I started Tower with 6 HDD (1+5), transferred a bunch of data off of a pre-existing RAID5 array, then stopped the array, powered down the server, installed the 5 HDD that I had just transferred the data from, restarted Server.  The original 6 HDD are still humming right along but the 5 new-to-tower HDD are not found by tower; they do not show up under devices tab, only the original 6.  I see no indication that the 5 new-to-tower HDD are being formatted, so I have to assume that I need to do something else to get tower to recognize these added drives.  What would that be?

I had a similar problem a month ago. The wiki is a little outdated on how to install new drives. Someone on AVSforum told me what to do:

Stop the array and then go to the devices tab. You should be able to assign slots for the drives now. Take it from there.

 

EDIT: It was Joe.L who helped me and this is what he said:

 

Stop the array, go to the drive assignment page, you should be able to assign the new drive there, assuming you put the pro-key file into place. Then, go back to the main page and start the array once more. You might need to check an "I'm sure" checkbox to allow it to format the new disk as it starts.

 

P.S. This assumes you have the licence for the pro (up to 16 disks) version, of course.

I must not understand.  The new drives do not show up anywhere on the devices page, so I can't assign.  I experimented when I shouldn't have by clicking on unassigned on disk 6; how do I undo that?

 

I bought the MD1500/LL from Tom and it was supposed to come with the Pro OS on the USB sticks Tom sent me; do I have to do something with them other than plug into USB port?

The key is to stop the array first from the main page, then look for your new drives. If that doesn't work, I won't be able to help you.

Yup... it was me who helped a few people...

 

Stop the array, go once more to the "Devices" tab, and you should then be able to assign the new drives.

Then, go back to the main page and the new drives will probably show as "unformatted" (that simply means they do not currently have a reiserfs file-system. They could have any other type of file system, but they will still show there as "unformatted") 

There should be a "checkbox" that you need to check before the array will clear and format the newly added drives. 

 

While unRaid is clearing the drives your array will not be on-line.  You can press the "Refresh" button to get an idea of its progress.  When the drives are cleared, the array will be available once more and file-systems will be created on the new drives.  Note: clearing the drives is done by writing zeros to every byte on every sector on every platter on the hard-disk.  There is no "undo"  Make sure you have moved any data that was on any old disk being installed into the unRaid array elsewhere prior to clearing and formatting it in the unRaid array.

 

Joe L.

The array is stopped.  When I go to the devices tab, all disks except for the original disks, show "no device".  I checked my USB stick and it has a registration file called Pro1; I am assuming that is the permission to go beyond 6 disks.  I've tried rebooting, starting, stopping, but still can't see the new HDD. What else?

You add additional data drives the same way you added the first 5 drives.  If you can't add a seventh drive, is it possible you have a Plus key, instead of a Pro key for unRAID?

 

Edit:  I just saw your new reply.  The Pro key has a file name of Pro.key and resides in the Config folder.  I don't recognize Pro1, and I don't know the name of the Plus key file.  Can someone with a Plus key confirm its name?

 

Also, did the new drives show up in the BIOS when booting?  Are they installed on a supported disk controller?

 

I got two USB sticks with Pro OS on them; they are Pro1.key and Pro2.key; so I have the license.  Bios only shows the 6 HDD because the Mobo only has 6 onboard sata ports, which just happens to be the number of disks I started with.  Disks 6-9, 10-13 are on two 4 port pci cards; I am beginning to think that there may be something awry with the PCI cards that is keeping me from seeing the drives.  As far as I can tell while watching boot on monitor, the new drives do not show.  So, I' think I'll power down and check out the pci thing.  Is there a way to see the pci cards via the OS, like a device manager in windows?

PROBLEM SOLVED!  Well, I popped the side off the server and would you believe that neither of the 4-port controller cards was properly seated in the mb slots.  Pushed them into place, cranked it up and voilla!  Thanks anyway for your assistance!

Glad it was as simple as plugging in the controller cards...

 

As far as the "Pro/Plus Key" file name.  From my e-mail conversations with Tom a long time ago...

 

The name does not matter at all.  You can name it "Joe.key" if you like. 

 

unRaid finds the first file it can in the config folder with a ".key" extension and uses it.   

 

I have two flash drives, but to make it easier to keep my spare one up to date I have both of my key files on both drives.  On one drive they are named Pro1.key and the other Pro2.kkeeyy.  (On the other drive, the suffixes are reversed)

 

This way, I can copy the entire contents of one drive to the other and then just rename the two file extensions appropriately.

