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Mirror disk both claim primary status

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(@prairiedropseed)
Posts: 5
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Topic starter
 

Hello All:

This post addresses the same problem that was recently posted by Guzzliboy below...

I am assuming my primary drive crashed because I was doing something stupid perhaps, like running the RAID 1 setup while both drives were connected to the computer using a USB hub???

I ran the disk recovery option in Softraid and the bad drive was verified. After this, both drives appeared to have the same number of bytes and both reported to have 'no errors'.

However, I could not add the 'fixed' drive back into the raid; it was then I noticed both of them claimed to be the 'primary drive'!

After reading the former post, I followed those directions - Initialed the errant drive with SoftRaid. Converted it into a non-RAID file. Then tried to convert to a RAID filed by using the Convert Volume command and got the error depicted in the first attachment - Disk not recognized?! The attached drive is an empty and initialized 3TB drive!

The last two attachments are the errors I got when I tried to add the non-RAID file as the secondary by using the 'Add Secondary Disk' command.

What am I doing wrong?

What I will do next is to run this Macbook through Disk Warrior and see if there could have been some internal discord which needs to be straightened out?

Any suggestions on what to do next ?

THANKS !

 
Posted : 05/09/2018 4:08 pm
(@softraid-support)
Posts: 8006
Member Admin
 

All you need to do is delete the volume that you decided was the duplicate, and "Add secondary disk".

You may need to "remove missing secondary disk" after the rebuild if the counter is off.

 
Posted : 05/09/2018 5:35 pm
(@prairiedropseed)
Posts: 5
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Topic starter
 

When you said to delete the volume, which of these actions do you mean?
1. Go to the 'Volume' dropdown menu in SoftRaid and hit 'Delete' Volume
2. Erase one of the two discs which claim to be 'Primary'.

If we do #2 above, that would completely destroy one of the mirror raid discs. It might then take some four or five hours to rebuild that erased disk, using the data on the other remaining disc from the mirror pair.
If we do #1 above, what exactly is going to be deleted?

If I go to the 'Volume' menu and hit 'erase missing disk', what exactly will that be doing? Will that just remove the annoying words "missing secondary disk" from the righthand column titled "VOLUME"?

Thanks for any clarifications. As a novice user, I find the terms and usability of SoftRaid confusing at best!

 
Posted : 12/02/2019 6:31 pm
(@softraid-support)
Posts: 8006
Member Admin
 

Sorry for the confusion, we tried to make a very complex application as understandable as possible, but its not perfect.

Your mirror volume "failed over". the two disks can never be put together again, as is.

So yes, you need to delete a voume in SoftRAID, then "Add secondary disk".

the way to do this is as described:
Manually examine the two volumes. Determine which one to keep. Rename the other one in Finder.

Now:
Disable Safeguard on the deletable volume
Delete the volume in SoftRAID
(You may need to use "Remove Missing Secondary Disks", depending on which volume you keep, you can do this at the end, also. This is a "counter" for additional secondary disks, SoftRAID lets you have off site secondary (backup) disks)
"Add Secondary Disk"
Let the volume rebuild.
Change optimization, if necessary, to workstation, or Server, to rebuild faster.

that is all!

 
Posted : 13/02/2019 12:41 pm
(@prairiedropseed)
Posts: 5
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Topic starter
 

Hello SoftRaid support:

I appreciate your detailed response!

One Thought: It would be a great service to SoftRaid users if you or support staff could take some of the common user problems and create a 'step-by-step' explanation on how to solve the problem, just like you did so succinctly in your previous email!

Thanks for helping out,

Mark

 
Posted : 21/02/2019 10:48 am
(@softraid-support)
Posts: 8006
Member Admin
 

We are aiming for this. We do have a lot in the online help. We can always do more!

thanks!

 
Posted : 21/02/2019 7:34 pm
(@prairiedropseed)
Posts: 5
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Topic starter
 

I have a few questions which I need to get straight before I go and do something wrong….

We have two external drives connected in a mirror RAID.

Question 1: Am I correct in saying that one could connect the primary drive by itself and then add data to it? Then when it is attached at some time later on, the secondary drive would be updated automatically?

Question 2: Is it true, if someone mistakenly connected the secondary drive by itself and then added data to it without the primary drive being attached, SoftRaid lite would change/ alter this Secondary drive and identify it as the Primary drive? Can data be added to a secondary disk first and then have it sync to the primary drive?

Question 3: If the above situation occurs, we would have two drives identified as Primary. What actions could be done to reverse and untangle this mistake, while maintaining the status of the first primary drive, by which it still keeps its identity as the Primary drive?

Question 4: Can a solution be found that does not involve re-initializing the original primary drive, which may be full of valuable data?

Question 5: In the situation in question 2, is the only solution to take the drive with lesser data on it (the original Primary drive) and erase/ initialize it as a new Secondary drive?

