Hi,

 

I’m considering upgrading my Unraid system. Currently, I have:

 

• 2 × 14TB drives (one used for parity)
• 3 × 8TB drives
• 1 × 6TB drive

 

I was originally planning to upgrade with more 14TB drives, but I’ve come across 24TB drives and am considering using those instead.

 

If I purchase two 24TB drives, what would be the correct process for upgrading? I’ve never replaced drives before, so I’d appreciate some guidance. Should I run a parity check beforehand to ensure everything is up to date and then replace the 6TB drive with a 24TB one? Or is there a specific order that works best when upgrading storage?

 

Do I need to manually transfer data from the old drive, or will the parity drive handle that automatically?

 

What’s the best approach for replacing multiple drives, given that my case only has space for six drives?

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks 🙂

You would have to upgrade parity drives first as no data drive can be larger than the smallest parity drive.

3 minutes ago, itimpi said:

You would have to upgrade parity drives first as no data drive can be larger than the smallest parity drive.

OK, so that would mean removing the 14TB parity drive and replace with the 24TB, then run a parity check, once that is done then replace the 6TB drive?

 

Is that correct or am I over complicating it?

Parity check is optional, but it would be safer.

5 hours ago, JorgeB said:

Parity check is optional, but it would be safer.

OK, I would do a parity check to be safe.

 

So, the process I said above would be correct?

 

Also, when replacing a drive that isn't parity, do I copy over the data or does the parity drive handle that?

Yes, and Unraid will rebuild the new disk with the same data that it had before, but keep the old disk intact during the rebuild just in case.

8 minutes ago, JorgeB said:

Yes, and Unraid will rebuild the new disk with the same data that it had before, but keep the old disk intact during the rebuild just in case.

Awesome!

 

Thanks for the help

18 hours ago, matt3 said:

replace with the 24TB, then run a parity check

Just in case there is some confusion, when you replace parity, a full parity rebuild on the replacement disk will happen. If you want to do a parity check after that fine.

9 minutes ago, trurl said:

Just in case there is some confusion, when you replace parity, a full parity rebuild on the replaced disk will happen. If you want to do a parity check after that fine.

Oh OK I wasn't aware of that.

 

Does it matter if new files are added whilst the rebuild is happening?

39 minutes ago, matt3 said:

Does it matter if new files are added whilst the rebuild is happening?

Parity will be maintained, but disk access will slow down rebuild, and rebuild will slow down disk access.

20 minutes ago, trurl said:

Parity will be maintained, but disk access will slow down rebuild, and rebuild will slow down disk access.

OK that's fine.

 

Thanks for letting me know.