What's the best (e.g. fastest way) to upgrade a 15 drive array with 1.5TB drives to 15 drive array with 3.0TB drives?

 

From what I've read I need to do this step 15 times:

 

• PreClear a disk with option -A
  
• Stop Array
  
• Remove a 1.5TB disk, insert the precleared 3.0TB disk instead
  
• Start array
  
• Let array copy (or in case of parity -> create) the disk
  
• Issue parity check
  

 

This sounds like work for a month or so. Is there a faster or better way?

 

Thanks

Harald

 

Ontopic:- Are all the 1.5TB HDDs full? If not, probably your best bet would to try and fill all your drives up to the max, then, slowly copy data over from the 1.5s to the 3TBs, then just create a new array configuration file. If not, you could always buy some USB to sata converters or something to transfer the data.

 

Offtopic (Main reason why I'm posting here, above was just to stay on topic):- can I ask what you're going to be doing with 15 1.5TB drives? Not that I want them, I'm just wondering for future cases where I'll be upgrading my 1TB drives to 3/4TB.

If time is an issue, I would just build a new server, then rsync them.

 

Either way, you are going to want to spend the time to pre-clear the drives.

Are all the 1.5TB HDDs full?

 

Yes, no room left.

 

 

Can I ask what you're going to be doing with 15 1.5TB drives?

 

I'll put them in my second and older server - this machine hosts 750GBs currently. So the same procedere applies here too. But this machine has no external SATA port. So I will need to preclear all 30 drives in just one machine ...

 

 

 

If time is an issue, I would just build a new server, then rsync them.

 

Time and money ;-) I already have two LimeTechs. I don't want a third one. Perhaps a big case for all 30 drives with 2-4 parity drives, but this is simply a dream ...

 

I can feel your pain but I think your only option is to do it the hard way.  I would be super cautious about how I did it.  I would probably be running a non-correcting parity check everytime before I replaced a drive in the system.  I would also run three cycles of preclears on each and every drive.    (Some people on the forum have had 1 drive out of 5 defective---either DOA or within a few hours of use.)  Save all of the drives you remove for a minimum of two months after you finish updating the array in case of some multi-drive failure disaster. 

 

I would also consider not buying all of the drives at one time to reduce the possibility of buying into a low quality production run.  ( Of course, you could buy into a high quality production but Murphy's Law applies here!)

If time is an issue, I would just build a new server, then rsync them.

 

Either way, you are going to want to spend the time to pre-clear the drives.

 

+1

I would also consider not buying all of the drives at one time to reduce the possibility of buying into a low quality production run.

 

Yes, that's how I do that usually. I buy from different companies and I buy them in batches. The first new drives are on their way.

 

 

I have to say that I bought these 30 drives (15x1.5TB and 15x 750GB) in 2008. They are still running - not one single failure in nearly five years <knock on wood>. Perhaps one important point is: My last power outage was, hmm, I can't remember one single one. Here in Germany we have a very, very, very good infrastructure. There's nothing that will "hurt" these machines. I don't move them and the basement is pretty cold (11C currently).

 

The only advice I can add is that if you have no need to upgrade all the drives at the same time, don't.

 

The reason is simple...  a 3TB drive today is probably going to cost the same as a 4TB drive in a year, and  perhaps a 5TB drive in a few years.  (prices keep coming down)

 

My original unRAID drives were 500 Gig.. and over $300 each.  (granted, that was 8 years ago, but you get the idea..) Today that will buy a pair of 4TB drives on sale...  if you only need 3TB extra space, only get 3 of the 3TB drives.  Use one for parity, the other two for data, replacing the smaller drives, and purchase the other larger drives as you need them in the future.

 

unRAID does not need all the drives to be the same size... unlike most other RAID arrays.  It is an economic advantage to expand/upgrade as you need additional space, and not too much before.

 

Of course, if your name is Bill Gates, and you have more money than most small countries, then purchase all the disks at once, and upgrade them all again in a year or two. 

 

Joe L.

Delayed buying is a very good idea JoeL.

 

Thanks.

 

+1 to Joe's recommendation of incremental upgrade.

 

I agree with buying 3 drives to start;  then updating the parity drive;  and then (one at a time) two of your data drives.    Then you can upgrade the remaining drives at perhaps a one/month rate, which will complete the upgrade in about a year while simultaneously spreading out your purchases and possibly allowing you to start using even larger drives, depending on the price of 4TB drives in a few months.    You could do it even slower, depending on how quickly your storage needs are growing.

 

Note:  If you have the ports available to connect them, you can pre-clear multiple drives at the same time.

 

^^^ THIS

 

You should, at a minimum upgrade parity and your first data drive to 4GB.  An immediate 2.5GB bump in space (vice 1.5G) and then every drive after is again 2.5GB extra. 

 

Since the per drive cost is a little more $$ (but I believe now they are cheaper per GB) you will be doing a nice slow burn looking for good deals, from different vendors, with diffrent manufacturing date lots.  Remember Newegg and Amazon (for example) could very easily have drives from the same general time frame so buying a few from each is no guarantee that you will not end up with the equivilent of a single large lot of drives from the same production period.

 

PS remember that you can pre-clear drives on any system that you can dedicate to the job (re: has ports and isn't serving other essential needs) using UnRaid basic.  You aren't even limited to 4 drives because you aren't putting the drives into the array, so you can preclear as many drives as you have ports ... and memory to avoid OOM issues (iirc)