Steps to upsize parity drive?

[BigHair]

Hi All,

 

I've a system with 6x 750 GB and 3x 500 GB drives; just received new 1 TB drive I would like to use as the parity drive.

 

I think I understand the steps to replace the 750 GB parity with the new 1TB parity drive, but hoping for someone to tell me the following steps are correct. 

 

1  - Ran parity check last night, no errors.  This step not really required, but a sanity issue

2  - stop the array

3  - go to devices tab, remove parity drive from configuration

4  - power down system via "powerdown" button

5  - remove existing 750 GB parity drive, replace with new 1 TB drive

6  - power on unraid

7  - go to devices tab, assign 1TB drive as parity drive

8  - start the array with the "start" button

9  - wait for parity rebuild to complete

10 - power off array and system

11 - install 750 GB drive removed in step 5

12 - power on machine, start the array

13 - go to devices tab, add the new/old 750 GB as a data disk

14 - start the array - disk will be formatted and added to the array.

 

From the posts I've read I should never ahve ot press the "restore" button at any time during this process

 

Thanks in advance.

 

FWIW: I uses UNRAID as DVD .iso server to 2 mod'ed xbox's running XBMC;  also a ubuntu desktop running XBMC; and my live-in brother in law uses a mac version of XBMC.  Also serves as archive for gobs of family movies off of 8mm DAT tapes.  Currently not using cache drive, as I do the editing on windows box with 500 GB 'working' disk; then just start file copy before going to bed.

 

Gigabyte EP35-DS3R; 2Gb Corsair, Kingston traveller USB stick, now waiting for 1.5 TB drives to be available.

[Joe L.]

You've done your homework.

 

The steps you listed look good.  When you go to add the 750Gig drive back into the array as a data disk you will probably also need to check a checkbox indicating you wish it to clear and format the disk.

 

Once that checkbox is checked, press the "Start" button.

 

The rest is just a matter of time to let it build parity on the new parity drive, and then to clear and add the old-parity/new-data  disk.

 

You did not mention the unRAID version you are running.  You should upgrade if running one of the "beta" versions.  (4.3.3 is the most current stable version)

 

Joe L.

[SSD]

You really have 2 separate ways of approaching this.

 

1 - Treat it like you would treat any drive upgrade

2 - Treat it as a special case of upgrading the parity disk

 

What you have laid out is a procedure that would work with upgrading any disk (parity or data).  I would not remove the 750G drive in step 5, and put it back in step 11.  Just leave it hooked up in the computer and don't assign it to anything on the devices page.

 

But in your case I would not approach it that way.  What I would do is

1.  Run full parity check (done)

2.  Stop the array

3.  Power down the machine

4.  Put your 1T drive into the computer. 

5.  Power the machine back up  (It will likely start the array, unless you shuffled around what drives were attached to what ports)

6.  Stop the array (if it started)

7.  Go to the devices page, assign your new 1T drive to the parity slot and your 750G drive to the next data slot.

8.  Go to the main page, press the [Restore] button

9.  Start the array

10.  Wait for parity to be rebuilt (will take a while)

11.  When parity is completed, press the format button to format your 750G drive as a data disk

 

By waiting to press the format button on your 750G drive until after parity is successfully rebuilt, you are ensuring that the old parity disk is not written to until after the parity projection is re-enabled using your 1T drive.  So if you were to lose a data disk during the parity build (VERY unlikely, especially since you did the parity check first), you can use an advanced feature to put the old parity drive back in place and rebuild the failed data disk.

 

This will be considerably faster and no more exposure than your procedure.  Remember, this only works for the parity drive, because rebuilding the parity drive is exactly the same as rebuilding parity after the restore button is pressed.

 

Oops - Sorry Joe.  Didn't see you posted.  You may hate this procedure since it involves pressing the restore button, but it does save the time of filling up a 750G drive with binary zeros!

 

[BigHair]

Joe, bjp999:  Thanks a lot for your quick responses.

