JorgeB

You could remount the array disks read-only, would still be able to wite to those shares if set to cache "yes", though you'd need to remount read/write before the mover ran.

It looks to be resolved, I've disabled my weekly balance and so far so good, but I'd like to wait a few more weeks before saying it's fixed for sure.

unRAID doens't stripe data disks, so you can never get more than a single disk read/write speed (and write with turbo write only).

Yes

Yes, but if the array is set to auto start and you're using Docker and/or VMs and depending how they are configured it may create duplicate images.

Copy the config folder, redo the flash drive and copy it back.

Redo your flasdrive or try with a new one just to see if it boots.

I never used the script, it may have issues with latest unRAID, you can still do it manually (array will be inaccessible during the clear): 1. If disable enable reconstruct write (aka turbo write): Settings -> Disk Settings -> Tunable (md_write_method) 2. Start array in Maintenance mode. (array will not be accessible during the clearing) 3. Identify which disk you're removing 4. For Unraid <6.12 type in the CLI: dd bs=1M if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mdX status=progress For Unraid 6.12+ type in the CLI: dd bs=1M if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mdXp1 status=progress replace X with the correct disk number 5. Wait, this will take a long time, about 2 to 3 hours per TB. 6. When the command completes, Stop array, go to Tools -> New Config -> Retain current configuration: All -> Apply 7. Go back to Main page, unassign the cleared device. * with dual parity disk order has to be maintained, including empty slot(s) * 8. Click checkbox "Parity is already valid.", and start the array

You should try redoing your flashdrive or use a new one and see if the boot completes.

Boot with the GUI option and check network settings, if still unable to make it work grab the diagnostics from there.

It doesn't need crossflashing, that is only when flashing LSI firmware on other brand controllers, like Dell and IBM, and although it's not very complicated it can be in some hardware, it may need flashing if it comes with IR firmware, from IR to IT mode, but that's very easy, like a bios update.

If the preclear script is acting up either use the command line version or just run an extended SMART test.

It's not, but you don't need an expensive gaming adapter, any wireless router with a wi-fi bridge mode works, e.g.: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833315167&cm_re=BR-6428NS-_-33-315-167-_-Product

It should be unless it identifies all the disks the same, some USB enclosures do that, either way it's not recommended, USB is prone to disconnects and bad at error handling, IMO and if you absolutely need an external enclosure go with SAS, e-sata or USB will cause you lots of headaches.

No, the onboard controller is SATA only, on both gen7 and 8, it won't support a SAS expander.

Yes, that works, you may need to flash it to IT mode if it's not already, but it's easy, like a bios update.

Yep, this is how I'm using one of mine:

Also note that the Intel expander doesn't require a free PCIe slot, it's just for power and you can use a free slot or the molex connector for that.

No, you need an HBA, LSI recommended.

There's a toggle to show real-time speed for all array and cache devices:

Then your problem is here, you'll never get more speed than the iperf test achieves.

Perfectly normal speeds for a single SSD, you may get faster speeds briefly when it's reading/writing from RAM, depending on the models used same for the 2 x Kingston in raid0, especially for writes.

It would be faster with all SSDs than your current board but the same for HDDs, it will add about 10w to your power consumption, if that's what you mean by more/less efficient. Not unless you plan to buy SAS SSDs, all SATA devices will still link @ 6Gbps max.

Note that both are x8 max and the 9201-16i is PCIe 2.0 while the 9207-8i is PCIe 3.0, so in this case the 9207 would have double bandwidth per disk with PCIe 2.0, much more than that on a PCIe 3.0 board/CPU, still the 9201-16i has adequate bandwidth for spinners, for SSDs it's a different story.

Just replace one with the other, no need to configure anything.