Question about PreClear & Disabling Parity for 1st Transfer

[newoski]

Hey Guys,

 

Excitedly awaiting my new server from Greenleaf. I get the impression that everyone already knows this, but those guys are awesome!!

 

That said, I have 2 questions Unraid. 

 

1. I'll be adding a few additional drives to my Array. I understand how to configure the preclear by adding "-A -c 3" to the command, however...

 

What happens after it completes the first

 

Do I need to manually tell it to start the 2nd and 3rd pass?

Does the preclear proccess auto run 3 times, generating 3 unique reports?

Does it create one report for the 3 passes?

 

2. The server is shipping configured with (1) 2TB Parity / (1) 2TB Cache / (4) 2TB Data Drives.

To get the fastest speed during the initial transfer, I understand that I should do the following:

- disable parity (by unassigning the drive)

- transfer files

- enable parity (by reassigning the drive)

- allow system to create Parity

- Run Parity Check to confirm

 

Should I also unassign the 2TB Cache drive prior to the initial 8TB transfer?

 

Thanks for your help!

 

These forums have been amazingly helpful

[xformulax]

"-c 3" tells it to run 3 cycles... it will run all 3 without any user input... probably 60-90 hours per 2tb drive, depending on your configuration.

 

at the start of your preclear a smart report is taken, your 3 cycles will run before the final smart report is taken, and before the data is compared (so you'll get one report, not 3).

 

You can do your initial transfer before enabling parity, but you're obviously unprotected, so you'll want to copy your content (rather than MOVE) so that if something goes wrong you aren't missing any data.  You can use your cache drive, you'll perceive some performance boosting, and copying 8tb is rather lengthy (new install and moving between 6 and 8 TB myself)

[newoski]

Thanks for the thorough reply, i really appreciate it!!