 

I saw Joe's response and immediatly proceeded with the outlines steps - currently only 5 Hrs. lefts in parity build, at about 39,000 KB/sec.

 

I wanted to move the new 750 to a new place in the case so that the physical location of the drive matches the drive number in the devices page.  The case has 3  4x3 adapters, keeping the ordering in sync makes it easier to locate a drive if/when it fails.  Could write it down, but then its something else to track.

 

Uh, I've taken screen caps of the web admin page for each step above, would be happy to post annotated copy here if someone thinks it would be usefull.

 

Thanks again...

[SSD]

I am assuming that no news means good news and that you are all upgraded!

 

I think it would be excellent if you would post a "how to" of sorts with screen shots.  Something similar was done by Joe a while back here.  To do this you have to host your pictures separately.  Respond back if you need any assistance.

 

If you put this together I will add and feature on the Best of" wiki page!

[Joe L.]

I think it would be excellent if you would post a "how to" of sorts with screen shots.

If you put this together I will add and feature on the Best of" wiki page!

I use http://www.tinypic.com/ to host the captured screen shots.  (they are part of Photobucket)

 

They do not require pre-registration, easily handle the uploaded images, and provide a link you can use to include inline in your "how to" as "[" img "]" ........... "[/" img "]"

 

Joe L.

[BigHair]

Hi All,

 

Finally a chance to contribute something back.  The steps above were used to successfully 'upsize' a parity disk from 750 GB to 1 TB; then the 750 GB was added back in as a data disk. 

 

Note: I did not follow bjp999's option of doing it a a 'special' case of upsizing the parity disk, as was not that concerned about the time taken in the upgrade.

 

The steps and associated screen caps were:

1  - Ran parity check last night, no errors.  This step not really required, but a sanity issue:

Note the system is reporting up (all green) and no errors on any drive:

 

 

2  - stop the array

Note the system is reporting Stopped, and the configuration is valid:

 

 

3  - go to devices tab, remove parity drive from configuration

First image of the device list, note parity drive exists:

 

Second image - the parity drive has been removed:

 

Third image - went back to main tab - note message that system reporting Partiy drive missing:

 

4  - power down system via "powerdown" button - sorry, no image

5  - remove existing 750 GB parity drive, replace with new 1 TB drive, 750 GB drive moved to new slot in system, but SATA cable not connected

6  - power on unraid machine

7  - go to devices tab, assign 1TB drive as parity drive

 

8  - start the array with the "start" button

Note that the "I'm sure.." checkbox had to be checked before the start button became active.

 

9  - wait for parity rebuild to complete

First image showing disks mounting:

 

Second image showing parity build in progress:

 

Alas, I don't have images for the following, but it was very straightforward - power down, re-connect the SATA cable to the 750 GB, power on the system, add the 750 to the devices tab, and up it came - the 750 GB did go thru a format stage, believe I had to check "yes".  Technically step 12 says start the array, but I think I did that just to see the system come up - the array will have to be stopped to added the 750 back in using the devices tab...

 

10 - power off array and system

11 - install 750 GB drive removed in step 5

12 - power on machine, start the array

13 - go to devices tab, add the new/old 750 GB as a data disk

14 - start the array - disk will be formatted and added to the array.

 

15 - Done, kick back with the Shiraz and enjoy the show

Final image with system before upgrading:

 

[Billped]

Nice post.

 

 

Bill

[RobJ]

A link to your very nice visual guide added to the FAQ, here.

[SSD]

Thanks BigHair!

 

Also added to the Best of the Forum!

[vca]

 

But in your case I would not approach it that way.  What I would do is

1.  Run full parity check (done)

2.  Stop the array

3.  Power down the machine

4.  Put your 1T drive into the computer. 

5.  Power the machine back up  (It will likely start the array, unless you shuffled around what drives were attached to what ports)

6.  Stop the array (if it started)

7.  Go to the devices page, assign your new 1T drive to the parity slot and your 750G drive to the next data slot.

8.  Go to the main page, press the [Restore] button

9.  Start the array

10.  Wait for parity to be rebuilt (will take a while)

11.  When parity is completed, press the format button to format your 750G drive as a data disk

 

 

I just followed this procedure and upgraded my parity disk and put the old parity disk into service as a data disk without incident using unRAID 4.3.3 Pro.

