Greetings,

 

I'm about to do my first data disk upgrade - replacing 500Gb with a 1Tb.  The manual explains this is a fairly easy task - allowing the system to rebuild the new disk.  I've read the posts I can find about this for extra info etc.

 

My question here is - can I still use the system to watch my media while this is taking place?

 

Also, I'm aware this is a lengthy process.  Can someone give me an idea of the time it will take - or does it depend on the number of disks, the size of the replaced disk etc?  Will it be longer than a parity check (my last one took 15 hours with 13 data drives).

 

There has been some discussion on rebuild versus copying.  Is the faster solution to re-assign the existing disk to a new slot, format the new 1Tb disk, then copy the data across.  I'm not running the latest release so don't have MC installed. Is one solution better than the other?

 

Finally - one small H/W question - does anyone have experience mounting HDD's on their side (vertically)?  My case is full with 14 HDD's but there is space to mount 2 more drives on the floor of the case (Easier if they are mounted on their side)

 

Thx for your help.

Greetings,

 

I'm about to do my first data disk upgrade - replacing 500Gb with a 1Tb.  The manual explains this is a fairly easy task - allowing the system to rebuild the new disk.  I've read the posts I can find about this for extra info etc.

 

My question here is - can I still use the system to watch my media while this is taking place?

Yes,  you can.

Also, I'm aware this is a lengthy process.  Can someone give me an idea of the time it will take - or does it depend on the number of disks, the size of the replaced disk etc?  Will it be longer than a parity check (my last one took 15 hours with 13 data drives).

It will take about the same time as a parity check.

There has been some discussion on rebuild versus copying.  Is the faster solution to re-assign the existing disk to a new slot, format the new 1Tb disk, then copy the data across.  I'm not running the latest release so don't have MC installed. Is one solution better than the other?

The clear of a 1TB drive and subsequent rebuild will take many  many hours, during the clearing process the array will not be able to serve files.  This is not your best option.

 

Also, is  there a reason you have not upgraded to the current release of unRAID?  What version unRAID are you running?

Finally - one small H/W question - does anyone have experience mounting HDD's on their side (vertically)?  My case is full with 14 HDD's but there is space to mount 2 more drives on the floor of the case (Easier if they are mounted on their side)

 

Thx for your help.

Many hard disks are mounted on their sides... there should be no problem at all.

 

Joe L.

Greetings,

 

I'm about to do my first data disk upgrade - replacing 500Gb with a 1Tb.  The manual explains this is a fairly easy task - allowing the system to rebuild the new disk.  I've read the posts I can find about this for extra info etc.

 

My question here is - can I still use the system to watch my media while this is taking place?

 

I am not sure but I think that you can.  Some report studdering while trying to watch movies while doing parity checks.  I (personally) would leave the array alone and let this complete without trying to use it at the same time.  If you want to watch a movie or something, copy it to your workstation and watch from there.

 

Also, I'm aware this is a lengthy process.  Can someone give me an idea of the time it will take - or does it depend on the number of disks, the size of the replaced disk etc?  Will it be longer than a parity check (my last one took 15 hours with 13 data drives).

 

I would expect that the rebuild would take a little longer than a parity check.  It is equivalent to a parity build, which reads all the disks but one, and writes the one.  (A parity check just reads all the disks).

 

There has been some discussion on rebuild versus copying.  Is the faster solution to re-assign the existing disk to a new slot, format the new 1Tb disk, then copy the data across.  I'm not running the latest release so don't have MC installed. Is one solution better than the other?

 

If you are going to remove the disk from the array, rebuilding it is probably the fastest way.  If you added the disk, then copied the data over, you'd then have to remove the old disk and rebuild parity anyway.

 

Finally - one small H/W question - does anyone have experience mounting HDD's on their side (vertically)?  My case is full with 14 HDD's but there is space to mount 2 more drives on the floor of the case (Easier if they are mounted on their side)

 

Thx for your help.

 

Yes, mounting vertically is okay.  I think there is a preferred way (left side or right side), but I foget which (search Google and you'll find out).  I actually wanted to mount a drive upside down, and found that that is okay also.  Here is an interesting thread on the topic http://mod.vault9.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=14942

Thx very much for the help.  I've never done this before so I'm somewhat apprehensive.  I really dislike touching the system when it's been perfect for so long - the reason I haven't upgraded to the latest unRAID version.  I am planning too after I add this next set of drives.

 

The clear of a 1TB drive and subsequent rebuild will take many  many hours, during the clearing process the array will not be able to serve files.  This is not your best option.

 

Joe...I'm not sure I fully understand here.  I'm assuming you mean to format + copy = not best option? 

