I’m very new to unRAID and Linux but really like what I’m seeing, particularly this great forum. I finally got my test server up and watched my first streamed BD movie last night on a Boxee Box and am very happy with results. I had some challenges and made a few missteps along the way but the info available here and on the Wikis got me through - much thanks to everyone who contributes.

 

My first question is where should I go from here? I was going to start backing up my media to the server and add disks as I need them but I made the decision to go up with unRAID version 5.0-beta4 (bad decision I know, but it’s done…) and am now concerned about going further with beta software. I am way too inexperienced to actively participate and contribute on the bleeding-edge but really like what I see so far and want to use my server.

 

Should I start all over again with the older stable release, use 5.0-beta4 and hope for a smooth transition to 5.0 stable when it’s available or just shelve unRAID till 5.0 is ready?

 

Thanks for the help.

 

I’m very new to unRAID and Linux but really like what I’m seeing, particularly this great forum. I finally got my test server up and watched my first streamed BD movie last night on a Boxee Box and am very happy with results. I had some challenges and made a few missteps along the way but the info available here and on the Wikis got me through - much thanks to everyone who contributes.

 

My first question is where should I go from here? I was going to start backing up my media to the server and add disks as I need them but I made the decision to go up with unRAID version 5.0-beta4 (bad decision I know, but it’s done…) and am now concerned about going further with beta software. I am way too inexperienced to actively participate and contribute on the bleeding-edge but really like what I see so far and want to use my server.

 

Should I start all over again with the older stable release, use 5.0-beta4 and hope for a smooth transition to 5.0 stable when it’s available or just shelve unRAID till 5.0 is ready?

 

Thanks for the help.

 

 

If it were me and I did not know much/any about linux or unRAID I would "downgrade" to 4.7 which is the latest stable release.

I'd suggest you revert to 4.7 for now.

 

I was a newbie a year and a half ago, and being a bit of a risk taker I went with the current beta. Fortunately everything went fine. But that beta included only minor changes from a stable release.

 

But Rev. 5 is a major revision and all you need to do is follow this forum to see there have been a lot of issues to work out, some of them serious enough to put data at risk. Unless you want to help identify bugs, and are willing to risk your data and time to do so, I would leave the current round of betas to experienced users who have test servers.

 

Once there is is a version 5 release candidate you might want to try that.

Agreed.  Unless you have an express need for one of the features of 5.0b4, go with 4.7.

Thanks guys, probably does make sense to go back to 4.7.

 

Do you suggest re-running prelear on my disks and starting from scratch?

There is a problem in 5.0 beta 4 that will require you to rebuild parity to upgrade. The problem results in issues adding more than 15 or so disks to an array. So you really should not plan to create your array there. 4.7 would be best.

So I should preclear, build array under 4.7 and re-format?

First thing you should do is take a screenshot of your current array so that you know which disk serial number corresponds to which drive slot.  Save the screenshot on your regular computer, not on the server.  You should not need to preclear again, no.  I don't think you need to reformat the data disk either, the disks should maintain their unRAID formatting.  I would start by just replacing the bzimage and bzroot files, then rebooting.  That should work...if not, then just reformat the flash drive and start over with a fresh 4.7 install.  Don't forget to run the 'make bootable' file so that the flash drive is marked bootable.

 

This is all what I believe will work, but I have never personally downgraded from a 5.0beta to 4.anything.

This is good to hear and thanks again Rajahal.

Replacing bzimage and bzroot did not work – would not allow me to rebuild the parity drive.

 

Re-formatting the flash drive and starting over with a 4.7 install did work – re-assigned drives, rebuilt parity, enabled shares and everything came up including my original shares and even the data I had added under 5.0b4.

 

Again, thanks for the help everyone.