Hello all,

 

I'm new to the unRAID community. It was suggested to me recently as an option to FreeNAS, as it's easier to use and set up (not my words).

 

So, I ordered my USB keys a couple of days ago, and in anticipation of their arrival thought to get started with getting some information straightened out.

 

The OS will be going into a brand new server. So the first thing I will want to do is check all of the hard drives to see if they are functioning properly, have any bad sectors, and test them for 2-4 weeks before transferring files onto them. How do I do these tasks? I do not know unRAID at all, so please, step by step instructions so that I can get a detailed list of what each test has done, and how long it has taken on each hard drive (so I can compare between drives how fast each task has taken).

 

Next, I'll need to probably set up unRAID so that all of my hard drives are useable. I'll ask how to do that in a future post, once I have tested all of the drives.

 

The next step would be getting the NIC set up so that I can share the server with my various computers/media playing devices throughout the house. I'll ask how to do that in a future post, once I have tested all of the drives.

 

The last step would be sharing out the hard drives. I'll ask how to do that in a future post, once I have tested all of the drives.

 

Thanks for all your help.

The Wiki has a lot of great info in it that i believe if you read first will resolve many of your concerns.

 

http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php/UnRAID_Manual

http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php/FAQ

 

 

Specific questions after this will be more exact in regards to your roadblocks.

On first startup you may run memtest for 24 hours.

 

As far as harddisks concerned, if they don't hold any data, you should run several preclear runs on all disks..

On first startup you may run memtest for 24 hours.

 

As far as harddisks concerned, if they don't hold any data, you should run several preclear runs on all disks..

 

Thanks a lot for the info. I wasn't seeing anything directly related to hard disc drive tests in the previous posts' links. And I'm still reading through all of the information in them (links to links to links.....).

 

I'll keep my eye out for the preclear run info. I had found memtest in the FAQ in regards to parity errors. Wouldn't have thought to have run it unless I saw some parity errors after being up and running.

On first startup you may run memtest for 24 hours.

 

As far as harddisks concerned, if they don't hold any data, you should run several preclear runs on all disks..

 

Thanks a lot for the info. I wasn't seeing anything directly related to hard disc drive tests in the previous posts' links. And I'm still reading through all of the information in them (links to links to links.....).

 

I'll keep my eye out for the preclear run info. I had found memtest in the FAQ in regards to parity errors. Wouldn't have thought to have run it unless I saw some parity errors after being up and running.

 

I usually run memtest on all PCs I built. On a server I usually let it run a full 24 hours.

 

With new hardware I run a preclear on as much harddisks as possible at once. Its a basic test of of harddisk controller cabling and PSU. Don't underestimate the importance of a good PSU and of proper cabling.

I usually run memtest on all PCs I built. On a server I usually let it run a full 24 hours.

 

With new hardware I run a preclear on as much harddisks as possible at once. Its a basic test of of harddisk controller cabling and PSU. Don't underestimate the importance of a good PSU and of proper cabling.

 

Yup, I've been running memtest now for 34:32:04, and will let it run until it's hit 36-48 hours. Even though I'm getting anxious to start running preclear.

 

As for running preclear on multiple hard disc drives (HDD's) at once, I've been reading up on it, but have a couple of questions.

 

1. Do I need unMENU installed to run multiple sessions of preclear without having multiple sessions of telnet open? If I do run unMENU, how do I find out the stats of each preclear session, if I want to check on it's progress from time to time? Also how do I find out the information about each session when they complete (I have read that it can be set up to send an email to notify when it finishes, but does that email contain the info about the session results)?

 

2. If I have multiple computers, can I run multiple sessions of preclear from each PC (PC#1 running 6 sessions, PC#2 running 6 sessions, PC#3 running 6 sessions, etc....)? Or should I only try running preclear from one computer telneting to the server?

 

3. My server has a quad core CPU and 24 HDD's. How many sessions of preclear could I run at once? (Does it make a difference as to which version of unRAID I own as to how many HDD's I can run it on at once [i have bought the PRO version but am still waiting for it to arrive and am just using the basic version right now]? I know it could take up to 600 days to properly run preclear on all HDD's for the maximum 20 times each, doing it one at a time. So I'd like to reduce that as much as possible. But on the other hand, if it's a CPU intesive process, I don't want to overload the CPU constantly for months on end).

