Move System to a new Case (Norco-4224)

[bing281]

I currently have my system with 6 motherboard SATA and a 8 port SAS card connected to 3 icy docks.  I have decided I want to move to a Norco 4224 case and put in a second 8 port SAS card to support that. 

 

I am unsure of how to do this while preserving the data on my drives. 

 

I have 8, 2TB drives all of them have data on them. 

 

Thank you for the time to explain this process.

[prostuff1]

I currently have my system with 6 motherboard SATA and a 8 port SAS card connected to 3 icy docks.  I have decided I want to move to a Norco 4224 case and put in a second 8 port SAS card to support that. 

 

I am unsure of how to do this while preserving the data on my drives. 

 

I have 8, 2TB drives all of them have data on them. 

 

Thank you for the time to explain this process.

What version of unRAID are you running?

 

In general unRAID does not care about hardware.  you can move it all to a new case, connect everything up, and start up the server.  Take a screen pic of the devices page so you know what drives go where, you may need it you may not.  Just boot back up once everything is moved and if unRAID comes up stopped then some disks are in the wrong spot.  Assign them back to the correct place and you should be good to go.

[dgaschk]

Do a parity check before and after the move.

[Johnm]

It will not be that hard.

 

this is a pretty common question and not that hard depending on your comfort with computers.

take your time. and ask questions during the migration if you are not sure of the next step.

 

also you will have to post what unRAID version you have. different versions have slightly different instructions.

 

the 2 biggest things you need to do:

 

first is make sure your old setup has good parity.

 

then get a screen capture of your drive configuration in the web gui and save that to a desktop/laptop so you can pull it up during the rebuild to get the drive assignments if needed.

[bing281]

I am running the newest version of 4.  What is that 4.7?  Anyway I have been thinking of updating to version 5.beta12a.  What are the thoughts on that?  Also what are the instructions for each version 4 and 5?

[Kilack]

I am running the newest version of 4.  What is that 4.7?  Anyway I have been thinking of updating to version 5.beta12a.  What are the thoughts on that?  Also what are the instructions for each version 4 and 5?

 

My thoughts are, unless there is some feature in 5 beta 12 that you desperately must have then don't bother upgrading.  It is a beta.  If what you are using now is working then why change?

If it ain't broke, don't change it!!!  .  Patience is a virtue etc etc, wait until its a non beta if you can.

 

 

[ohlwiler]

I recently added a Norco 4224 as a second server. With that in mind I have a few suggestions.

 

Stay on 4.7 until you need a feature of 5 (3T support, AFP...).

 

Print a copy of the devices tab from the web interface to record your current disk layout.

 

Evaluate your power supply for sufficient capacity to power the maximum capacity of the case. Now is the time to buy a new power supply if needed. A 650 watt single rail is sufficient most of the time.

 

After your purchase your server, and 8087 cables thoroughly test every port in the case. I would use old disks and a different USB stick to do this. Create a three disk array and then shift the disks around to other ports. I simply started a parity calculation, let it run for a few minutes and then shutdown, moved the disks and repeated. Do this prior to moving your data disks. Norco has bad quality control and you want to find any problems early.

 

Now simply swap the disk from the Icy Doc to the Norco trays. Slide the disks into your case arranged to your liking. Personally I would not install my parity drive until later, instead I would power up, assign all of the data drives to their proper slots and then shut down. Then I would put in my parity drive, restart and assign the parity drive and start the array. Everything should work first time since you have already tested the case and cables.