[SOLVED] Changing from 3 Disk unraid array to a 2 Disk Unraid Array

[vj]

I am using unraid 4.5.4. I have an IDE hard drive fail on me. I tried replacing the drive but each time the rebuild of the new disk was failing (actually, the unraid server was hanging up). I first thought the issue was with the disks. So, I tried replacing the IDE drives, but that didnt work. Then I bought a SIL3132 2 port sata card and added an existing 750 GB SATA hard drive. But, again during rebuild, unraid server was hanging.

 

So, a friend suggested doing a preclear on the disk before the rebuild. So, I took the disk out from the array and tried pre-clearing it. The preclear_disk.sh would run for about 30 minutes and then the server would hang. Now, I am able to read the data from my disks, but my array is unprotected. But, I had only recently added the 3 disk to my array. It turns out that the way, I had defined my shares, everything was only being written to disk1 and disk2 and disk3 was empty.

 

I want to upgrade to the latest version of unraid on a new server, but, I am afraid of doing it without having a correct unraid array. So, I would like to change my array from using 3 disks to 2 disks. From previous posts (http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=16800.0), I see we can do that, but, does not tell me how to do it. Rather than mess up my already shaking unraid server, could someone tell me exactly how to go about doing this?

 

I have attached my syslog and the smartctl output for the failing drive.

 

Thanks!

 

VJ

syslog-2011-11-24.txt

smartctl_for_failing_drive.txt

[cpshoemake]

http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php?title=FAQ#How_do_I_remove_a_hard_disk_that_I_do_not_plan_on_replacing.3F

[vj]

Thank you very much. I was able to successfully convert to a 2 disk unraid array following the instructions in your link.

 

BTW, I think the issue was with my new 2 port SATA card. While rebuilding the parity drive, the unraid server was still hanging. So, finally, I went back to my old 1 port SATA card and then the parity rebuild went through successfully.

 

Thanks!

 

VJ

[cpshoemake]

No problem. Glad you worked it out.