No I still haven't built my unRAID since I am still collecting the components (I want to make this as invisible as possible, because my wife is 7 months pregnant and would never accept any expense -let alone about 500 euro- that is NOT for the coming baby).

 

Anyway, as the disks I plan to use (except two new) are all full of data, I need to take a step to step procedure to move the data. I've asked again much more generically and got a "yes" from you people, but I need to verify the procedure again (I have no backups and I am scared enough)...

 

• I will use four 320GB IDE plus a 500GB SATA, those I already have and will also buy two new 500GB SATA.
   
  
• Disks are all single partition NTFS.
   
  
• The data now are on the four 320 and on two 500, all external.
  

 

Yes from the math (including the parity) you find that I plan to keep one 500 as is (I will need to have some portable data).

 

So... first and probably simplest question:

 

• Is the correct procedure (since I have to move ALL THOSE data) to NOT have parity initially? Will it make writing faster (so that only at the end I add the parity and build it once)?
  

 

Now my plan (either with one 500 installed as parity or WAITING to become parity, doesn't make a difference):

 

• I add one of the new 500 to the array (being a... single disk array at this point)
  
• Add all the folders I want (see: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=1274.0)
  
• Mount one of the 320 NTFS so that I can cp from it (Tom said NTFS-read-only driver is included) - can someone remind the correct commands for this thing?
  
• Make the copy (again remind me the correct syntax? I need to be sure of all details)
  
• Take the mounted 320 with the already copied data and add it to the array (which of course formats it and is now clean)
  
• Make the same root folders as on 500 (Will this work since the system didn't have the same folders from the start!? Again see topic above to understand why I want this)
  
• Mount my second 320 NTFS and follow the same procedure
  
• After I have a 2x 500 + 4x 320 array, I add the last 500 as parity and rebuild it
  
• Pray it works
  

 

So will the above work?

 

Basic questions again:

 

• Adding parity later
  
• Adding one by one as described
  
• Adding the same root folders again and again at each step - hope this part is clear
  

 

Your feedback please experts?

 

 

Looking at your need for planning and consulting, and thinking this is your first child, you should probably put this on hold for 2-3 years.

/Rene

A while back, I cleaned up and corrected the example code in the wiki on this topic:

 

  http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php?title=Copy_files_from_a_NTFS_drive

A while back, I cleaned up and corrected the example code in the wiki on this topic:

 

  http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php?title=Copy_files_from_a_NTFS_drive

And I just updated the wiki to add a step or two that might help.  I added a "sync" command to ensure data is completely written before un-mounting a drive, and I added a "cd" command to ensure the drive would not be busy and refuse to be unmounted because it was the current working directory.

 

NLS,

Since you are nervous, I would not disable the parity drive.  I would have it assigned at all times.  Now, I know it will be a little bit slower to do the copies, but you will be protected against data loss.  Since you do not have backups of your data, this will help prevent any mishaps if a drive fails or a drive cable is not seated correctly.

 

As long as you move one drive at a time, and after each step cleanly stop the array and then power down to install the next drive you should be fine.  If you run into an issue, stop and request guidance.

 

Your biggest issue will be when assigning to the array an old NTFS drive after you have copied its data to a disk in the array.  The NTFS formatted drive will show up as "unformatted" in the management page.  If you check the little checkbox to request it to be formatted and added to the array it will be cleared and formatted, with NO chance of getting anything back that was on it.  Make sure it is the correct drive.  To be certain, I personally would only put one of the drives you are migrating in place at a time. (you can physically mount them, but plug their power and data cables in one-at-a-time as you do the migration)

 

 

 

Joe L.

parsec there are days I appreciate some good irony and days I don't - mostly the second case

 

Joe thanks, exactly my plan.

 

- The question about parity was almost answered (seems indeed copies will be a bit slower but safer with the parity on)

- The question about the adding got answered thoroughly

but

- The question about the multiple shares (also from the other topic) not really... please let me insist on this just a bit:

 

1) add drive #1, activate user shares, make folders folder1, folder2, folder3 ... folder10 (not the real names of course) and have those as user shares and fill some of them with data

2) add drive #2, make on drive #2 the same folders as above... will they indeed get "added" to the user shares? so the new copy (from data from drive #3) will in fact touch both drive #1 and drive #2?

3) add drive #3 and do the same...

 

Will THIS work? I am talking about "expanding" the user shares disk-by-disk.

 

I am sure other people building such a thing will be interested in your replies (esp. those having something to say really parsec).

 

 

As long as the top level directories match, yes, your user shares will grow. Just be sure to put the drives in the INCLUDE section of the web interface as you add them as well. I did this when I added another drive for the share Movies, manually adding the "movies" directory to the new drive and it's worked great.

 

If I've completely lead him astray, please correct me but I'm sure this is what I've done as I've added drives, adding the directories to the drive that I wanted to be there and also added that new drive to the "user shares" section of the web interface.

 

Good luck and CONGRATS on the new baby coming along!

thanks man

 

 

Just a quick question about this procedure. I just want to make sure I am not making a mistake.

 

If I follow the WiKi instructions here - http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php?title=Copy_files_from_a_NTFS_drive , and copy the entire contents of one drive (the existing NTFS drive that has a directory called Movies, drive is 320 Gb in size) to an existing unRAID drive that already has a Movies directory and that already has movies/data on it but ample room (750 Gb drive - 600+ Gb free) to receives the files from the existing NTFS drive, do I risk overwriting the files already on the unRAID drive ?

 

Is there anything I should keep in mind ? Any suggestions ?

 

Thanks.

If you mean completely irrelevant files, no there shouldn't be any risk.

 

If you mean files that could be the same name and same path, possibly, depending on cp parameters you use...

 

Check a cp man page for all possibilities.