One2go

Thanks for all the quick replies. On Thursday I will have a new drive same size. Now here are a few questions for replacing the suspect drive and I am running Unraid version 6.3.2 1. Do I need to unassign the old parity drive first or is just replacing the drive enough? 2. Do I need to preclear the new drive first? 3. Or do I just take the old drive out replace it with the new drive and then after powering up the server just start the array, tick the box for starting the parity check. Any help with an easy step by step procedure after powering down the server and replacing the parity drive would be appreciated. Thanks O2G

OK ordering a new drive now. Just replace the parity drive and then run a parity check or what else do I need to do? In my array setup I do have 2 parity drives. 2nd one is fine.

Thanks for the help and I believe I found the drive that is failing it is the parity drive here is the log that was generated from the diagnostics. HGST_HDN724040ALE640_PK2338P4H44EXC-20190129-1444.txt

There is only an enable or disable for all drives. When enabled it comes back with the error message and the prompt hit F1 to run BIOS setup. In the BIOS I hit F8 to bring up the boot menu and you can only select any of the drives that are detected once I select the USB drive it just boots up the UnRaid OS and everything is then normal as it always has been with no indication in the UnRaid GUI of a drive with a SMART status bad.

Just yesterday my Server that has been booting up faithfully for years all of a sudden stopped and showed the error: Port 4 - HGST HDN72404OALE640 - SMART status bad. Backup, exchange, replace drive. When I continue to boot it starts the array just fine and in UnRaid SMART reports are just fine. For the time being I disabled in the BIOS the check for SMART and it boots now just fine. Should I be concerned? The problem is I can't correlate Port 4 to the disc as I have 3 other discs with the same labeling it is the part that follows that is different. I have sdf, sdg, sdh & sdi (the parity) that all start with the number that the BIOS SMART test reports. I am open to suggestions but since I only check the UnRaid GUI should I correct this BIOS flagging or just keep an eye on the UnRaid SMART report?

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Just read the following: After copying the file config/super.dat from the working USB key to the backup USB key into the same location the backup USB key starts the server in the correct configuration. It has the correct Parity disc assigned as well as the proper order of data discs. It is running a parity-check at the moment and hopefully will be done in not too long of a time.

Well, I am in a similar boat except not as bad off. I have two USB drives and each with its own license. I updated the primary to the latest OS version and it shows the correct configuration and everything is running correct. The Backup USB drive and its license has an old configuration on it Parity plus 8 drives instead of Parity plus 12 drives. I tried to correct it from the GUI but because the new parity drive should be 4TB instead of the old 2TB. Trying to change the configuration from the Main tab of the Web GUI doesn't make sense since everything is correctly configured, just that the back up USB key has the wrong configuration. How do I correct this? Ideally I want to have two separate USB drives with their own license so that if one dies I just power down switch the USB keys and restart the server. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks for the information. I have also a HP micro server that has six HGST 3TB drives in it and have yet to compare the parity check times. I don't know if I am up to changing the HD203WI discs since they are 98% full none of them have them have more then 40GB of free space. Basically they just sit there with content and I normally do just twice a year a parity check making sure I can restore content if 1 drive fails. Once I delete content from them I may consider replacing one at a time especially if the HGST 4TB drives are available at a bargain price like on Black Friday, $254 for 2 of them. Again thanks for you valuable information. N2L

ALL is WELL. 12 data drives online protected in the array and a 4TB parity drive assigned. Everything went as planned and I almost doubled my storage size. Judging from past usage this should be good for a few years and longer with good content management and no hording 7 of the Samsung drives are HD203WI and one of them is a newer HD204UI. The HD203WIs have worked flawless for over 5 years, just write content to them and do a parity check ever so often with no hick ups what so ever, just did what is says on the tin The HD204UI had some bad publicity but it likewise has now worked for over 4 years without a hitch. But as I said once I reached the 50% point of 2TB in the array, the computed remaining time dropped drastically and total time to Synch all drives finished in just less then 24 hours. Behind this keyboard is one happy puppy, thanks again for all the assistance and hopefully another 5 totally uneventful years with the 2 UnRaid servers are ahead of me.

Thanks it just dropped drastically in remaining time with just 3 hours to go. The parity drive plus 5 data drives are on the MB ports, 3 of the drives are on an AOC-SASMV8 controller and 4 drives are on an Adaptec Serial ATA II RAID 1430SA controller. From what I read the slowest drive and configuration will be the max speed until that drive is out of the picture. Since this was my first time to enlarge an existing array in size and discs I am sure there would have been shortcuts but if it finishes with the data intact and the discs protected and up an running I don't mind taking the longer road. I do appreciate all the help, comments and advise which makes UnRaid such an excellent solution for content storage.

