tzotz

Many thanks trurl, good to know, your help is always appreciated. 🙏

Hi, The process of migrating my unRaid array to the XFS file system is now complete. I’d like to thank all of you unRaiders that contributed to this thread sharing your knowledge and experience to help this newbie save his array from reiserfs extinction (-: For my peace of mind, I needed more info about the detailed steps you outlined and added to my knowhow watching a number of YouTube videos and, would you believe it, from Windows Copilot that provided fast valuable responses to my questions. There’s one deviation I took from using the proposed tool (mc) for moving the files. I experimented with mc and liked it but I was concerned that using mc to move over 2 TB files over a period of over 24 hours the risk of some sort of process interruption is not negligible and “sifting through the rubble” left over after such interruption in order to return to state 0 is something I liked to avoid. I then opted to move the files using the rsync utility that is designed to restart, if interrupted, from where it left off. For those interested in taking the same or similar migration path, the details are in the The FS migration process steps.pdf file attached. Again, thank you all, Best, tzotz The FS migration process steps.pdf

Thanks Wody for this explanation and info, Best tzotz

I'm almost ready to begin moving stuff around. I tested the RemMove command and in the parameter screen that pops up there an option (ON by default) "using shell patterns" - what is it and should I leave it on. Also should I set "Dive into subdirs if exists" ? Also: is there a fallback if the move stop before it completes. Thanks, tzotz

Hi trurl, at the risk of repeating myself: many thanks for all your help. So, over the weekend I spent some time (actually quite a lot) to learn more about the array, its file system, the Midnight Commander, using Rsync to move files, unassigned disk, remote shares, using the Terminal and more - I realized how little (actually next to nothing) I knew about unRaid and that what I wrote (the scenario) was, well, not good, so, it's back to the drawing board for me hoping that this time around I'll complete the project successfully. In order to start with a clean slate I undid the copy of disk5 to disk3 and started parity check; when this finishes (with no errors I hope) I will embark on moving the array to a new file system. A few questions: The recommended file system is XFS right? Now, do this for every disk: Using Rsync or MC move the disk content onto an external (not part of the array box) share drive (I already set up a 2 TB drive for that - all disks has less then 2TB on them) Change the disk's file system type to XFS and reformat the disk - I hope the File System Management section in the Storage Management Chapter in unRaid Docs is clear enough. Restore the disk content from the shared drive using Rsync (or MC) - Is this correct? . After the completion of the above for all the disks run the parity test - what type? - Create parity or check parity with/without array disk correction. Does the parity drive need special treatment? Like what? I ordered a new 4TB disk to replace one of the 2TB that's there now. Running the parity test (with no disk correction) starting now (before reformatting the array) will take about 15 hours, so I'll be back tomorrow - any comment on the above are highly appreciated. Best, tzotz

I loved the "maybe before you were born" I was born on April 1944 which makes me 80 plus years old 🙂 I will look for the commander, I'm in computers since 1962 and I did work with similar software. I meant XFS when I mentioned formatting. Again I can't thank you enough for your help. With respect to backing up some files I have no copy of - I will find a large usb drive and see what I can do. If I understood correctly the idea is to copy stuff that was on any one disk back to that same disk after it was formatted -- am I right? if so I'll try to work something out in that direction. I will replace one or two disks with larger ones to make this process easier - I just want to make sure that after replacing a drive I'll format it as XFS and then let the system rebuild it in the standard unRaid function - Am I correct in assuming that the Midnight Commander runs on linux - how will I refer to the files in my disks then? i will be back soon afterr digesting all the new information. Thanks and best, tzotz

