Replace all disk in an array without loosing cache and settings

[Hugs11]

Hey there,

I am currently switching to Unraid from a NAS Synology.
I wanted to experiment Unraid first and get familiar with it before shutting down my Synology and transfer my HDD's to my new Unraid NAS

My current Unraid array is the following :
1 array of 2 old HDD(no parity) (in xfs) and using an 2 To Nvme as cache
Everything thing is set to go on the cache at the moment (appdata / domainssaved / system / personal share)

Can i replace the 2 old HDD from my Unraid server with 2 HDD from my NAS synology without loosing every settings, dockers and virtual machine i have set up in Unraid ? can i avoid re-doing everything from scratch ?

Thx

[Bfox135]

Depends.
If all the data is on the cache drives and nothing is on the xfs array then go for it cause as far as you are concerned nothing is on those drives.

You would just have to recreate the xfs.

if xfs is set for Raid 1. then you can just replace one drive at a time and let them rebuild.

If the xfs is raid 0 then you would need to set up a parity drive to hold a copy of the data while you swap each drive one at a time.

 

any internal unraid settings\configurations are stored on the USB.
 

[JorgeB]

12 hours ago, Hugs11 said:

Can i replace the 2 old HDD from my Unraid server with 2 HDD from my NAS synology without loosing every settings, dockers and virtual machine i have set up in Unraid ? can i avoid re-doing everything from scratch ?

 

Assuming all Docker and VM files are on the pool, and you can confirm in the Shares page, you can do a new config and keep only the pool.

[Hugs11]

10 hours ago, Bfox135 said:

If the xfs is raid 0 then you would need to set up a parity drive to hold a copy of the data while you swap each drive one at a time.

 

The 2 hard drive part i want to replace are in raid 0 without parity

 

 

1 hour ago, JorgeB said:

 

Assuming all Docker and VM files are on the pool, and you can confirm in the Shares page, you can do a new config and keep only the pool.

They are only on the cache pool for now.
So i can just remove the old HDD install the new one, go on the main tab, create a new array with the new disk and set the existing cache pool without formating it and i should keep everything?

(sry if its sound dumb questions, but i'm not familiar yet with Unraid behavior and i'm not an it expert!)

Thx again for the support

[JorgeB]

6 minutes ago, Hugs11 said:

So i can just remove the old HDD install the new one, go on the main tab, create a new array with the new disk and set the existing cache pool without formating it and i should keep everything?

Yes, but as mentioned you need to do a new config (Tools - New Config)

[Bfox135]

6 hours ago, Hugs11 said:

The 2 hard drive part i want to replace are in raid 0 without parity

 

 

They are only on the cache pool for now.
So i can just remove the old HDD install the new one, go on the main tab, create a new array with the new disk and set the existing cache pool without formating it and i should keep everything?

(sry if its sound dumb questions, but i'm not familiar yet with Unraid behavior and i'm not an it expert!)

Thx again for the support

That's correct, The cache is separate from the array.
You assign the cache to the Shares instead of the the Array Itself. Data is only moved onto the array if.

1. The Share is set to be on the array.
2. The Cache is set to dump data onto the array. (Primary Storage "cache" => Secondary Storage "Array")

You can also set the share to skip the Cache all together (Primary Storage "Array")