I think I just discovered that a Parity Synch will take a lot longer then a Parity Check. The Parity rebuilding of eight 2TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 drives to a HGST 4TB Deskstar NAS drive after 50% completion still has some 24 hours to go. Well better save then sorry, and no redballing or defective drives. If everything goes according to plan the server should be finished with the upgrades and ready once the weekend is over Well, just went past the 50% mark and the remaining time dropped drastically, just 3 hours to go and the speed increased multiple times, looks like it is done with the filled 2TB data drives.

Thank you all very much for your assistance and I will go about as follows. 1. Backup the Flash drive 2. Start a New Config from the Tools menu 3. Assign ALL drives to the new configuration with a 4TB drive to parity. 4. Start the array and a parity synch. 5. After parity is finished and valid format the 3 new 4TB drives and the old Parity drive. If everything goes accordingly to plan I should have a new array of 12 drives plus parity drive and 30TB of storage size. Thanks again for all your help and hopefully someone else in my situation being fearful of changing a working setup will feel comfortable of changing his rig after reading these most helpful comments. Thanks again, O2G

Thanks for your help. I do have a PRO license. You assumed correctly I want to keep the data that I have in the array. Just add the blank 4TB drives and keep the eight 2TB data drives the way they are, just use the new 4TB drives for added storage.

Just need a bit of direction on how to proceed with the increase in the array size. I hated to muck with it but it was either delete content or increase array size. I decide it is time for an increase. I have had an array of 8 data drive size 2TB plus a 2TB parity drive. I purchased 4 HGST NAS drives size 4TB each. I upgraded to UnRaid v6.1.4 added all the needed plugins especially the excellent preclear plugin. I finished preclearing the four 4TB drives. So at present I have a functioning array and four precleared 4TB unassigned drives. I know I could use a new config and assign the drives accordingly, with a new 4TB parity drive and three 4TB data drives, but what should I do with the old 2TB parity drive? I read numerous pages but can't come quite to grips with it. Do I need to format the old parity drive or just let it be and assign it to the array as a data drive? Before starting the upgrade I ran a parity check on the whole array of 2TB drives and no corrections needed to be made and the parity is valid. One place I read is to just replace the parity drive and let it rebuild the parity on the new 4TB drive. In another place I read just backup the config directory of the flash drive and start with new config. What is the easiest method to now run the 4TB parity & data drives and use the old 2TB parity drive as a data drive? I do really like version 6 and the excellent plugins for it to make the admin of the server so much easier, I have enjoyed the ride from version 4.7 to the latest and my hat off to the UnRaid community. Thanks for your help O2G

Bought 2 of them on 11/26/2015 for $255 with Visa Checkout discount, bought 2 more 2 days later no Visa Checkout anymore so $280 for two. As already mentioned I am running these drives in my HP micro server for a few years now as well as in my QNAP NAS and also for me they are one of the best drives that is why there is hardly any discount on them. Now to upgrade the parity drive on the movie server and install 3 more of them to increase the storage. ANy idea how best to proceed with the installation?

When you have found how to upgrade the parity drive please post some links as I have to do the same. Sitting on parity plus eight 2TB drives wanting to upgrade them I have to do the same and one reason I have yet to upgrade the drives.

Got one of those covers for where the optical drive opening is. It looks excellent but the bracket also is a very tight fit, tighter then the two drives with Nexus Double Twin adapter, but it works.

Just increase the drive size put in two 3TB drives one for parity and 1 for new data & let them synch up. If you are already on 3TB drives then you need to build a new box. I am not 100% sure if the 4TB drives work in the N36L but Neil0 would know.

I have 6 Hitachi 3TB Deskstar Coolspin drives in my box. They are running like a charm. All TV, Sports & Documentaries on the server. Highly recommended drive, a bit pricey perhaps but has high star ratings on all the sites that sell the drives.

I took the 5.25" drive bay bezel from my Antec 1200 which has honeycomb holes and stuck some black filter material behind it and then replaced the blank panel. Started to preclear drive 5 & 6 and read temps of 33 & 32 from the drives while the others ran at 31 & 32. So I am done with this server having 6 Hitachi 3TB Coolspin drives and personally I think this is one of the best solutions for a media server.

Thanks for your quick reply. I thought as much that you sort of have to twist the inner metal part to open the slot for the tray of an ODD and then remove the black plastic part. I don't do a once a month parity check but maybe every 2 to 3 months so I think temps should not be an issue. I'll look for a mesh cover with some filter material and mod the server in that fashion. On the other hand my box only runs when I want to relax in the Home Theater and watch something.

Just installed two drives using the Nexus Doubletwin adapter in the space for the optical drive and wish to know what temperature have you experienced with no grill installed? The drives are 3TB Hitachi 5K3000 Deskstar. I am considering if I have to knock out the space for the optical drive and install a mesh cover. By the way how does one remove the black blank plate from the cover for the optical drive? Thanks O2G

Where did acquire the mesh cover from and do you have a picture of it. Does it fit in the covering slot area easily?