Thanks again, Our posts are a bit out of synch, but we'll resynch eventually. You asked: Do you have a current backup of flash? The array is online now so I guess I can make a copy. Do you have another copy of anything important and irreplaceable, somewhere off your server? I have the important files from my desktop periodically backed up to unRaid but there are quite a large number of files mainly photos and videos that are only on unRaid. Copy is safer and faster than move. Then when you are satisfied with the result, you can reformat the source drive as XFS. That was my plan How are you doing the copy? You can also do copy from Dynamix File Manager and Unbalanced, but maybe not as fast as the older methods you may already be familiar with. What older methods? I can try to use Linux command line operations to copy files around but as my Linux experience is limited (sorry guys) I'd rather be treading on a more familiar Windows ground and it'll take ages - however maybe I'll bite the bullet and head to the Linux path. About not using cache - for one, I don't have an extra slot in the array. After this job - moving stuff around to arrive at an array functionally identical to the one I started with all the disks formatted to XPS, starting the array and ensuring that everything is there - I will embark on building a new box with more room for disks and add another parity, cache and possibly more disks I will follow your advice and uninstall all plugins, install the ones you mentioned and see if I can move files around. Then I plan to proceed as follows: 1) format disk 5 (sdc) 2) MoveR disk 4 (sdb) onto disk 5 (sdc) (both are 2TB so no space problem herre) 3) format disk 4 (sdb) 4) MoveR disk 2 (sdg) onto disk 4 (sdb) 5) Replace disk 2 (sdg) with a new 3 or 4 TB disk and format it 6) MoveR disk 3 (sde) onto disk 2 (sdg) 7) format disk 3 (sde) Mover disk 1 (sdf) onto disk 3 (sde) 9) Format disk 1 (sdf) 10) Copy files that started this process (when disk 5 (sdc) was empties onto disk 3 (sde) ) from disk 2 (sdg) onto disk 1 (sdf) Now I'll have an array of 5 disks that have the same contents (hopefully) as before but not in the same disk topology. My question is if I arrange the disks so that the topology is exactly the and start it - will the parity be rebuilt and all the shares and files they contain will remain the same albeit not on the same disks ids? If not, then it's back to the drawing board to come up with a similar scenario that will end up exactly as the original array in the attached screenshot (unRaid 1.jpg) - I didn't figure out exactly how to this but I think it's feasible (maybe with a few more copy operations.) I never did something like this before and I'm not familiar with the inner working of the array so I could be going in a completely wrong and dangerous direction here. I'll totally appreciate any advise or critique even a harsh one :-). Thanks again and best regards, tzotz

tower-diagnostics-20250123-0740.zip

Thanks trurl, I am waiting for the completion of the copying disk5 to disk3 - it's 41% complete so it'll be tomorrow when it completes. Then I'll run the diagnostics and post. Thanks again for your help. Best, tzotz

OK, I will follow trurl suggestion, I am however still concerned that I will make a bad move that will make my uuRaid partly or completely unusable. I will outline below the scenario I'm about to take and will thank for any comment that will help me get on the right track. So, here goes: Most important - all of this reformat and Mover are carried out in Linux territory with the array dormant or under Windows with a live unRaid array. I will complete the outline when I now in which world I have to continue. Anxiously waiting for your guidance here. Thanks, tzotz

trurl, thank you, thank you, I've spent the better half of the day hitting the net looking for parts to build a new box - I may still do that soon but before that I'll try your suggestion and look for a disk that I can empty. I'm still in the dark about formatting to XPS but one step at a time. Thanks again, made my day, tzotz

Thank you JorgeB for your response. There's a problem in what you suggest - the PC I have unRaid on does not have space or controller for another drive - I will have to get a new machine which I will but maybe not tomorrow. Can you elaborate a bit (or point me to a detailed text) how, when a new PC with more drive slots is available, go about adding a new drive formatting it and use the mover feature - I understand from what you wrote that I'll have to upgrade to v7.0 to be able to do that. I'm sorry, unRaid got a lot more sophisticated and complex since I started using it and i do need more help. Thanks, I do appreciate your support, tzotz

Hi, I'm an unRaid user/customer for quite a number of years and love the system. I have a 6 drive (including parity) unRaid array all formatted with ReiserFS (I believe is was the only available FS when I started with unRaid) - I read in unRaid 7 release notes that ReiserFS is being phased out from the Linux Kernel which raised a number of concerns and a few questions: 1. will I be able to continue using the array as is? 2. Will I be able to add drives? 3. Adding a new drive will necessitate formatting to a new file system, will unraid continue functioning as before with the new added drive? 4. If, most probably, I will opt to upgrade to unRaid v7,0 and above - how to safely migrate the existing drives to a new FS - are there more than one FS? Which FS you recommend? I will probably have more questions as I go along but the above will do for now. Appreciate you help and support. Best, tzotz

Hi guys, I've been using unraid for quite some time now - I have set up a root user and password and also another user with another password. On mt desktop machine I can access the server from chrome using "http://tower" supplying my root+password, also I can access my shares when I click on the unraid root from windows explorer without being asked for my credentials. I have another computer on my local network, there I can log in from chrome just as before but trying to access my shares from windows explorer I received the message below regardless of which user/password pair I supply. What gives? Thank in advance for your help, best, tzotz

Problem solved although I can't really say why. I changed permissions for "Everyone" and I could create a folder then changed it back to what it was and I could create a folder where I couldn't do it before. Why? I don't know - it works. Thanks.