Here is my problem, I have 2 disks in my array literally filled with a large collection of 5,7K 180°VR/360° Video footage. Lots of very high bitrate clips. Due to COVID19, the project I was working on is (hopefully temporarily) suspended because of travel bans and funding issues. I'd like to put the disks in a safe place (read: a data center fire resistant cabinet I've access to) until things get better - There is no reason for me to keep these two drives spinning for months, maybe years, in my array. These files are valuable only if the project respawns, if it ever does. They'll lose their value with time passing.

 

So, my question is : Is there a way for me to unplug the 2 drives these videos are on and remove them from the array. Then, when things get better, plug them back in and re-include them in the array, without the need to move the 19 TB+ files across drives/shares (I won't have enough free space to do so).

 

Thank you !

 

Notes:

 

• I'm aware it means I'll lose parity protection when performing these actions, as parity will need to be rebuilt upon removal/addition. And obviously when offline ;).
• I really want these off-site, no interest in keeping them spun down in a separate group for example
• I'm not looking for alternatives to this scenario nor recommendations for offline storage.

Edited January 17, 20215 yr by Gwendolyn Parker
Formatting

I’m sure others will chime in but if it were me I would add drives big enough to unraid with unassigned devices, copy your data to those drives, detach them and then erase the data on unraid.  When you want to restore that data you can re connect those drives via unassigned devices and copy the data back in.  Parity will remain intact and you can use those drives for other projects while your backups are safely stored.  

4 hours ago, Gwendolyn Parker said:

, my question is : Is there a way for me to unplug the 2 drives these videos are on and remove them from the array. Then, when things get better, plug them back in and re-include them in the array, without the need to move the 19 TB+ files across drives/shares (I won't have enough free space to do so).

The way to do this will be to use the New Config tool and then assign the drives to remove.    When you now restart the array it will rebuild parity based on the remaining drives.

 

To get the drives back into the array use the same approach and rebuild parity again.

 

you need to be aware that this leaves your array unprotected during the periods while parity is being rebuilt.

3 hours ago, itimpi said:

The way to do this will be to use the New Config tool and then assign the drives to remove.    When you now restart the array it will rebuild parity based on the remaining drives. To get the drives back into the array use the same approach and rebuild parity again.

you need to be aware that this leaves your array unprotected during the periods while parity is being rebuilt.

 

Thank you for your response.

 

Won't there be issues with required pre-clear or something ?

Besides leaving data unprotected during rebuild, is there any other risk of corrupting the array when putting drives back in ?

 

Gwen

5 hours ago, Ericjr said:

if it were me I would add drives big enough to unraid.

 

Thanks Ericjr- Unfortunately I don't have the 500€ for extra drives right now. Hence my request do proceed without copying/moving data. -Gn

2 hours ago, Gwendolyn Parker said:

Won't there be issues with required pre-clear or something ?

 

From another post by itimpi today :

 

"After using New Config then when you start the array Unraid will recognise any data drives are in Unraid format; leave their data intact; and build new parity based on the new drive set when you start the array."