Hello All,

 

Been running an unraid system since January 2011 with no issues. I am currently using a system that has six 2 tb drives installed.

 

I now have a spare 2 tb drive that I would like to pre clear so it is tested and ready to insert when a drive fails in the future. The issue I have is that the six installed drives occupy the 6 onboard sata ports.

 

What are my options as far as temporarily installing the spare drive just to preclear it? I am running unraid server 4.6 at the moment.

 

If I have to take the system offline for the duration of the preclear that is not a problem. I am just not sure of the correct procedure to do this so I don't screw up my existing configuration in any way.

 

Any suggestions are welcome.

 

Thanks for your input,

 

Jim Spence

Stop the array

Copy the config folder on the flash drive to a safe place, not on the unRAID array.

power down

install the drive to be pre-cleared on an available port, temporarily disconnecting one of the array drives

disconnect a SECOND array drive as well.  This way, unRAID will think there are two drives that have failed and not try to use th new drive as a replacement.

 

With two original array drives disconnected, and the new one to be pre-cleared connected, power up.  Because two drives have failed, (are disconnected) it will not start by itself.

 

Clear the new drive using the pre-clear script.  You can verify you have the correct drive by its model/serial number before confirming "Yes" to its prompt to continue.

 

after the pre-clear has finished, power down, remove the pre-cleared drive, re-connect the other two and power up.

 

As an alternative, load a spare flash drive with the free version of unRAID, boot ANY other PC with it, install the new drive on it and pre-clear it there.  There is no need to have an array assigned.

 

Joe L.

 

 

Joe,

 

I really appreciate the quick and detailed response.

 

I will follow your advice.

 

Have a good one.

 

Thanks again,

 

Jim