adding disk after purchasing license question

[JustinChase]

I've been using unRAID for a few months now, and have decided to purchase a Pro license.

 

I just received the key, and added a disk to the array.

 

Sorry, let me back up a bit.  When I was first setting up unRAID, I pre-cleared 4 3TB drives at the same time.  It took about 45 hours to finish.

 

With the free license, I could only use 3 of those 4 drives obviously.  The 4th of those drives is the one I just added to the array.  however, it's currently clearing that drive, and after about 10 minutes, it's 2% done.  It seems like it might not be another 45 hours, but regardless, I didn't expect it to have to clear it at all.

 

So, why is it clearing this drive again?

 

How can I safely stop the process?  I'd prefer to do it another time if the array needs to be down for this to happen.

 

I think I'd read that there is a way to pre-clear a drive outside of the running array, is that correct, and how can I do that?

 

Finally, unrelated to all that, I have an IDE 200Gb drive installed in this box, and I'm wondering if this would make an acceptable cache drive, or is that a bad idea due to IDE vs. SATA?

 

Thanks for any help.  I'm kinda stuck until I figure out how to safely stop the clearing of the new drive, and the wife isn't impressed that she can't watch TV until this finishes; whoops

[dgaschk]

Enter control-c to stop the pre-clear. Are there pre-clear reports in /boot/preclear_reports?

[Joe L.]

Enter control-c to stop the pre-clear. Are there pre-clear reports in /boot/preclear_reports?

I don't think he is using the preclear script.  He did discover why the preclear script was developed... (and I did it when large  disks were 500Gig, not 2TB)

 

To stop the clearing of the newl added disk he will have to reboot the server. (basically push the reset button) as I know of no other way to stop emhttp when it is doing the clearing.

 

When he re-starts the array, it will just do the clearing once more unless he sets a new disk configuration and invalidates parity. (forcing it to be re-calculated when he next starts the array)

 

Strongly suggest taking wife out to dinner, and perhaps a movie.  Let the "clear" complete.  (don't interrupt it)  Then, when time is on your side,  learn about the preclear_disk.sh script.  It will prevent the long down-time the next time you add a drive to your array.

 

Joe L.

[dgaschk]

I see that Joe is correct.

 

But JustinChase said:

Sorry, let me back up a bit.  When I was first setting up unRAID, I pre-cleared 4 3TB drives at the same time.  It took about 45 hours to finish.

 

The question is, why is the disk not recognized as being cleared?

[JustinChase]

The question is, why is the disk not recognized as being cleared?

 

Yeah, that's a good question.  I've attached the preclear report for this drive.

 

The only thing I can think of (and I know nothing about this stuff really) is that I switched versions.  I originally installed 5b12, and am not running 5b14.  I don't know why that should matter, but maybe it helps.

 

Hopefully a reason can be found, and another poor soul can be saved from this shocking, unpleasant surprise.

 

This morning it has finished, and is just sitting unformatted.  I'll read a bit, but I think I just need to "format" it now to incorporate it into the array, but I don't want to screw myself, so I'll read some more before proceeding.

 

As for the cache drive question.  Any reason not to use the 200Gb IDE drive?  I have a 500Gb SATA I can use, but I have to rip it out of the external case first.

 

Anyway, thanks again for the help, and let me know if you need anything else to diagnose why it didn't recognize the precleared drive last night.

preclear_start__MJ1323YNG1TLWC_2011-10-07.txt

preclear_rpt__MJ1323YNG1TLWC_2011-10-07.txt

preclear_finish__MJ1323YNG1TLWC_2011-10-07.txt

[Joe L.]

I see that Joe is correct.

 

But JustinChase said:

Sorry, let me back up a bit.  When I was first setting up unRAID, I pre-cleared 4 3TB drives at the same time.  It took about 45 hours to finish.

 

The question is, why is the disk not recognized as being cleared?

We can't tell from what you've told us.   

Did the preclear complete successfully?  (You should have the preclear reports from it in the /boot/preclear_reports directory)

Did you assign it at any point?  (that would erase the pre-clear signature)

Did you use the newest of the preclear scripts?  (earlier versions did not properly handle a 3TB drive)

Are you using one of the most recent 5.X beta versions?  (earlier ones in the 5.Xbeta  series did not properly recognize a precleared drive and cleared it anyway)

 

Joe L.

[JustinChase]

I don't recall ever assigning it, since I didn't have room for another drive until yesterday.

 

I attached the preclear reports to the last post.  The all finished fine, no errors that I saw, but you can verify that with the reports I think.  It was several months ago

 

I believe I used the newest preclear scripts at the time.  I didn't have any issues with the other drives being added when I first installed.

 

I originally installed v5b12, but upgraded to 5b14 about 6-8 weeks ago.

 

Please don't think I'm accusing anyone of anything.  I'm very appreciative of anyone that is willing to help, and Joe L. is obviously a VERY helpful individual, who's work I really appreciate.

 

Thanks again.

[Joe L.]

I don't recall ever assigning it, since I didn't have room for another drive until yesterday.

 

I attached the preclear reports to the last post.  The all finished fine, no errors that I saw, but you can verify that with the reports I think.  It was several months ago

 

I believe I used the newest preclear scripts at the time.  I didn't have any issues with the other drives being added when I first installed.

 

I originally installed v5b12, but upgraded to 5b14 about 6-8 weeks ago.

 

Please don't think I'm accusing anyone of anything.  I'm very appreciative of anyone that is willing to help, and Joe L. is obviously a VERY helpful individual, who's work I really appreciate.

 

Thanks again.

Looking at the release notes, the bug that caused unRAID to not recognize a pre-cleared 3TB disk was supposed to be fixed in 5.0beta8.  I have no idea if the bug-fix for it in 5.0beta8 was successful. (very few people are upgrading with additional 3TB drives after the initial array is configured.  I don't know if I've read of anyone who has confirmed the fix worked, but perhaps someone will chime in here and let us know it worked for them.

[JustinChase]

That makes sense.  I didn't know it ever was a bug

 

Do I need to report the (continuing?) bug to someone, if so, where?

 

The good news is that's my last 3TB drive for the foreseeable future.  (or maybe that's bad)

 

Anyway, thanks again for the help.  I'm glad it wasn't another 45 hours :)

 

The array was up and running when I left for work this morning, and I initiated a project to move some new files to the array, so I'll make sure there are no issues when I get home later.