(Solved) Curious about preclearing options

[mrkvchm]

Hello,

 

I'm about to perform my first upgrade since building my unraid server. I'm going to have to do a parity swap because my new drive is bigger than my current parity drive. Hope I don't screw up!

 

I read that you're supposed to preclear a new drive before adding it to the array. The issue I have is that my server only has four drive bays, and they're all full. And I don't really want to take my array offline for the many, many hours a preclearance might take. What would you suggest?

 

Option 1: Skip the preclear. Is this ill-advised? My new drive is a brand new WD Red Pro, so I'm inclined to trust it. But those sound like famous last words lol. How often do infant mortalities happen in NAS drives?

 

Option 2: Preclear in Windows (or a VM). I have a spare bay in my desktop PC. Is this an option?

 

Option 3: Preclear in unraid with the new drive (or potentially the old one) hanging bayless out the side of the server. This seems likely to CAUSE a mechanical failure lol...

 

Option 4: ? ? ? Something else?

 

What would you do?

Thanks so much in advance for your ideas and opinions!

Edited June 10, 2021 by mrkvchm
Mark as solved

[JorgeB]

Preclear is not needed, but it's not bad practice to test a new disk, you can do that on a different computer by running for example an extended SMART test or the manufacturer testing tool.

[nametaken_thisonetoo]

I would just go with option 3 and place it safely on your desk or on an old mousepad or similar if you are worried about vibrations. Well worth doing a preclear even though its not technically needed - much better to find faults with a new drive prior to it being added to your array and loaded up with all that lovely data.

[mrkvchm]

Thanks for the comments!

 

I ended up going with option 3. I moved the disk I plan to replace to an unsecure (but flat) location in the case so the array can keep running. I don't have any big plans for that disk so it doesn't matter if it runs for a while in a less-than-ideal location. Then I was able to put the new disk in its bay and begin preclearing it while the array continues running. Then I should be able to do my parity swap and take the old drive from its shelf once it's decommissioned. All with fairly little downtime! Neat!