FreeNAS not recognizing all HDD's

[Hawkins]

I am Newer to FreeNAS so apologies if I miss something.

My current setup:

Dell Poweredge T130
Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E3-1230 v6 @ 3.50GHz
4- 6TB hard drives HGST DeskStar NAS 3.5" 6TB 7200 RPM 128MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s High-Performance Hard Drive
OS Version: FreeNAS-11.2-RELEASE-U1
32 GiB Memory (4 - 8 GiB Memory sticks)
Embedded AHCI Controller
No Hardware RAID controller
Boot drive is one 32 GB Flash USB 3.0
RAIDZ2 Config

Here's my problem:
When I initally installed FreeNAS, I had trouble with my HDD's not being recognized. See the thread here: https://www.ixsystems.com/community/threads/help-freenas-hdd-issues.72327/#post-501076. My solution which worked was the last post in that thread from me.

Fast Forward three months, and now one of my HDD's went unrecognizable. I shut down my server to install 2 additional memory sticks (went from 2- 8Gib to 4-8 GiB). Upon restarting the server, I got a degraded status and noted that one HDD was now unrecognizable. BIOS still recognizes all 4 HDD's. I swapped out the HDD SATA cables and that didn't work either. I don't understand what the issue is. This appears to be an O/S issue and not a hardware issue. I've swapped the hard drives around and all HDD's are functional.

Here is my additional concern. If I start creating new pools and plugging stuff in, I don't want to lose the data I already have stored on the hard drive (about 1 TiB at this point).

Thanks in advance.

 

[Chris Moore]

Did you check the power connections?

I have seen drives show up in the BIOS while the drive was not working properly. Is FreeNAS detecting the drive at all?

 

[Hawkins]

Did you check the power connections?

I have seen drives show up in the BIOS while the drive was not working properly. Is FreeNAS detecting the drive at all?

Power connections seem fine. Is there a specific way to check? When I talked to Dell Support, they indicated that power would be fine given that they are showing up in BIOS.

And no, the drive no longer shows up in FreeNAS any longer. It was just a sudden change when I rebooted after my memory stick additions.

 

[Chris Moore]

I would disconnect and reconnect the power lines just to ensure they are making a good connection.

 

[Hawkins]

I would disconnect and reconnect the power lines just to ensure they are making a good connection.

I will try that again. I can say I have done that a few times given I have changed the drives (ie. swapped HDD in Bay 3 with Bay 4 and vice versa).

 

[Redcoat]

will try that again. I can say I have done that a few times given I have changed the drives (ie. swapped HDD in Bay 3 with Bay 4 and vice versa).

So the fault stays with the bay and not the drive when you swap them around?

 

[Hawkins]

So the fault stays with the bay and not the drive when you swap them around?

That's correct. and note that I have replaced the SATA cable which connects to all the drives

 

[Redcoat]

So it is a hardware problem. I'm not familiar with the T130 internals so I'm no help going forward. Good luck.

 

[Hawkins]

So it is a hardware problem. I'm not familiar with the T130 internals so I'm no help going forward. Good luck.

To me, it seems like an O/S problem? The T130 is fairly barebones. All 4 HDD's are recognized and "Healthy" in BIOS. For some reason, FreeNAS doesn't recognize one of the 4 HDDs.

 

[Redcoat]

But FreeNAS can't recognize any drive in just one of the bays? If so, isn't that most likely "hardware-related"? I note that it worked once and now doesn't after a memory upgrade. Have you tried taking that memory out - long shot...?

 

[Hawkins]

But FreeNAS can't recognize any drive in just one of the bays? If so, isn't that most likely "hardware-related"? I note that it worked once and now doesn't after a memory upgrade. Have you tried taking that memory out - long shot...?

I have not but can. Here's another question. I have RAIDZ2 set up currently. What would happen if I removed two HDDs -- booted up FreeNAS and created a new (empty) pool. Then shut down, add a third HDD, and create a pool with three. Then shut down add the 4th HDD and create a pool with all 4. This is what I had to do to get FREENAS to recognize my HDD originally (refer to my initial post and the link to the previous thread). My problem is, I don't want to lose any data I currently have. I have 1 TiB of data stored on these HDD's in RAIDZ2 config which allows two failed HDD's; however, I don't want to do anything to compromise the data I have. Once i get FreeNAS to recongize the 4th HDD (which has info stored on it), will FreeNAS recognize it? Will I have to resilver?

 

[Hawkins]

So I wanted to follow up on this. Note that the motherboard has been replaced as have the sata/hdd power cables. When computer loads up BIOS, again all hard drives are showing but for some reason, FreeNAS still not reflecting all hard drives. This makes me believe it's more of a FreeNAS (O/S) issue and not a hardware issue.

Questions for the group:

1) I've previously had all 4 hard drives running in a RAIDZ2 format. Obviously, I am down one. If I reinstall the O/S, will the zpool be recognized? Or do I have to reformat? I feel I've re-installed the O/S already to no avail but worth a shot. Number one concern is data retention on the 3 hdd I currently have up and running

2)Someone once recommended me try a new Operating System (Ubuntu). If I did so, how could I install that without losing the data already on the 3(4) harddrives?

 

[Redcoat]

sata/hdd power cables

And the data cables?
Edit: Oh, I guess that's what sata in "sata/hdd power cables" likely means...

 

[Redcoat]

What's the output of

Code:

zpool status

 

[Hawkins]

And the data cables?
Edit: Oh, I guess that's what sata in "sata/hdd power cables" likely means...

Correct -- sorry i dont know all the technical terms but all cables to the hdd's were replaced (twice actually)

 

[Hawkins]

Sor

What's the output of

Code:

zpool status

Sorry just saw this reply --- the zpool status only shows the 3 HDD's -- not all 4. BIOS shows all 4.

 

[Redcoat]

Have you thought about adding another hard drive in place of the one that is not currently recognized (as you would do if you were "just" replacing a failed drive)?

 

[Hawkins]

Have you thought about adding another hard drive in place of the one that is not currently recognized (as you would do if you were "just" replacing a failed drive)?

I have, i just dont have another hard drive to test it with. :(