Hello,

 

I was hoping to hear that it's possible to use this software for a media server.  That being said, if a disk containing data is removed and then put back in later, would the drive be automatically reformatted (and thereby losing it forever)?

Hello,

 

I was hoping to hear that it's possible to use this software for a media server.  That being said, if a disk containing data is removed and then put back in later, would the drive be automatically reformatted (and thereby losing it forever)?

If you added it to an existing array without setting a new disk configuration, the data would be cleared. 

If you stopped the array, added the drive, set a new disk configuration, (immediately invalidating parity on the old configuration)

then the data would not be lost, and a new full parity calculation will occur when you start the array.

 

Hello,

 

I was hoping to hear that it's possible to use this software for a media server.  That being said, if a disk containing data is removed and then put back in later, would the drive be automatically reformatted (and thereby losing it forever)?

If you added it to an existing array without setting a new disk configuration, the data would be cleared. 

If you stopped the array, added the drive, set a new disk configuration, (immediately invalidating parity on the old configuration)

then the data would not be lost, and a new full parity calculation will occur when you start the array.

 

Ok that sounds different than what I read in the wiki.  It sounded as if you did do as you stated, it still gets automatically reformatted.  This is not the case?

Hello,

 

I was hoping to hear that it's possible to use this software for a media server.  That being said, if a disk containing data is removed and then put back in later, would the drive be automatically reformatted (and thereby losing it forever)?

If you added it to an existing array without setting a new disk configuration, the data would be cleared. 

If you stopped the array, added the drive, set a new disk configuration, (immediately invalidating parity on the old configuration)

then the data would not be lost, and a new full parity calculation will occur when you start the array.

 

Ok that sounds different than what I read in the wiki.  It sounded as if you did do as you stated, it still gets automatically reformatted.  This is not the case?

If added to an existing parity protected array... If you do NOT set a new initial disk configuration, but just assign the disk and start the array, it will be cleared to allow it to be added without re-calculating parity.  Upon starting the array you'll be presented a "Format" button to allow you to format the newly cleared drive.

If added to an existing parity protected array,and you DO set a new initial disk configuration, if it has a valid, recognized reiserfs exactly as unRAID would create, it will not be cleared, but instead parity will be immediately invalidated and upon starting of the array, parity will be completely re-calculated by reading all the data disks, including the newly added one complete with its data.

 

Joe L.

Thanks for the descriptive reply.  So is this type of behavior also applicable to other linux-based servers, or is it special to just UnRAID?

It's just unRAID. Generally speaking, it is not suitable to be pulling and replacing the drives in the protected array. Once installed, an array disk should always stay installed.

 

You can setup the server so that you can add and remove an extra drive and also share that drives contents over the network. You weren't very clear why you asked the question. There is a plugin called SNAP that would do this automatically every time the drive is added back to the server. This drive or drives would not be protected against failure.

 

Peter

 

Hello,

 

I was hoping to hear that it's possible to use this software for a media server.  That being said, if a disk containing data is removed and then put back in later, would the drive be automatically reformatted (and thereby losing it forever)?

 

I'm working through my own issues, but it was my understanding that unRAID was DESIGNED to be a media server. It's the perfect solution theoretically with it's expandability and parity protection.