 

Internally, the key files have the drive serial number, identify what type they are (Pro/Plus), and who they are registered to.

 

Joe L.

Cool .key tutorial--Thanks!

 

Dan

Thanks Joe, I did not know that.

 

Did you try popping off the side panel fo the server and checking to be sure that both of you PCI SATA cards might be unseated?

PROBLEM SOLVED!  Well, I popped the side off the server and would you believe that neither of the 4-port controller cards was properly seated in the mb slots.  Pushed them into place, cranked it up and voilla!  Thanks anyway for your assistance!

hrm... I just checked my MD-1500/LL and it had exactly the same problem.

Did you try popping off the side panel fo the server and checking to be sure that both of you PCI SATA cards might be unseated? Smiley

 

Too late!  The points have been handed out already. 

 

There's a situation called heat creep which can affect cards and memory (more so the older memory slots).

 

As parts heat up and cool down the expansion and contraction tend to make the parts creep out of place.

 

So anytime something funky occurs out of nowhere, it plays to just put a lil pressure on these parts to ensure they are solidly seated.

I find that most of the newer cases and motherboards today do not have this issue as much as the older ones.

 

Interesting about the heat creep phenomenon.

 

Since I received my server this week, I think I'll just blame it on the package carrier creep.

Interesting about the heat creep phenomenon.

 

Since I received my server this week, I think I'll just blame it on the package carrier creep.

 

The bump -n- grind will do it every time ;-)

 

Yes, sorry about that grandan, a decent percentage of MD-1500/LL customers report that one or both of the Promise PCI controllers have dislodged from the slots during shipment.

 

We've started putting a small spacer between the chassis and the top of the card bracket that bolts into the chassis to see that helps.  I think what happens is that, since the chassis is all-aluminum, there is some flexing that takes place during shipment due to the box being thrown around.

 

We used to have similar problem where the plastic fan housing on the Supermicro 5-in-3 drive would fall off.  We quite effectively solved this problem, so hopefully the spacer "fix" will solve this one.

Tom,

 

Thanks for the concern.  I think you are absolutely right about the chassis flex, you can almost feel it when you handle the server.  Hopefully, if I don't have to move it much, the guts will stay put.  By the way, casters would be a nice option for this thing; when loaded with a full complement of drives, it must be approaching 75#.  I have mine hidden in a corner of my home office and getting it out of that corner is work for younger men.  

 

I love the way it looks tho.  The fans make a good bit of noise but the HDDs stay nice and cool--the highest temp I have seen with 11 750GB drives in the server is 36C when 5 HDD were being written with 0's.  And with the parity drive in the bottom left slot, it's the coolest of the politician's dozen drives.

 

Dan

The fans make a good bit of noise ...

 

You must not have ordered the optional 'fan controller' 

Aren't the fan controllers just pots on a plate where user manually adjusts voltage?  Or, do they have thermostatic capability--If I could get this, I would buy.  Or has anyone been able to find effective thermistor controlled fans that could replace the HDD cage fans and case fan?

Aren't the fan controllers just pots on a plate where user manually adjusts voltage?  Or, do they have thermostatic capability--If I could get this, I would buy.

 

Yep, just pots on a plate - but effective.  Unless your ambient temp. is very high you don't need much airflow over the disks.

 

  Or has anyone been able to find effective thermistor controlled fans that could replace the HDD cage fans and case fan?

 

Let me know if you find these.

Aren't the fan controllers just pots on a plate where user manually adjusts voltage?  Or, do they have thermostatic capability--If I could get this, I would buy.  Or has anyone been able to find effective thermistor controlled fans that could replace the HDD cage fans and case fan?

 

Some motherboards, including mine, offer not only temp sensitive fan speed control for the CPU, but for the case as well.

 

I have the Asus P5B-E.

 

 

Bill

Tom, SilenX makes some thermistor controlled fans up to 120mm (I think one 80mm, one 96?mm, one 120mm)--I think around $20ea, including shipping, at NEWEGG.  I have also found a DIY thermistor managed fan controller that may have some potential that I want to breadboard and test, with some modifications that I think I want to make, when I have a chance.  We're getting ready for two holiday trips out of the country, with a family visit sandwiched in between; so it will be at least May before I will have time to do any experimentation.  But, if I turn up anything that has potential, I'll be happy to share.

 

Billped--yeah, I even looked into that RE: the mobo in my server but could not confirm anything other than CPU fan management which, of course, really isn't the issue with something like UnRAID server.