 

Regards,

 

Stephen

[SSD]

I just followed this procedure and upgraded my parity disk and put the old parity disk into service as a data disk without incident using unRAID 4.3.3 Pro.

 

Regards,

 

Stephen

 

Excellent!

[leemik]

Thank you for this post.. It was very helpful as I am in process of upsizing my parity as well..

 

I have an additional question though.. Let's say the old 750GB parity in your example is not going to be a "new" drive but is going to replace an existing 320GB drive in the array.. Do I

1. shutdown the system after the parity has been rebuilt..

2. Replace the 320 with the 750

3. turn unRAID back on and have it rebuild the drive?

 

just checking for sanity sake

 

thanks,

--mike

[Joe L.]

Thank you for this post.. It was very helpful as I am in process of upsizing my parity as well..

 

I have an additional question though.. Let's say the old 750GB parity in your example is not going to be a "new" drive but is going to replace an existing 320GB drive in the array.. Do I

1. shutdown the system after the parity has been rebuilt..

2. Replace the 320 with the 750

3. turn unRAID back on and have it rebuild the drive?

 

just checking for sanity sake

 

thanks,

--mike

Yes, it needs to be done in two steps.  First replace the parity drive with the new one, let it finish calculating the new parity.

Then, stop the array, power down, swap the old drive that was taken out for the 320GB drive and power up.

 

Make sure you use the "Start" button... (after checking the check box below it)  DO NOT USE THE BUTTON LABELED "restore"  It does not restore data, it is very badly labeled.  If you were to use it, you would throw away the data on the disk you were replacing, as parity would be calculated immediately upon start without it.

 

If your parity drive is a brand new one, I'd let it get some use for a day or two, just in case it suffer from an early failure.  In fact, I'd run a few manual parity checks too, not to find a parity error, but to exercise the new parity disk.  Then, after a few days, swap the old parity drive into place instead of the 320Gig data drive.

 

Joe L.

[leemik]

Ok thanks Joe.. The new parity just finished rebuilding this morning.. but I guess I'll take this time to upgrade from 4.3.3 to 4.4 and use the system over the weekend .. run a parity check on Monday before switching the two drives

 

--mike

[sonofdbn]

1  - Ran parity check last night, no errors.  This step not really required, but a sanity issue

2  - stop the array

3  - go to devices tab, remove parity drive from configuration

4  - power down system via "powerdown" button

5  - remove existing 750 GB parity drive, replace with new 1 TB drive

6  - power on unraid

7  - go to devices tab, assign 1TB drive as parity drive

8   - start the array with the "start" button

9  - wait for parity rebuild to complete

10 - power off array and system

11 - install 750 GB drive removed in step 5

12 - power on machine, start the array

13 - go to devices tab, add the new/old 750 GB as a data disk

14 - start the array - disk will be formatted and added to the array.

 

What's the reason for Step 3? I've upsized my parity drive a number of times, and I think that all I've done in the past is replace the parity drive with a larger one and restart. I'm about to do it again, so I'd like to make sure I'm not missing out on something.

[Joe L.]

It would probably work as you said, just to replace it.  Un-assigning it would be important if the person had left the old parity drive connected in the server, and were going to assign it as a data drive later in the upgrade process. 

 

In any case, I know you do not need to un-assign a data drive when it is upgraded or replaced, so I'm guessing your sanity is safe as you upgraded your parity drive.

 

Joe L.

[RobJ]

If you don't un-assign the old drive in step 3, then you are by default un-assigning it in step 7 when you change the assignment from the old to the new drive.  Both should be fine, essentially equivalent.

[boof]

Apologies for bumping an old thread - but I've just followed the procedure outlined to upgrade my parity drive and install the old parity as a data disk.

