It would be nice if UNRAID had a "Replace Disk(s)" wizard that can be invoked by the user and will walk them through disk replacement step by step, either using https://docs.unraid.net/legacy/FAQ/replacing-a-data-drive/ or https://docs.unraid.net/legacy/FAQ/parity-swap-procedure/

 

It could even go a step further by allowing replacing a (failed) disk with a smaller disk (aslong as the used space is smaller than the capacity of the new drive) by either redistributing the failed disk data through the rest of the array or asking the user on which unassigned disk to temporarily store the data

 

ref: https://discord.com/channels/216281096667529216/780505064816246834/1362067894288257104

Edited April 16, 20251 yr by Bluscream

14 minutes ago, Bluscream said:

replacing a (failed) disk with a smaller disk

You can't actually do that. Parity doesn't know or care about files. The only way you could do that is New Config and rebuild parity. Which means you wouldn't be rebuilding the replaced disks data onto the replacement.

 

There are a number of things to consider. Why did the disk fail? (often not a bad disk at all). Is the disk to be replaced or rebuilt unmountable? Is desired replacement disk larger than parity? Other things that don't immediately spring to mind but I'm sure I have encountered from users over the years.

 

The documentation addresses a lot of this, but I realize it is a lot.

 

A wizard would just make it easier for someone who didn't know about all that (or didn't want to be bothered) to make mistakes leading to data loss.

 

So it is better to ask for help if you don't already know about all that.

16 minutes ago, Bluscream said:

or https://docs.unraid.net/legacy/FAQ/parity-swap-procedure/

No need to go to legacy docs for that. Here is is:

https://docs.unraid.net/unraid-os/manual/storage-management/#parity-swap