ZPool Volume Status Unknown, Zpool import unavail

[stranjer]

Just Created my first FreeNAS setup less than 2 months ago, all new hardware too. Now, after working fine for last few months, it seems to be unable to read the zpool I have all my media on. I read some of the other threads where people were seeing same error messages, but wanted to ask since I know I can't really interpret the info that was requested to see how similar mine is. I also would be really surprised more than 1 drive failed at same time, since I did have some redundancy.

Anyway, I attached image of error message, and below are some of the readouts and hardware/version numbers

Hardware Specs
AMD Athlon X4 860K Quad-Core 3.7GHz Socket FM2+ 95W AD860KXBJABOX

GIGABYTE GA-F2A88XM-D3H FM2+ / FM2 AMD A88X (Bolton D4)

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL

Version
FreeNAS-9.3-STABLE-201504100216

Code:

[root@freenas ~]# zpool status                                                
  pool: freenas-boot                                                          
state: ONLINE                                                                
  scan: scrub repaired 0 in 0h0m with 0 errors on Wed Jun 10 03:45:03 2015    
config:                                                                       
                                                                              
        NAME                                          STATE     READ WRITE CKSUM
        freenas-boot                                  ONLINE       0     0     0
          gptid/00a99a64-727d-11e3-857f-fcaa145dcb7b  ONLINE       0     0     0

Code:

[root@freenas ~]# zpool import                                                
   pool: tank                                                                 
     id: 5860947161859544981                                                  
  state: UNAVAIL                                                              
status: One or more devices are missing from the system.                     
action: The pool cannot be imported. Attach the missing                      
        devices and try again.                                                
   see: http://illumos.org/msg/ZFS-8000-3C                                    
config:                                                                      
                                                                              
        tank                                            UNAVAIL  insufficient replicas                                                                
          raidz1-0                                      UNAVAIL  insufficient replicas                                                                        
            gptid/d1f73255-f2c6-11e4-938f-fcaa145dcb7b  ONLINE                
            gptid/d2a71923-f2c6-11e4-938f-fcaa145dcb7b  ONLINE                
            2311115123050086999                         UNAVAIL  cannot open  
            3627325174256053801                         UNAVAIL  cannot open  
            16697389662615487240                        UNAVAIL  cannot open 

If I'm reading the import section correctly, is it saying 3 of my drives are unreadable now? Seems real bad luck on my part to have 3 different 3 tb drives fail at same time, within 3 months of purchase. If that is the case, I assume I'm just kind of screwed on data that was on there.

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

If I'm reading the import section correctly, is it saying 3 of my drives are unreadable now? Seems real bad luck on my part to have 3 different 3 tb drives fail at same time, within 3 months of purchase. If that is the case, I assume I'm just kind of screwed on data that was on there.

It does seem to be saying that, and it does seem pretty unlikely, but if true, yes, your pool is gone, and so is your data if you have no backup.

However, it seems more likely that some other kind of hardware failure is preventing detection of those three drives. Testing options range from things as simple as swapping cables or trying different HBAs through to transferring all the drives to a different machine and attempting to import the pool.

Hopefully you realize your hardware isn't a good match for FreeNAS, and RAIDZ1 is a poor choice unless the drives are 1TB or smaller.

 

[DrKK]

I agree with all of Trevellyan's points. I would try checking the connections, and the cables themselves. I don't think this user is using an HBA, I think he's just on motherboard ports.

Also, this is very bad, non-server grade hardware for FreeNAS. I would strongly encourage you to consider using hardware more appropriate to this appliance.

 

[stranjer]

Thank you for your responses. It did end up being cabling issues. Whether it was the SATA Cables or power cables I'm not sure, but my case is a bit tight and some of the cables were loose. I also added some extra power cables from my modular PS, and swapped some SATA Cables.

As far as the low grade equip goes - my main goal was just having a file server to store downloads, if the entire thing bricks, its unfortunate but just means I need to redownload media. I mainly chose FreeNAS as my previous server was Windows 2012, and I didn't do hardly anything with it. I wanted something new, and read good things. Much of what I read, outside this forums, extolled the benefit of being able to build a FreeNAS server "out of old PC parts". While I understand being able to do something, and it being a good idea, are vastly different, thats why I went more low end with the equipment. My main concerns were a MOBO with enough SATA ports, a case with enough HDDs slots and good cooling, and an ok CPU.

And as far as RaidZ1 being a poor choice - what would you recommend for 5 3TB HDDs? I honestly just went with what the software recommended.

 

[Bidule0hm]

RAID-Z2 ;)

But if you're ok with the risk of loosing the data (which seems to be the case) then RAID-Z1 is fine.

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

It did end up being cabling issues.

Glad you got it working.

I understand the choices you made about hardware, been there, done that. It was only when I decided that I was going to use FreeNAS for data I care about that I stopped using leftover desktop gear for it. Do keep in mind that suitable hardware for a modest FreeNAS can be had for $250-$400 plus hard drives, and you already have a bunch of those.

Yes, RAIDZ2 is going to be significantly safer than RAIDZ1 with 5 x 3TB. If your pool is mostly empty, and/or the data isn't important, RAIDZ1 is a reasonable choice. However, once you get a few TB of data on there, RAIDZ1 will significantly increase the risk of an unrecoverable error while resilvering if you have to replace a drive. The potential consequences of that range from just losing one file to losing the whole pool.