EDITED TO ADD: Do not do this method, it will result in data loss. 

 

I have 2 Unraid servers (both legacy pro), I was using one for file storage and the other running VMs and Dockers. This was first done to use one as a "test" server to play around with VMs and Dockers and also to upgrade to the latest version early and make sure everything was OK before upgrading on my storage server. Over time I moved away from that and I want to consolidate to a single server. 

 

I recently had a drive in the one I am moving to start having SMART errors and figured I would replace that drive, do some clean up to make replacing drives easier in the future and then start moving stuff between the servers. 

 

The system is currently single parity (6TB) and the failing drive is a 6TB I have 4 14TB drive to put in there (2 for double parity) but I would like to swap out that 6TB for a 6TB to get everything running at its best rather than risk that drive finally failing completely while doing data moves etc. 

This brings me to my question

I have a 6TB in system I will be doing away with. I have been using Unbalanced to move data off that drive but it seems to use a fill up and move on method since I'd rather have it spread out among the remaining drives. Would this method work and are there any risks?

Add Disk5 to the exclude for all shares

rsync -avc --remove-source-files /mnt/disk5/shareName /mnt/user/shareName

 

I am thinking that this would move it to any disc using my highwater rules and would bypass disk5 since it is in the exclude path.

then run a find /mnt/disk5/shareName -type d -empty -delete to clear any empty directories since rsync doesn't take care of those. 

 

Once I have the drive empty I plan to stop the array - unmount -> new config

let parity run

 

At the same time I'll put that drive in the other server and start the rebuild. Once stable I'll swap the parity to a 14TB (can I add both Parity at the same time?) and once that is completed I'll add the other 2 14TB drives as new data drives and then rsync from the server being sunset to the new. 

 

Anything I'm missing or any really bad assumptions I've made?

Edited May 17, 20251 yr by elbobo
Adding warning that this will cause issues

12 hours ago, elbobo said:

Add Disk5 to the exclude for all shares

rsync -avc --remove-source-files /mnt/disk5/shareName /mnt/user/shareName

I would wait for someone else to confirm but I think this would lead to data loss.  Changing the setting for the disks to be included will only apply to new files - not existing ones.  You are always told to never mix User Shares and physical drives in the same command in the way you are trying as it can lead to data loss by the system (the Linux level is not aware of User Shares)  and ends up trying to copy a file to itself resulting in files being truncated to zero size.

 

If you are on the latest Unraid (7.1.2) then mover can also be used to empty a disk.

 

Regarding upgrading the server to 14TB parity drive, then yes you can do them at the same time but you would be unprotected until the parity rebuild completes.  If you did them one at a time you would maintain protection.  You cannot, however add the new 14TB drives as data drives until both parity drives are updated.

26 minutes ago, itimpi said:

If you are on the latest Unraid (7.1.2) then mover can also be used to empty a disk.

Yep, recommend using this, and it will respect split-level/allocation method for the shares, make sure you are on 7.1.2 though, since there was a bug with it and 7.1.0/7.1.1

 

https://docs.unraid.net/unraid-os/release-notes/7.0.0/#using-mover-to-empty-an-array-disk

Back in the olden days when it first announced that the Reiserfs was going to be removed from the Linux Kernel there was a set of instructions for converting to XFS (the only choice at the time).  I am attaching a screen capture of the rsync instructions to copy the contents of one disk onto another disk. 

 

 

A link to these instructions is found here:

 

     https://forums.unraid.net/topic/35815-re-format-xfs-on-replacement-drive-convert-from-rfs-to-xfs-discussion-only/page/40/#comment-1454446

 

Edited May 17, 20251 yr by Frank1940

Wanting to add before someone thinks about my REALLY bad idea - I did it with a directory of data I was clearing anyway and can confirm data loss is exactly what that will do. 

I am going to also edit my question with an alert at the top so no one reads the question and not the responses. 

 

Thank you all!

Edited May 17, 20251 yr by elbobo
Confusing word choices - edited for clarity