Hi I have been looking into setting up an unRaid server, and it looks great, but I have two questions.

1.If the parity drive fails then what ??

2.If I use drives with data already on them will I loose it ?

Hi I have been looking into setting up an unRaid server, and it looks great, but I have two questions.

1.If the parity drive fails then what ??

2.If I use drives with data already on them will I loose it ?

If the parity drive fails, then the array will continue to run unprotected until you replace the parity drive.

You will still be able to read and write to the data disks as usual without a parity drive.  If a data disk were to fail while the parity drive was missing/defective, then the data on that failed disk would be lost (obviously, this depends on the failure of the data disk.  A failed sector might mean a single file is lost or incomplete, a crashed head would lost much more, a drive motor or electronics failure would result in no data from the failed drive)

 

All you need to do if the parity drive has failed is to replace it as soon as practical. This will keep the array protected from another disk failing at the same time. Two failed disks at the same time cause the loss of data on the both the first and second failed disks.  The replacement parity drive can be any drive, PATA or SATA, as long as it is as big, or bigger than the largest of your data drives.

 

To answer your second question... You can re-use existing data drives.  If they already have data on them, that data will be cleared before unRaid reformats the disk. (in clearing a drive unRaid writes zeros to every byte, on every sector, on every cylinder, on every head) If you do not want to lose the data, you must copy it elsewhere before you assign the disk to the unRaid array.  One tiny exception... If the disk happens to have a reiserfs (reiser File-System) it will not be cleared. It can be added without reformatting.  Unless you are currently running linux, you do not have a reiserfs on your disk. 

 

You can install an existing NTFS or FAT disk with data in the unRaid enclosure, NOT assign it on the Devices assignment page, and get access to its data to copy to a drive that is assigned to your unRaid array.  Once the data is copied, you can then assign the old drive to the array and it will be cleared/formatted so you can re-use it for data.

 

Joe L.

 

 

Great!! Then I will try it.

Thanks