Retiring my unRAID server. What's the best way to utilize the HDs?

[GreggP]

I'm no longer using my old unRAID server; realistically, I don't think I'd be able to sell it. It's a basic tower PC running the old v5.05 unRAID software. I built the system way back around 2010.

 

I'd like to utilize the hard drives after removing them from the server. I plan to plug them into an external USB drive docking station and then use them to back up my Lightroom catalog and RAW photo image files. These docking stations are attached to my Windows 11 laptop.

 

Is there anything I should do to prepare them for re-formatting for NTFS? 

 

Years ago, I used one of my former unRAID 1 TB drives after swapping it out for something larger. I installed it in one of my PCs and formatted it to NTFS. It failed a few months afterward. I was able to recover some files with special recovery software (I don't remember what I used). During this process, I discovered that Windows was having trouble with the ReiserFS partition. So I wondered if I should've done something prior to just formatting. Maybe a preclear... Someone on the r/unRAID subreddit suggested just running 'diskpart clean'. Would that be enough?

 

 

Edited November 14, 2022 by GreggP
corrected version number

[itimpi]

You can simply delete any existing partitions before reformatting them on Windows using Disk Manager.  That would remove any remnants of the existing file system.
 

having said that you might want to also consider running the manufacturer’s disk diagnostics software under Windows to check the health of the drive before committing anything important to the drive.

[GreggP]

On 11/14/2022 at 9:48 PM, itimpi said:

You can simply delete any existing partitions before reformatting them on Windows using Disk Manager.  That would remove any remnants of the existing file system.
 

having said that you might want to also consider running the manufacturer’s disk diagnostics software under Windows to check the health of the drive before committing anything important to the drive.

I decided to run  the command line utility diskpart clean all to prepare my used unRAID drive for formatting in Windows 11. Probably overkill but it definitely cleans out all remnants of the ReiserFS file system. I also ran Western Digital's 'Dashboard' program to check the health of the drive.