I've read quite a few posts on preclear and don't know which is the most current or which one applies to my scenario.

 

I have a WD 2 TB drive that I want to use for data. I've already installed one 2TB drive for parity and ready to install this one for data. I'm not sure if I need jumpers or not. Where's the preclear scrip living in the version I use now - 5.0B14.

 

Thanks

Do not add jumpers. Set the Default partition format to "4K-aligned" in Disk Settings under the Settings tab. Pre-clear to your hearts content.

Where's the preclear scrip living in the version I use now - 5.0B14.

 

It's nowhere until you download it and store it.  The first post on this thread gives the download link (at the end of the post) and describes pretty much everything you need to run it.

thanks for the help.

This thread...

 

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=2817.0

 

(Sorry - too tired)

FYI

 

I just set up my first unraid server and went through the same dilemmas as you.

 

The conclusions I reached on this topic are:

 

1) Advanced format drives were a problem in the past, but now the latest stable and betas support advanced format

2) You cannot mix and match advanced format and regular formatting

3) One option is to have all drives with regular formatting (requires use of a jumper on adv format drives)

4) OR, you can do advanced format on all your drives (advanced format on older drives does not cause any problems)

 

I went with adv format on all. You just have to change the setting in unraid web interface. After changing the setting, preclear script will automatically use -A option to use advanced format on all future preclears. Make sure you preclear any drives that you had previously added to your array again (unless the -A option was already used) (and keep in mind that the preclear will completely wipe the drives)

 

The reason I didn't do the jumper/old formatting is because, most of the newer harddrives are adv format, and some don't even come with jumpers. It is better to start your array with all adv format to prevent future problems.

 

For help with preclearing multiple drives at the same time, see this thread about screen: http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php?title=Configuration_Tutorial#Preclearing_With_Screen

1) Advanced format drives were a problem in the past, but now the latest stable and betas support advanced format

Correct

2) You cannot mix and match advanced format and regular formatting

Not correct, I am running a number of drives under 5.0b6a with mixed formatting

3) One option is to have all drives with regular formatting (requires use of a jumper on adv format drives)

true, but not necessarily needed

4) OR, you can do advanced format on all your drives (advanced format on older drives does not cause any problems)

True

I stand corrected :-)

 

Thanks for the clarification.

 

Do you know if having a mix and match of adv and reg causes problems in 4.7? Because I kind of remember reading that it did, but I did so much reading in the last two weeks (a lot of contradictory statements too due to the dates they were written, because things always change) that my brain turned to soup

Should not make any difference.  I know I ran 4.7 with mixed drives for a while until I updated my production server to 5.0b6a

I stand corrected :-)

 

Thanks for the clarification.

 

Do you know if having a mix and match of adv and reg causes problems in 4.7? Because I kind of remember reading that it did, but I did so much reading in the last two weeks (a lot of contradictory statements too due to the dates they were written, because things always change) that my brain turned to soup

There is no problem with any mix of any drives formatted in any way.

 

The ONLY issue is a bug in 4.7 which, if you have to re-create your super.dat, will re-create the MBR on existing disks based on the current "default" setting.    The result is it appears as if your disks are un-formatted, when it is just the MBR partition start that needs correcting.

 

You need to record how you configured your drives, so you can assign them to the same slots in the array and possibly set their MBR back as they were if you need to re-create the super.bat file.    This advice applies regardless if AF or not, mixed or drives or not.