unraid 6.9.2 migrating server to all new hardware (and all new drives)?

[SimplifyAndAddCoffee]

I have an unraid server I am replacing, looking to upgrade everything. I'm moving from a j5005 with 4x 2.5" drives to a proper rack server with an 8x3.5 backplane, and I'm upgrading my cache drive and my app data drive pool to their own 1TB SSDs. 

 

What is the fastest/easiest way to accomplish this? I'm willing to spend on another unraid license to attach all the drives for the build if needed. The new drives are SAS and I can't plug them into the existing server. I also can't plug in all of the existing drives at one time to the new server. Is there a way to just clone all the data over onto the new drives and then export/import my config to a new USB drive?

 

Oh yeah, the boot USB drive will also need to be replaced, since the old one is a custom made Disk-on-Module and I don't have a USB header on the new mobo to plug it into.

 

Also I'm going from a bare metal install of unraid to a guest VM on ESXi.

 

What's the order of operations here in order to do this and not risk data loss from screwing it up?

Edited November 30, 2022 by SimplifyAndAddCoffee

[itimpi]

It is worth pointing out that all array drives in Unraid have a self-contained file system that can easily be individually mounted and read outside the originating Unraid system.

[SimplifyAndAddCoffee]

including cache drive? 

 

is there a way to lock the state of things so the original configuration can't be altered or broken in the process of migrating data to new drives? What about exporting/importing the docker containers and configurations? plugins? etc. If I clone the original boot drive, can it be adapted to associate new drives and pools on a new controller without breaking anything?