This Volume has disappeared - Monterey Issues

RE: This Volume has disappeared

SoftRAID Support — Fri, 01 Apr 2022 19:07:13 +0000

@chrisolson

If you plug your monitor directly into the mac? No problem?

Only when using the Display port on the enclosure?

RE: This Volume has disappeared

ChrisOlson — Fri, 01 Apr 2022 17:33:24 +0000

@softraid-support So just as an update, I've used the raid this week without issue. What I'm finding is that this issue is connected to the display port. When I plug in my monitor through DP into the ThunderBay, that's the only time this issue happens. It doesn't happen right away, but it does eventually happen. Issue seems no existent when not using DP. Got any ideas?

RE: This Volume has disappeared

SoftRAID Support — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 18:05:44 +0000

@chrisolson

SoftRAID is doing the right thing.

Its weird that only one disappears at a time. I hope your backups are kept up to date. If two disks eject then the volume may be marked as failed, unable to rebuild.

4 and 6 are in different PCI buses, so it is strange. (1-2, 2-3, 4-5, 5-6 all have PCI buses, 2 lanes each)

I do not know of an electrical mechanism that would cause this, unless perhaps 2 of the PCI buses are failing at the same time.

Have any of the other drives ejected?

Also, if you swap 5 and 6, does the eject stay with the 6th slot?

RE: This Volume has disappeared

ChrisOlson — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 16:21:38 +0000

@softraid-support I didn't get the disks with the enclosure. RAID has been running since about Nov of 2018, so it looks like I'm out of warranty.

Is this a bit of an, out of luck type of situation? This morning disk 6 disappeared again.

EDIT: I forgot to mention, when I reboot SoftRaid says: "SoftRaid Volume out of Sync. The SoftRAID Driver has automatically started rebuilding this volume"

RE: This Volume has disappeared

SoftRAID Support — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 03:29:48 +0000

@chrisolson

Did you get the disks with the enclosure?

Either way, I think your enclosure needs to be replaced. Is it under warranty?

RE: This Volume has disappeared

ChrisOlson — Thu, 24 Mar 2022 01:44:03 +0000

@softraid-support Yup, this is with disk labels. To label them I flashed the light and labeled them accordingly 1-6. Disk #4 was missing from the list the first time, and disk #6 the second time.

RE: This Volume has disappeared

SoftRAID Support — Wed, 23 Mar 2022 19:15:23 +0000

@chrisolson

these disk numbers are from your disk labels in SoftRAID?

(remember disk#'s are random at each startup, so I want to be sure you know it is two different disks.)

If you are getting different disks ejecting each time it happens, it points to a hardware problem, probably the enclosure.

RE: This Volume has disappeared

ChrisOlson — Wed, 23 Mar 2022 14:46:01 +0000

@softraid-support So I went ahead and did this, so far it has been two different disks that have ejected. First was disk 4, then disk 6. Any ideas? I'll keep an eye out for if it is an entirely different disk next.

RE: This Volume has disappeared

SoftRAID Support — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 15:24:37 +0000

This indicates most likely a disk problem, but it could be the enclosure.

So lets isolate this.

Give each disk a disk label. (SoftRAID disks menu) If you select them all at once, SoftRAID will add a 1, 2, etc.

When the disk ejects again, note the disk. You now know which one. Let it happen one more time to confirm that it is only one disk ejecting, almost assuredly it will be. Use the "blink disk light feaure to identify what slot this disk is in.

Now open the front door. Pull out a disk on the other end of the enclosure and swap them.

Does the eject follow the disk, or the slot?
Now you know what the issue is, most likely it is a faulty disk you need to replace.

(You could just replace the disk without the slot swap, but its always my preference to take the extra step and be sure you are fixing the right problem)

This Volume has disappeared

ChrisOlson — Mon, 21 Mar 2022 14:00:11 +0000

Several times a week for seemingly no reason I get the "This volume has disappeared" warning. I can still access the RAID, but when I open SoftRaid it says a disk is missing. When I restart the computer, my RAID starts rebuilding itself for about 10-15 minutes. This never used to happen until I picked up my new M1 Max MacBook Pro. Seems like my RAID has been acting very funny ever since I started using this new machine.

MacOS 12.2.1

SoftRaid 6.2.1

Sleep settings disabled in MacOS

ThunderBay 6 in RAID 5.

I've attached my tech support file.

1421