Trouble with Preclear

[Netbug]

Hi again.

 

So I'm trying to run a pre-clear on a new 3TB drive I purchased to replace my parity drive and I'm getting confused.

 

I stopped the array. Then set the parity to "Unassigned".

 

I removed the old parity drive physically from the tower and rebooted unRAID.

 

Now in the device list, I have "Parity: Unassigned" with a dropdown showing the new drive in position "sda".

 

However, when I try to run the preclear script, I'm getting an error as follows:

 

Sorry, /dev/sda is already assigned as part of the unRAID array.

Clearing will NOT be performed.

 

I can't find any instructions on how to actually remove it from the array so that preclear will run.

 

I've just ordered a Pro license, but I'd like to get this pre-clear started tonight as it will undoubtedly take some time.

 

How do I remove sda from the array so that I can pre-clear this? 

 

Thanks.

 

unRAID Server Basic

version: 5.0-rc5

 

Log (I'm not sure why the log is so short all of a sudden...):

 

Sep 5 02:30:12 Tower emhttp: shcmd (122): /usr/local/sbin/shfs /mnt/user -disks 2097150 -o noatime,big_writes,allow_other,default_permissions,use_ino

Sep 5 02:30:12 Tower emhttp: shcmd (123): /usr/local/sbin/emhttp_event disks_mounted

Sep 5 02:30:12 Tower emhttp_event: disks_mounted

Sep 5 02:30:12 Tower emhttp: shcmd (124): :>/etc/samba/smb-shares.conf

Sep 5 02:30:12 Tower emhttp: Restart SMB...

Sep 5 02:30:12 Tower emhttp: shcmd (125): killall -HUP smbd

Sep 5 02:30:12 Tower emhttp: shcmd (126): ps axc | grep -q rpc.mountd

Sep 5 02:30:12 Tower emhttp: _shcmd: shcmd (126): exit status: 1

Sep 5 02:30:12 Tower emhttp: shcmd (127): /usr/local/sbin/emhttp_event svcs_restarted

Sep 5 02:30:12 Tower emhttp_event: svcs_restarted

[dgaschk]

Are you sure sda is correct? Enter

preclear_disk.sh -l

[Netbug]

I think so. I hate feeling like an idiot, but unRAID does that to me a lot. At least I'm learning.

 

Here's a screenshot:

 

 

after "./preclear_disk.sh -l"

 

"no un-assigned disks detected"

[Netbug]

I have no idea what's going on now.

 

I got my pro key. I reactivated the existing parity drive, but for some reason, all the letters have now moved up one and the new 3TB is still showing as sda.

 

Very confused.

[Joe L.]

I have no idea what's going on now.

 

I got my pro key. I reactivated the existing parity drive, but for some reason, all the letters have now moved up one and the new 3TB is still showing as sda.

 

Very confused.

un-assign the parity drive and THEN set a new disk configuration using "Utils->New-Config"

 

the pre-clear script will probably then let you clear it.

 

Joe L.

[Joe L.]

I have no idea what's going on now.

 

I got my pro key. I reactivated the existing parity drive, but for some reason, all the letters have now moved up one and the new 3TB is still showing as sda.

 

Very confused.

Drive device letters are assigned as the drives spin up and make themselves known to the OS when initially booting.  It is very common for them to initialize in different orders, and get different device letter assignments from one boot to the next.  unRAID uses the drive model/serial number to track the drives and match them to their logical assigned slots in the array, so it does not matter if the actual"device" names change.

 

 

The pre-clear script was written to keep you from shooting yourself in the foot.  If it thinks you still have the drive assigned or in use, it will prevent you from zeroing it.   

[Netbug]

That's got it running. Thanks, Joe; that makes it a lot clearer.

 

I've pulled the old parity and put it aside for now. So the array is running unprotected. I'll let it do the pre-clear and then assign this new 3TB as the parity. Then wipe the old 2TB parity and add it to the array.

 

Thanks again.

 

I'm sure I'll screw something else up promptly.