So I just added a new 1 TB drive to my unRAID ($99 for a WD Green OEM from Microcenter), and my array has been down for several hours during the "clearing".  And I want to watch a movie, and I can't. 

 

Here's my feature request.  Is it possible to make a standalone executable for windows/mac/linux that will let you clear a new disk, BEFORE adding it to the array?  This seems reasonable, as if I understand correctly, the clearing is simply writing all zeros to the disk.  Then the disk could be added quickly to the array and the downtime minimized.

 

I assume some hash or key would need to be added at the start of the disk, and the unRAID software would need to find that hash/key at the start of the disk to avoid incorrectly adding a not fully cleared disk, but other than that the process seems like it might not be difficult to implement.

 

Thoughts?

 

Brett

Try here: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=2696.0

 

The script I developed in that thread does exactly what you described.  It will clear a disk and write the specific signature as needed by unRAID to skip the clearing step. (the signature depends on the specific drive geometry, so it is not as simple as it might be otherwise)

 

It looks like this when it is finished.

 

The script is towards the end of the thread, but please take the time to read through it to see it is not as simple as you might think. 

It is run from the Linux command line, and you must leave the telnet session open while it runs. (or run it from the system console)

 

It does require you to know the device of the disk to be cleared, and it does try to protect you from yourself by checking the drive is not part of your array.

It will take a few hours to clear a large sized disk, but you do get to watch a status display while it does.

 

I'm almost ready to post an improved version that will first pre-read the entire disk, then zero it, then pre-read it again... giving the SMART logic on the drive a chance to remap any bad sectors or to let you know of any drive problems *before* it is part of your array.    I'm going to test it tomorrow on a new disk in my array if I get a chance.  The new script even lets you specify up to 10 cycles, to really see if a drive suffers from an early demise.  (it will probably take several days to cycle it through 10 times, but I'd rather know a drive is bad before I add it to the array... so much easier to replace it)

 

In the interim, give the old version a try.  It will write the "signature" needed to eliminate that annoying down-time when you want to watch a movie and a disk is being cleared.

 

Joe L.

Joe,

 

Looks like exactly what I wanted.  Too bad I didn't find out about it until after I'd started clearing a 1TB disk!

 

BTW, sorry for the duplicate thread.  Also, it would be nice if the other thread was stickied, or linked to the feature request sticky so it was easier to find.

 

Brett