results. So we can learn what the problem is...

Sent from my phone

 

[Itobin]

Hi,

i have run zpool status and there are over 240 errors pointing to file corruption issues.

I have a spare DL180 so im thinking of getting 2 x 32 Gb USB sticks, installing freenas to them restoring a copy of the config to them, then mirroring the drives.

I can then go to the DC, down the server, disconnect the m2 drive and boot up off the USB sticks.

Does this sound a workable solution?

thanks

 

[pro lamer]

installing freenas to them restoring a copy of the config to them, then mirroring the drives.

I can then go to the DC, down the server, disconnect the m2 drive and boot up off the USB sticks.

Regarding the procedure: I'd rather upload the config from backup after installing the desired mirror at the DC.

Reassuming:

1. install FreeNAS to the mirror locally using the spare DL
2. Remove the mirror
3. take the mirror to the DC
4. Shut down
5. Remove the .m2 drive
6. connect the mirror
7. Boot
8. Upload config from backup

Having said that: pendrives are known not to be reliable. There are lots of threads in our forums... I guess there are many solutions to this, for example you may use pendrives temporarily until you troubleshoot your WD green. It depends on how far is the DC, too ;)

Anyway if you decide on pendrives - check forums for recommended model - some are known to cause less trouble than others...

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