 

I was under the impression the array rebuilds parity and the replacement disk at the same time - and...if the system is still usable then I would consider that a better option.  At least it helps to build confidence in the systems ability to rebuild a drive.  Thx again.

 

PS - After looking at the options of vertical/horizontal mounting of a drive, I decided to mount it horz - as this ultimately allows easier access to the internals.

Thx very much for the help.  I've never done this before so I'm somewhat apprehensive.  I really dislike touching the system when it's been perfect for so long - the reason I haven't upgraded to the latest unRAID version.  I am planning too after I add this next set of drives.

Good idea usually, but there have been versions of unRAID that had bugs in the process of clearing drives when they are added to an array.  For that reason, I'll ask again... What version are you running?  Unless there is a hardware issue, I strongly suggest upgrade to the current release, then do a full parity check, then replace the drive with the larger one.

 

If you want to upgrade the drive first, do this:

Run a full parity check before you do anything.  It should run error free.  This will catch many issue with a bad drive in the existing array.  Remember, to rebuild a drive the array will need to read every sector of every disk, and while rebuilding you do not want to find a problem.

 

Assuming you can do a parity check OK, then

Stop the array

Power down

Replace the one 500G drive with the 1T drive.  DO NOT MAKE ANY OTHER CHANGES TO THE ARRAY AT THIS TIME,

Power up, the unRAID software should notice the different model/serial number and ask if it is OK to start.  Press "Start"  (I don't remember if you have to also check an "I'm sure" checkbox to enable the "Start" button.)

 

unRAID will start the array and begine the process of reading all of the other existing drives AND parity, reconstruct the data on the missing drive, and write it to the new replacement drive.  This will take as long, or slightly longer than a normal parity check.

 

The clear of a 1TB drive and subsequent rebuild will take many  many hours, during the clearing process the array will not be able to serve files.  This is not your best option.

 

Joe...I'm not sure I fully understand here.  I'm assuming you mean to format + copy = not best option? 

 

I was under the impression the array rebuilds parity and the replacement disk at the same time - and...if the system is still usable then I would consider that a better option.  At least it helps to build confidence in the systems ability to rebuild a drive.  Thx again.

No, when rebuilding a disk, unRAID READS parity and ALL THE OTHER disks, calculates the value of the data in the missing disk, then writes it to the missing disk.  It does this one block of data at a time for  each block of data on the disk being replaced.  No writes are done to the parity drive in this process unless you create new files on the array while the rebuild process is under way.

 

While this process is occurring, you may still use the array.  Long ago, when I had only 5 or  drives I was able to play several different DVD ISO images while the rebuild was occurring from the missing drive.  Today, with 13 drives in my array, a high bit-rate ISO playing during an upgrade might be choppy.  It is just too much data for my older IDE based array.  Odds are as long as you don't try to play files on the drive being rebuilt you will be able to play your media just fine during the rebuild, especially if they are .avi or .mp3 files.

 

Joe L.

Thx Joe for the very informative reply.  My rig is in my sig - but I'm running 4.1Pro.  It has proved very stable and I have been using it for a long time.  I have installed many new drives using it, but have never upgraded an existing drive to a bigger one.  I am planning on upgrading to the latest version, but the one reason I haven't at this point (and wasn't planning to until after this mini-upgrade) was that I have experience and confidence in this version.  4.3.3 has many changes (compared to 4.1) and I find it stressful enough playing with the system without the added worry of new software.  I'm not very knowledgeable with computers in general - even more so with linux stuff - being somewhat long in the tooth and never having had the chance to use a computer until later in life.  I still try though

 

I was planning to do a parity check before the upgrade. 

 

Currently, I've added an extra drive to the system and am still waiting for it to clear/format.  Once that seems all stable and has some stuff written to it, I'll check parity, then allow the upgraded drive to rebuild.  Like I said before - always makes me nervous touching anything when it's been working perfectly for so long - especially as I use my media system constantly.

 

Really appreciate the advice.  Recently, I've forced myself to start taking notes and creating my own documentation about the system etc.  Often, long periods of time pass without me touching anything.  Then, when I do, I've usually forgotten a lot of stuff - so having notes really helps - as does the added bonus of fantastic forum supporters like yourself and others. Cheers.

Following the advice here, I've replaced the 500Gb drive with a 1Tb one.  The reconstruct phase is now taking place and I'm 2% into it.

 

What surprised me here (and I didn't know this until I read it here on the forum), was that the info on that disk is still available, even though it hasn't been rebuilt yet.  I even played a media file from my puter to verify it for myself (seeing is believing ).  Reading somewhere that you can write to the disk as well (even if it's not there) was almost a surprise.  Ya learn new things every day.

Ya learn new things every day.

 

And THAT'S what keeps us young !!!