[SOLVED] Migrating 1.5TB Data from FreeNAS to unRAID?


delicatepc

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So got two boxes.

 

One is FreeNAS 0.7.2 with harddrives running UFS.

Other is new unRAID box with 4TB of space.

Both are hooked into gigabit ethenet. Old box will be retired; hdd formatted and repurposed.

 

Some suggestions on transfer ideas? Looking to move about 1.5 TB data.

 

thanks,

dpc

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So got two boxes.

 

One is FreeNAS 0.7.2 with harddrives running UFS.

Other is new unRAID box with 4TB of space.

Both are hooked into gigabit ethenet. Old box will be retired; hdd formatted and repurposed.

 

Some suggestions on transfer ideas? Looking to move about 1.5 TB data.

 

thanks,

dpc

After dinner, use window's file explorer to copy the files from the NAS to the unRAID box

(or, better yet,use Teracopy with the verification option enabled.)

 

Then, watch a movie or some TV, spend some time with the family or friends, go to sleep when you get tired, when you wake it should be done.

 

Anything else is just not worth the bother for that little data.  ( I did exactly that with over 10TB of data over the course of several days )

 

Joe L.

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Just adding to the OP's question.

 

I assume I'll be running into this same issue this weekend. Although I'll be doing closer to 18TB.

 

Since it is a new unraid build, should he do the copy before adding the parity drive to the pool, then add the parity drive and run a parity check after?

It was under the impression he would get faster results?

 

@delicatepc.

You stated you will be formatting the HDD's, just make sure you are comfortable that your data copied over before trashing the source data. perhaps give your new server a little testing time.

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Personally, even though it is slower, I'd put the parity drive in place FIRST, then load the array with data.  The reason is this...

 

If one of the data disks has an error when you first go to calculate parity (because you did not initially have the parity drive in place) then the data on it is lost.  Yes, you can attempt to figure out which file(s) were lost, but you'll need to do checksums on all your files on the server and on their original disks.

 

New disks do have unreadable sectors... the preclear process attempts to find all those that fail early in the disk's life, but they will still occur.  As I said that will cause data loss.

 

If the parity disk is in place from the beginning then th first time yo encounter an un-readable sector the contents will be re-constructed from parity in combination with the other data disks.  Then, it will get re-written to the drive whose sector could not be read.  It will re-allocate the sector if it needs.  No data will be lost.

 

So, you can do it fast if you do not care about the data, or if you run checksums on the files as a subsequent step, or slower with some protection against bad disks sectors.

 

Your choice.  (I copied my data with the parity disk already installed)

 

Joe L.

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I did what Joe L. suggested. I just fired up my unRAID server with Parity enabled and copied, copied, copied. I used the verify part of TeraCopy to make sure things matched up and everything went smooth. Took a while, but I knew when it was done it was done.

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One thing I do find odd...

 

unRAID is linux/slackware based (from what I understand).

Lots of the suggestions are for windows based (teracopy only for windows for example).

 

Windows is fine and all and Teracopy is great just interesting. Personally I am running a Mac.

 

All that aside. I marked thread as solved but one last stab at it:

 

Is there a solution that would be server to server? I can tell either server 1 to copy to server 2 or vice versa. Would hate to tie up my main machine with massive transfers...

 

thanks,

~dpc

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Just adding to the OP's question.

 

I assume I'll be running into this same issue this weekend. Although I'll be doing closer to 18TB.

 

 

I'm on day # 10 * on moving from WHS to my new unRaid server.   And just about the same final space planned.   For me, it's shampoo mode.  Copy data, unmount drive on WHS {which copies data to the other disks remaining}, and add that drive to unRaid.  Rinse, repeat.

 

Because I feel my final data storage is important,  I'm taking the speed hit of parity.   I don't think that getting a little more speed is worth the risk with that kind of large storage being moved across multiple drives.

 

Of course YMMV,  but my logic is, the whole reason I'm moving to unRaid includes the parity protection.  And since I've just not got enough run-time to 'trust' my drives, and the system,  I'm going to do whatever I can - parity - to protect the new data pool.

 

 

* is human time, not copy time.  I set up copies of certain files/source directories, make those copies, answer the stupid W7 questions (do you want to copy system file, duplicates {Yes, I have some, I'm combining directories and cleaning up}, etc, etc}

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I set up copies of certain files/source directories, make those copies, answer the stupid W7 questions (do you want to copy system file, duplicates {Yes, I have some, I'm combining directories and cleaning up}, etc, etc}

GET Teracopy!

 

Not only does it get all the stupid questions out but it automatically will continue to the next transfer without waiting for you.

 

Lastly Win7 is improved in that it now prompts you at the end of the sequence so any prompts you see are simply the ones at the end (ie Vista would prompt in the middle of the copy/move operation).

 

~dpc

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I'm on day # 10 * on moving from WHS to my new unRaid server.  

 

I feel your pain. that is one reason I am dumping my WHS media server.

 

I am just hoping that unRAID is faster then the WHS was. With my 2008 servers, I can fully saturate my Gbit Nics. with WHS, I never got good throughput.

maybe 30MB/s on a good day.

 

Fortunately for me, i am just going format the WHS and save no data. i have it all duped on a raid6 array.  I'll be recycling much of the WHS system for unRAID system.

I am trying to do some testing this weekend with the free version. but I honestly wish there was a 30day trail on the Plus or pro to get a true feeling for the product before purchasing.

 

My next step was going to try WHS2011 and Flexraid2, it looks like flexraid is gone.

This was the step after that if i was not happy. so here we are...

 

Honestly this is more of me playing and  learning new stuff and just being the nerd I am.. in the end ill keep the solution that works the best for me.

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Personally, even though it is slower, I'd put the parity drive in place FIRST, then load the array with data. 

 

Just to clarify, does one need to complete the initial parity sync on an unRAID with empty data disks before starting to transfer data for the first time?

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Personally, even though it is slower, I'd put the parity drive in place FIRST, then load the array with data. 

 

Just to clarify, does one need to complete the initial parity sync on an unRAID with empty data disks before starting to transfer data for the first time?

You do not need to even have them formatted for parity on them to be established.

 

If you assign parity initially, and calculate parity on the drives before you add the data, you can let it assist you if a data drive develops an un-readable sector.

 

You do not need to do it, and many do not, but it is what I would do.

 

Joe L.

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