Hi folks,

 

I'm currently running v4.5.6 with several drives, and a slackware install.

 

I want to upgrade to 5.0 when it comes out so I can add some larger disks (3TB). Rather than trying to undo all the bits and pieces, and then progressively upgrade the drives in my system, I've decided that it'll be easier (and likely less riskier) to spool up a second free Unraid install at 5.0 on a different machine, then rsync everything from my live 4.5.6 system to the new 5.0 system. Then, once I've done that, wipe out the slackware install, and put a complete fresh 5.0 on my old 4.5.6 USB stick and move the drives back to the old system.

 

So my old system goes from being a 4.5.6 with slackware on a HDD, to just 5.0 on a usb stick.

 

My questions are: Does this sound sensible? and will I have issues when I swap the drives (1x Parity and 2x Data) back to the old system with a fresh 5.0 install (i.e. configuring the drives back into the proper array settings that I had temporarily on the other system?) Will unraid automatically recognise that the drives already have data on them? should I copy a config file with them?

 

The reason I'm doing it this way, is that I only have one 'Plus' license key, keyed to my 4.5.6 USB stick. I can get away with using a free license on the temporary machine as all my data will fit on 2x 3TB disks.

There shouldn't be any issue doing this.    Once all your data is on your v5 system, you can move drives to the box you want to use as your permanent "home" and boot it with the free v5 USB flash drive you created to ensure all the drives are still assigned appropriately (shouldn't be an issue, as v5 "remembers" the drive assignments -- but it's still a good idea to KNOW which drive is parity just in case).

 

Then you can save your Plus key; erase the contents of the old flash drive (the one the key is tied to);  copy the contents of the new flash drive to the old one; add the key file;  and it should boot with no problem.