Hi all,

 

Would there be any risk of loosing data if I upgrade to 4.3-beta1?

 

I would really like to try the new version and see if my Realtek network card works.

 

I can live with a less stable system but i can not live with loosing any data.

 

Thanks,

Søren

Any new version of any software program carries a risk with it, and that is true whether it is called an alpha, a beta, a final release, or even a '1.01' bugfix-only release.  Any time something is changed in software, there is a risk of something else breaking.  With some programs, data loss may not be possible, just a failure of functionality.  But with software like unRAID that is directly involved in the storage of data, any change should be tested very carefully.  And this is especially true with a first beta, such as unRAID v4.3 beta 1.  I'm sure that Tom thoroughly tests every version before he releases it, but he cannot possibly test every permutation of hardware and usage.  That is true for small developers, and just as true for the largest such as Microsoft.  Software is generally tested thoroughly internally, then released to a select group of beta testers, then to wider and wider groups, until finally released to all.  There are some kinds of problems that will only show up after the widest possible release, or with the passage of more time.

 

Just because access to a beta is available to you, does not mean that it is right for you.  A beta tester is an individual who understands and accepts the risk, and will use it accordingly with non-critical or fully backed-up data, or only on a test system, fully expecting something to go wrong including possible data loss.  If a person would like to try a beta, but is likely to complain about any failure in operation or loss of data, then that person should not be a beta tester.  A good beta tester can provide constructive and objective reports concerning improper behavior, that will improve and stabilize the following releases.

 

Rob is exactly correct. 

 

All releases of software have some amount of risk.  I'm running Vista on my laptop.  I've already had it crash on me. It has thousands of bugs that will be replaced with hundreds of bugs when SP1 is released later this year.  I took a risk when I purchased a laptop with it installed.

 

With that in mind, Tom says in his release notes that he completely re-wrote the user-share file-system.  I would be shocked if everything was perfect, and in fact, I already found one tiny issue noted above.  Fortunately, the user-share file-system is mostly just "links" to the actual files on the disk shares.  If you do not like risks, use the disk shares to test your performance.  Your risks are much smaller.

 

This release probably has a new version of samba, its developers constantly fix bugs... (and could possibly introduce new ones) The advantage there is that many more people use samba, so it gets more thoroughly tested before being included in a new release of unRaid.  This release of unRaid is on a new version of the Linux OS.  It was released as stable only a few weeks ago.  We really are on the leading edge as far as it goes.  Again, there are far more people involved in its beta-testing cycle, so odds are on our side...

 

If you cannot accept any risk with your data, then you are not a good candidate for any beta release.  Wait a week or so.

If you want to see if performance is fixed with your network card, do so using files that are not critical.  If nobody reports any critical bugs with user-shares in a few days, you can give them a try.  The risk will be much lower.

 

To make it easier to switch back I renamed my old bzroot and bzimage to bzroot.423 and bzimage.423.  I then copied the two new files from the release to my flash drive and lastly, I added three lines to the end of my syslinux.cfg file on my flash drive (highlighted below in red).  These lines allow me to boot either the old or new version of unRaid from the boot menu. 

When you rename the old files, make sure you use names that are valid 8.3 MS-DOS names.  bzimage.432 is valid, bzimage423 is NOT.

 

The original syslinux.cfg contents looked like this:

default menu.c32

menu title Lime Technology LLC

prompt 0

timeout 50

label unRAID OS

  menu default

  kernel bzimage

  append initrd=bzroot rootdelay=10

label Memtest86+

  kernel memtest

My new syslinux.cfg file looks like this... the new menu choice allows me to boot on the older 4.2.3 version of unRaid if I desire.

default menu.c32

menu title Lime Technology LLC

prompt 0

timeout 50

label unRAID OS

  menu default

  kernel bzimage

  append initrd=bzroot rootdelay=10

label Memtest86+

  kernel memtest

label unRAID version4.2.3

  kernel bzimage.423

  append initrd=bzroot.423 rootdelay=10

 

 

Joe L.

 

Edit: when I went to boot on the older release I found syslinux ignored the extra entry for the older version.  It was because I had renamed bzimage to bzimage431, and bzroot to bzroot431 and those were NOT valid MS-DOS 8.3 file-names.  I've since fixed my syslinux.cfg, and also fixed the example above to use names valid on a DOS file-system. (bzroot.423, and bzimage.423)

We're running 4.3-beta1 on our own development server & I'm running it on my own home media server.  This is the criteria we use for making a public release: if we're running it in-house, then release it!

I decided to give the beta a try, with the dualboot option Joe L. proviede

 

Thanks,

 

 

running the beta on GA-G33-DS3R, using 8 sata ports on board and the onboard LAN with no issues. I believe it is a Realtek chip.