NOTE: After I typed these questions, I remembered you had already answered most of them in Feb.! If anything, the above questions describe how a person can end up accidentally creating what you have described as a “failed-over” mirror volume.
I did follow your directions (with great anxiety) and erased the smaller of the two volumes. I think it took over a whole day in order for the computer and software to re-create a new secondary disk!!
Basically. I wanted to know if there was any other work-around we could have used? Or is this situation really a “fatal mistake”?

Suggestion for future updates development:
Can you have the software throw out a warning message for people like me who plug in a secondary drive before or without first plugging in the primary drive?

It could say something like “WARNING! STOP! You have just added a solitary secondary drive. ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO CONTINUE? (smile)

Question 6: Is there a published reference or fact sheet which explains when to and how to use the commands/ functions in the drop-down menus?

Question 7: Would you be able to take a moment and explain the”when and how to use” for Volume__Add Disk, __Remove Disk, and __Remove Missing Disks?

Thanks in advance for answering any of the above questions!

Mark

 
Posted : 05/04/2019 9:59 am
(@softraid-support)
Posts: 8006
Member Admin
 

"Question 1: Am I correct in saying that one could connect the primary drive by itself and then add data to it? Then when it is attached at some time later on, the secondary drive would be updated automatically?"

Yes

"Question 2: Is it true, if someone mistakenly connected the secondary drive by itself and then added data to it without the primary drive being attached, SoftRaid lite would change/ alter this Secondary drive and identify it as the Primary drive? Can data be added to a secondary disk first and then have it sync to the primary drive?"

If the secondary is connected on its own, this will fail over the mirror and you will have two volumes. You need to manually straighten this out. (Generally by deleting one volume, then "add secondary disk" to rebuild it again.)

"Question 3: If the above situation occurs, we would have two drives identified as Primary. What actions could be done to reverse and untangle this mistake, while maintaining the status of the first primary drive, by which it still keeps its identity as the Primary drive?"

Delete the ex-secondary, then "add secondary disk".

"Question 4: Can a solution be found that does not involve re-initializing the original primary drive, which may be full of valuable data?"

Same!

"Question 5: In the situation in question 2, is the only solution to take the drive with lesser data on it (the original Primary drive) and erase/ initialize it as a new Secondary drive?"

No, you can delete EITHER volume, then add a new secondary disk. Both volumes are now primary, although neither will have a secondary disk associated with it.

"I did follow your directions (with great anxiety) and erased the smaller of the two volumes. I think it took over a whole day in order for the computer and software to re-create a new secondary disk!!
Basically. I wanted to know if there was any other work-around we could have used? Or is this situation really a “fatal mistake”?"

Rebuilding always takes time, but it is a background task. Once a mirror fails over, this is the only solution.

"Suggestion for future updates development:
Can you have the software throw out a warning message for people like me who plug in a secondary drive before or without first plugging in the primary drive?

It could say something like “WARNING! STOP! You have just added a solitary secondary drive. ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO CONTINUE? (smile)"

this is not so simple, there are other considerations. We are considering a feature that can be set so a secondary will always mount read only, prompting the user. this cannot be default as it defeats the purpose of "fail over".

Note: you can always keep your secondary disk "split" as a "read only secondary disk", which is manually added back as you need. This prevents this entire issue if you are moving disks around.

"Question 6: Is there a published reference or fact sheet which explains when to and how to use the commands/ functions in the drop-down menus?"

Every dialog box has a ? (help) button, which leads to context sensitive help.

"Question 7: Would you be able to take a moment and explain the”when and how to use” for Volume__Add Disk, __Remove Disk, and __Remove Missing Disks?"

These are for when you have a failed disk, and need to replace it.

Remove missing disks is when you have a mirror, which is listed as "missing secondary disk". This is a counter. So if you have for instance "missing secondary disk" as a status, and all active disks are connected, this will remove those missing disks from the volume. If you do this by mistake and connect the secondary later, it is not associated with the volume any longer and will mount independently.

 
Posted : 05/04/2019 11:30 am
(@petelab)
Posts: 1
Member
 

the way to do this is as described:
Manually examine the two volumes. Determine which one to keep. Rename the other one in Finder.

Now:
Disable Safeguard on the deletable volume
Delete the volume in SoftRAID ......

At this point in the process, a message pops up that "deleting the volume will destroy all files and data on it." (screenshot attached)

How do I recreate this fail over raid 1 without deleting everything on it?

 
Posted : 11/09/2019 5:38 pm
(@softraid-support)
Posts: 8006
Member Admin
 

You have to delete the spare volume. A mirror is one volume, by failing over, it is now two.

Delete the "Spare" volume and "Add secondary disk". that's all you need to do.

 
Posted : 12/09/2019 1:15 am
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