 

Worked as advertised with no problems.

 

So a cheeky bump to say thanks very much for the guide - very very helpful.

[Seven]

1  - Ran parity check last night, no errors.  This step not really required, but a sanity issue

2  - stop the array

3  - go to devices tab, remove parity drive from configuration

4  - power down system via "powerdown" button

5  - remove existing 750 GB parity drive, replace with new 1 TB drive

6  - power on unraid

7  - go to devices tab, assign 1TB drive as parity drive

8   - start the array with the "start" button

9  - wait for parity rebuild to complete

10 - power off array and system

11 - install 750 GB drive removed in step 5

12 - power on machine, start the array

13 - go to devices tab, add the new/old 750 GB as a data disk

14 - start the array - disk will be formatted and added to the array.

 

Another cheeky bump here... 

 

I just followed this procedure to upgrade my parity drive and it worked perfectly. 

 

One minor point of clarification: line 12 should be "power on machine, STOP the array..."  Not sure if this is the default for everyone but when I power on my unRAID system the array starts automatically once unRAID boots up. 

 

Anyways, great post!

[Joe L.]

One minor point of clarification: line 12 should be "power on machine, STOP the array..." 

Very true. Good clarification.  Can't assign drives with the array started. You must STOP the array first.

[mcs]

 

But in your case I would not approach it that way.  What I would do is

1.  Run full parity check (done)

2.  Stop the array

3.  Power down the machine

4.  Put your 1T drive into the computer. 

5.  Power the machine back up  (It will likely start the array, unless you shuffled around what drives were attached to what ports)

6.  Stop the array (if it started)

7.  Go to the devices page, assign your new 1T drive to the parity slot and your 750G drive to the next data slot.

8.  Go to the main page, press the [Restore] button

9.  Start the array

10.  Wait for parity to be rebuilt (will take a while)

11.  When parity is completed, press the format button to format your 750G drive as a data disk

 

By waiting to press the format button on your 750G drive until after parity is successfully rebuilt, you are ensuring that the old parity disk is not written to until after the parity projection is re-enabled using your 1T drive.  So if you were to lose a data disk during the parity build (VERY unlikely, especially since you did the parity check first), you can use an advanced feature to put the old parity drive back in place and rebuild the failed data disk.

 

This will be considerably faster and no more exposure than your procedure.  Remember, this only works for the parity drive, because rebuilding the parity drive is exactly the same as rebuilding parity after the restore button is pressed.

 

 

Will this approach work under 5.0-rc11, substituting [New Config] for [Restore]?

Thanks

[Joe L.]

 

But in your case I would not approach it that way.  What I would do is

1.  Run full parity check (done)

2.  Stop the array

3.  Power down the machine

4.  Put your 1T drive into the computer. 

5.  Power the machine back up  (It will likely start the array, unless you shuffled around what drives were attached to what ports)

6.  Stop the array (if it started)

7.  Go to the devices page, assign your new 1T drive to the parity slot and your 750G drive to the next data slot.

8.  Go to the main page, press the [Restore] button

9.  Start the array

10.  Wait for parity to be rebuilt (will take a while)

11.  When parity is completed, press the format button to format your 750G drive as a data disk

 

By waiting to press the format button on your 750G drive until after parity is successfully rebuilt, you are ensuring that the old parity disk is not written to until after the parity projection is re-enabled using your 1T drive.  So if you were to lose a data disk during the parity build (VERY unlikely, especially since you did the parity check first), you can use an advanced feature to put the old parity drive back in place and rebuild the failed data disk.

 

This will be considerably faster and no more exposure than your procedure.  Remember, this only works for the parity drive, because rebuilding the parity drive is exactly the same as rebuilding parity after the restore button is pressed.

 

 

Will this approach work under 5.0-rc11, substituting [New Config] for [Restore]?

Thanks

yes.

[mcs]

Just confirming this approach was successful with rc11.

 

[sketchy]

Just confirming this approach was successful with rc11.

 

+1