Change disk locations, numbering

[fireplex]

Hi,

 

I removed data disks 4 & 5 from my array and now the disks are numbered 1,2,3,6 and 7 as per below.

 

Any issues if I stop the array and assign 6 and 7 to 4 & 5 respectively ? (I know, just hate seeing things like that 😆) ?

 

[itimpi]

Since you only have single parity it is possible to re-arrange the order of the drives without invalidating parity.   This would not have been true if you had parity2 as that uses the slot number of part of its calculations.

• Use the New Config tool and select the option to retain all current assignments.  If you did not use this then Unraid would complain when you tried to move drives to new slots.
• return to the main tab and make the changes you want to move the array drives up in slot number.
• tick the parity is already valid checkbox
• start the array to commit the changes

the drives should come up with all their data intact and in the new slots, and Unraid should not be recalculating parity.

[WalkerD01]

Hey Guys,

I'm struggling with this same problem - Feel like i'm following all of @itimpi's instructions here (also found this method elsewhere) - but whenever i move the drive i want to relocate to another slot i get 'invalid expansion' 'You may not add new disk(s) and also remove existing disk(s).' - just trying to relocate a drive from disk 5 to disk 7 to match a physical move i had to make in my case.

Any help greatly appreciated.

[WalkerD01]

also only a single parity

[JorgeB]

16 minutes ago, WalkerD01 said:

but whenever i move the drive i want to relocate to another slot i get 'invalid expansion' 'You may not add new disk(s) and also remove existing disk(s).'

You are not doing the new config, at least not correctly, make sure you click apply.

[WalkerD01]

22 hours ago, JorgeB said:

You are not doing the new config, at least not correctly, make sure you click apply.

I'm such an idiot, feel like i tried this at least a dozen times - i'm such an idiot - was selecting 'yes i want to do this' then clicking 'done' - didn't even register 'apply' - thanks for your help

[nielu]

Okay, I understand the above scenario with a single parity Array. How would you renumber or move disks around in a 2 parity array? I have 8 x 16Tb SATA drives of which 2 is used for parity. I have just added 8 x 16Tb SAS drives and the idea is to copy all the data from the SATA to the SAS drives in the array. Once the SATA drives are empty, I want to remove them, leaving the numbering to start with disk7 as the first SAS disk up to disk13, etc...  I would like to replace the SATA parity disks with the 2 SAS disks, which probably mean redoing parity, etc..  I am guessing, if the first 6 SATA drives are empty, can I take out all the SATA drives including Parity, renumber the drives from 1 to 6 (Data drives that is) and use new config and redo parity or something like that? Any advise please. I don't mind redoing parity, but obviously don't want to lose data from any of the 6 drives, even after the move, unless I copy (lightbulb!)

[JorgeB]

4 minutes ago, nielu said:

I am guessing, if the first 6 SATA drives are empty, can I take out all the SATA drives including Parity, renumber the drives from 1 to 6 (Data drives that is) and use new config and redo parity or something like that?

If I'm understating the question correctly, you can, parity will need to be re-synced for the remaining disks.

[nielu]

Yes, thanks. What I think best is to copy data using unbalanced from the 6 x SATA drives to the 6 x SAS drives, remove the 6 x SATA drives and then simply rebuilt parity (I will also remove the 2 x SATA parity drives and replace with 1 x SAS Parity for now, before rebuilding parity). Hope this will work.

[JonathanM]

On 9/1/2024 at 4:09 PM, nielu said:

if the first 6 SATA drives are empty

Having all files deleted is very much NOT empty, if that's what you were implying. Removing drives and keeping parity valid only works if you write zeroes to the whole partition while the drive is still part of the array. Typically that's more time and trouble than it's worth, so most people rebuild parity.

 

Deleting a file simply updates the file system to allow new files to be written to that area, it doesn't actually remove the data.