noob question about existing hard drives with data

[kingvargas]

i did a search and really didnt find a answer which im sure is the DUHHH! part of this software...i have existing hdd with blur-rays,dvd & music already backed-up. can i build a server and use those hdd without buying new hdd or formating my existing hdd? to my understanding thats what made "unraid" so great vs. using something like "freenas". i already have atleast 2TB filled already and need to know if its ok to buy another hdd and continue "ripping" if you will, until i actually build my server?

 

[prostuff1]

i did a search and really didnt find a answer which im sure is the DUHHH! part of this software...i have existing hdd with blur-rays,dvd & music already backed-up. can i build a server and use those hdd without buying new hdd or formating my existing hdd? to my understanding thats what made "unraid" so great vs. using something like "freenas". i already have atleast 2TB filled already and need to know if its ok to buy another hdd and continue "ripping" if you will, until i actually build my server?

 

 

You will not be able to just add the drive to the unRAID array and have it work.  unRAID will have to reformat the disk and thereby wipe any data on it before it will be usable.

[kingvargas]

thank you for the correction. i should just not buy anymore hdd and wait until i build the server.

[Rajahal]

Right.  It is best to start off your server with two empty drives, one for parity and one as your first data drive, disk1.  You can then copy all the data off one of your full drives onto disk1, then add the older drive as disk2 (allowing unRAID to wipe it clean, or wiping it outside the array with Joe's preclear script, which I highly recommend).  Rinse and repeat for all your other data drives.

 

You can get away with starting with just one new drive and not enable a parity drive until the very last step, but this is more risky as you won't have any parity protection until the entire transfer is complete.  If you can afford it, I would recommend starting with two new drives, and preclearing both of them with at least 2 passes before transferring any data.

 

I also recommend using TeraCopy with the 'verify' option turned on for your mass data transfers.  TeraCopy will run CRC checks after the transfers complete to make sure that the data arrived on the new drive without corruption.