I currently have roughly five terabytes worth of assorted media stored on two harddrives (2TB and 3TB respectively), without any sort of parity. Now, as I recently came into some money I would like to remedy that and create a proper environment for my data, which brings me to my question:

 

How will I get my current 5TB of data, which currently lies smack-bang on the two drives, to some new unRAID array? Unfortunately I haven't got a separate system to install unRAID on, so I cannot experiment.

 

Currently my thoughts are as follows (without any hands-on knowledge, mind you):

[*]Purchase one more 3TB drive (which I would require regardless if I wish to have some sort of parity).

[*]Take my two current drives out of the system, install unRAID and configure the new 3TB drive as an array without parity (for now).

[*]Connect the old 3TB drive to unRAID via eSATA and transfer all of its media to the new array (whether this is possible I don't know, just brainstorming).

[*]Take the now empty 3TB drive and have it become a second drive in the unRAID array, since my data is now secure on the new 3TB drive.

[*]Do the same with the 2TB drive (transfer data, format and make it a third array drive).

[*]Now, with all disks in the array and all of the data on the disks, simply make one of the disks a parity disk and I'm set.

 

So, as to why I am posting this: is the above a valid train of thought? Is there some better way of achieving my goal that I am not aware of due to not having done it before? Keep in mind that I wish to invest in only one more drive for the moment, if possible.

 

Thanks.

Do you have an additional PC?

 

It would be easier to do the copy of data from that machine over the network (if you have) to unRAID rather than mount the drives internally for the transfer.

For internal copying you would need to install SNAP plugin and maybe some other plugins.

 

What file system is currently on your data drives?

 

Thanks for the swift response!

 

I will have, or can at least procure access to, a second computer when I make the move, yes, so network transfer shouldn't be an obstacle. I wonder though, won't that make the transfer more than a little bit slower?

 

The two drives are currently formatted as NTFS, though if I do transfer the data over the network I suppose that matters little, correct?

 

Is there anything more I ought to keep in mind, and do you reckon my one-extra-drive routine would work as I imagine?

 

Edit: should I worry about the U3 (and similar) nonsense some flash drives bother with?

If you have Gigabit Ethernet end-to-end then speed should not be an obstacle.

 

If you copy over the network then NTFS will not be an issue.

 

your one-drive routine should work fine, although there will be a danger area between when you complete the data copying until parity calculation is finished - But that is your situation today as well.

 

regarding U3, I have no idea. Some manufacturers supply a SW tool that can erase the presence of U3.

Why not buy a simple flash drive without U3? it is less than $10 only maybe even below $5.

 

 

your one-drive routine should work fine, although there will be a danger area between when you complete the data copying until parity calculation is finished - But that is your situation today as well.

 

That's good enough for me, thanks!

 

Why not buy a simple flash drive without U3? it is less than $10 only maybe even below $5.

 

Two reasons: Firstly I would prefer some 'nicer' drive for the sake of peace of mind: I'll feel better knowing SanDisk or equivalent cherry picked the flash rather than some obscure company I've never heard of. Secondly I would want to ensure that the drive hasn't got the trailing zeroes in its GUID, ensuring a swifter transaction if ever I upgrade my unRAID installation.

 

Given this I figured something like a SanDisk Cruzer of some description would fit my needs (they're even recommended my Lime Technology according to the wiki), but most of them seem to have some software preinstalled.

 

Thank you dearly either way! I will mark the thread as [solved] for good measure. Cheers!

I currently have roughly five terabytes worth of assorted media stored on two harddrives (2TB and 3TB respectively), without any sort of parity. Now, as I recently came into some money I would like to remedy that and create a proper environment for my data, which brings me to my question:

 

How will I get my current 5TB of data, which currently lies smack-bang on the two drives, to some new unRAID array? Unfortunately I haven't got a separate system to install unRAID on, so I cannot experiment.

 

Currently my thoughts are as follows (without any hands-on knowledge, mind you):

[*]Purchase one more 3TB drive (which I would require regardless if I wish to have some sort of parity).

[*]Take my two current drives out of the system, install unRAID and configure the new 3TB drive as an array without parity (for now).

[*]Connect the old 3TB drive to unRAID via eSATA and transfer all of its media to the new array (whether this is possible I don't know, just brainstorming).

[*]Take the now empty 3TB drive and have it become a second drive in the unRAID array, since my data is now secure on the new 3TB drive.

[*]Do the same with the 2TB drive (transfer data, format and make it a third array drive).

[*]Now, with all disks in the array and all of the data on the disks, simply make one of the disks a parity disk and I'm set.

 

So, as to why I am posting this: is the above a valid train of thought? Is there some better way of achieving my goal that I am not aware of due to not having done it before? Keep in mind that I wish to invest in only one more drive for the moment, if possible.

 

Thanks.

 

My take on 'how to do this' would be this:

 

1) Run a Preclear on the new drive.  This will take couple of days.  IF everything is OK, proceed. Otherwise, do another Preclear cycle.  (You can't afford an early drive failure!!!!)

 

2) Install unraid and set up the new 3TB drive in a data only array.

 

3) Copy the contents of the 2TB drive to the array.

 

4) Add  the 2Tb drive into the array.  Set up a user share using both drives. 

 

5) Copy the contents of the 3TB drive to the array.  This will put the contents of the 3TB on both drives.

 

6) Install the old 3TB drive as the new parity drive.

 

My procedure will use one less copy operation as the parity drive MUST be as big as (or bigger) than the any of the data drives.

Fair enough! Thanks, Frank1940!

 

The note about the Preclear seems very sensible. I take it (from having read the cache drive guide in which its touched upon) that Preclears are done from within unRAID?

Why not buy a simple flash drive without U3? it is less than $10 only maybe even below $5.

Two reasons: Firstly I would prefer some 'nicer' drive for the sake of peace of mind: I'll feel better knowing SanDisk or equivalent cherry picked the flash rather than some obscure company I've never heard of. Secondly I would want to ensure that the drive hasn't got the trailing zeroes in its GUID, ensuring a swifter transaction if ever I upgrade my unRAID installation.

For both of the reasons you mentioned, and a couple of others (you might not have contemplated yet), I recommend the Kingston MobileLite G2 reader. You will find many posts here extolling its virtues.

 

Amazon has a good price right now on Kingston's G2+4GB SD card package-deal[link] for $9 shipped.

 

For both of the reasons you mentioned, and a couple of others (you might not have contemplated yet), I recommend the Kingston MobileLite G2 reader. You will find many posts here extolling its virtues.

 

Noted, thank you! Feel free to share some of the reasons; I am eager to learn. Any thoughts on its successor, the MobileLite G3 (the second item on Kingston's readers page)? I understand the speeds due to USB3 will do little but aid start up times, but I thought I might as well ask.