Wecome to unRAID forums! On the question of running multiple Preclear sessions look into installing and using Screen. I can't help you on how many simultaneous sessions your system can run; it's probably memory dependent.

 

One of the nice things about unRAID is you can expand your system as your need for storage grows. You have a lot of drives, but you could just start with a few, just on the "demo" version of unRAID and get things laid out and add drives as you need them. BUT, start off with a big parity drive, as you have probably already read about. You can pre-clear drives outside of unRAID on your active system or other "off-line" hardware running a demo copy of unRAID.

 

One other suggestion is to get your forum signature completed with a listing of your hardware. It will save you a lot of time in the the future as you pose questions and answers to the forum.

 

All the best!

I Always use screen when running preclear, but having unmenu installed and check the mymain screen of it is a nice "backup" to check the status of preclear.

I usually run memtest on all PCs I built. On a server I usually let it run a full 24 hours.

 

With new hardware I run a preclear on as much harddisks as possible at once. Its a basic test of of harddisk controller cabling and PSU. Don't underestimate the importance of a good PSU and of proper cabling.

As for running preclear on multiple hard disc drives (HDD's) at once, I've been reading up on it, but have a couple of questions.

 

1. Do I need unMENU installed to run multiple sessions of preclear without having multiple sessions of telnet open?

No, but unMENU will make it easier to install "screen"

If I do run unMENU, how do I find out the stats of each preclear session, if I want to check on it's progress from time to time?

The MyMain screen in unMENU will show progress on one of its pages, however it is just a one line summary.  The actual progress can easily be monitored from each of the preclear sessions where you invoked them.

Also how do I find out the information about each session when they complete (I have read that it can be set up to send an email to notify when it finishes, but does that email contain the info about the session results)?

There is NO email until you install and configure an add-on. unRAID has no built-in mail as delivered.    The e-mail provides a summary, not the full set of report files.

 

When a pre-clear is complete, a set of files is written (per drive) to /boot/preclear_reports.  This set includes the SMART report at the start of the process, the SMART report at the end, and a report summary.

2. If I have multiple computers, can I run multiple sessions of preclear from each PC (PC#1 running 6 sessions, PC#2 running 6 sessions, PC#3 running 6 sessions, etc....)? Or should I only try running preclear from one computer telneting to the server?

You should install "screen" and invoke it, and then from it invoke the preclear script.  Otherwise, one power blip and your whole process will terminate early.  Also, unRAID will only allow 6 concurrent telnet sessions, regardless of the origination PC.  Additionally, you'll run out of memory for sure.  You MUST use the -r -w and -b options if running multiple concurrent preclears on large disks.

preclear_disk.sh -r 65536 -w 65536 -b 2000 /dev/sdX

will probably do it.

3. My server has a quad core CPU and 24 HDD's. How many sessions of preclear could I run at once? (Does it make a difference as to which version of unRAID I own as to how many HDD's I can run it on at once [i have bought the PRO version but am still waiting for it to arrive and am just using the basic version right now]? I know it could take up to 600 days to properly run preclear on all HDD's for the maximum 20 times each, doing it one at a time. So I'd like to reduce that as much as possible. But on the other hand, if it's a CPU intesive process, I don't want to overload the CPU constantly for months on end).

It is an IO intensive process.  I'd start with 1 cycle each.  If that works, you could try another 1 or 2 if you desire.  It has absolutely NO difference which unRAID license you have.  It has nothing to do with licensing.  I'd start with 4 or 5 disks... 

 

To be honest, you are NOT taking advantage of unRAID unless you need all that space right now.  The 2TB drive purchased a year ago  cost the same as a 4TB today (and far less space).  If you purchase all the disks now you'll end up with more expense than if purchased incrementally over time as you need the space.  The drives do NOT need to all be the same size or type.  All that is needed is the parity drive be as big or bigger than the largest of the data drives.

 

Joe L.

Joe,

 

Thanks for taking the time and answering everything I had asked. I'm going to set this topic to [sOLVED] and ask any new questions in a new topic.

 

Cheers!