I just added a new WD 1 TB (Green) drive to my system. Since it's been a while since I've needed to change anything, I had to read the UnRaid Manual (wiki) to make sure I followed the procedures correctly. The new drive is the 5th 1 TB drive in my system. I have an Abit AB9 Pro motherboard that supports up to 9 SATA drives. The new drive is connected to the SATA5 connector. The Parity disk is connected to SATA1, disk1 - SATA2, disk2 - SATA3, disk3 - SATA4. This is what it shows under Disk Devices in the Devices tab:

 

parity device:  pci-0000:00:1f.2-scsi-0:0:0:0 (sdb) ata-WDC_WD10EACS-00ZJB0_WD-WCASJ1383298

disk1 device: pci-0000:00:1f.2-scsi-1:0:0:0 (sdc) ata-WDC_WD10EACS-00ZJB0_WD-WCASJ0603314

disk2 device: pci-0000:00:1f.2-scsi-2:0:0:0 (sdd) ata-WDC_WD10EACS-00ZJB0_WD-WCASJ0602073

disk3 device: pci-0000:00:1f.2-scsi-3:0:0:0 (sde) ata-WDC_WD10EACS-00ZJB0_WD-WCASJ1378976

disk4 device: unassigned

disk5 device: unassigned

 

I followed the steps outlined in the wiki:

 

   1. Stop the array.

   2. Power down the unit.

   3. Replace smaller disk with new bigger disk.

   4. Power up the unit.

   5. Start the array.

 

The manual says if there's been a change to the array, such as a new disk added, the array is left stopped so that you can confirm the configuration is correct. However, in my case, the array started automatically after powering up the unit. In the disk status window of the console's Main tab, it shows only the drives that were already in the array before the addition. So I shut down the server and checked my hardware to make sure the SATA and power cables were connected to the new hard drive, motherboard and power supply. Then I attached a monitor and restarted the server and entered the BIOS setup. Since I have the OnChip IDE Device's SATA mode set to AHCI, the IDE Channel settings in the Standard CMOS Features page are grayed out or disabled. However, it only shows 4 drives listed. The Hard Disk Boot Priority settings under the Advanced BIOS Features page does show 5 drives in its list. I also checked to make sure the SATA controllers were all enabled.

 

I restarted the system and watched the monitor and did see 5 drives listed during boot up. UnRAID still automatically starts the array. So, I manually stopped the array and then started it. It seemed to take a while to start, so I assumed it was formatting the disk, etc., but after refreshing the command area, it still only shows the Parity drive and 3 storage disks and the Disk Device list under the Devices tab still shows that disk4 device is unassigned.

 

So, I stopped the array again. This time I activated the Devices tab and picked the dropdown next to disk4 and assigned it to the new drive. On the Main tab it now shows "Found 1 new disk." Finally, I started the array. Now it seems to be formatting, etc.

 

So is there something unusual about my server or UnRaid version (unRAID Server Plus v4.3.1)? Or, does the wiki need to be edited to show that you need to add the manual steps that I described?

I just added a new WD 1 TB (Green) drive to my system. Since it's been a while since I've needed to change anything, I had to read the UnRaid Manual (wiki) to make sure I followed the procedures correctly. The new drive is the 5th 1 TB drive in my system. I have an Abit AB9 Pro motherboard that supports up to 9 SATA drives. The new drive is connected to the SATA5 connector. The Parity disk is connected to SATA1, disk1 - SATA2, disk2 - SATA3, disk3 - SATA4. This is what it shows under Disk Devices in the Devices tab:

 

parity device:  pci-0000:00:1f.2-scsi-0:0:0:0 (sdb) ata-WDC_WD10EACS-00ZJB0_WD-WCASJ1383298

disk1 device: pci-0000:00:1f.2-scsi-1:0:0:0 (sdc) ata-WDC_WD10EACS-00ZJB0_WD-WCASJ0603314

disk2 device: pci-0000:00:1f.2-scsi-2:0:0:0 (sdd) ata-WDC_WD10EACS-00ZJB0_WD-WCASJ0602073

disk3 device: pci-0000:00:1f.2-scsi-3:0:0:0 (sde) ata-WDC_WD10EACS-00ZJB0_WD-WCASJ1378976

disk4 device: unassigned

disk5 device: unassigned

 

I followed the steps outlined in the wiki:

 

   1. Stop the array.

   2. Power down the unit.

   3. Replace smaller disk with new bigger disk.

   4. Power up the unit.

   5. Start the array.

 

The manual says if there's been a change to the array, such as a new disk added, the array is left stopped so that you can confirm the configuration is correct. However, in my case, the array started automatically after powering up the unit. In the disk status window of the console's Main tab, it shows only the drives that were already in the array before the addition. So I shut down the server and checked my hardware to make sure the SATA and power cables were connected to the new hard drive, motherboard and power supply. Then I attached a monitor and restarted the server and entered the BIOS setup. Since I have the OnChip IDE Device's SATA mode set to AHCI, the IDE Channel settings in the Standard CMOS Features page are grayed out or disabled. However, it only shows 4 drives listed. The Hard Disk Boot Priority settings under the Advanced BIOS Features page does show 5 drives in its list. I also checked to make sure the SATA controllers were all enabled.

 

I restarted the system and watched the monitor and did see 5 drives listed during boot up. UnRAID still automatically starts the array. So, I manually stopped the array and then started it. It seemed to take a while to start, so I assumed it was formatting the disk, etc., but after refreshing the command area, it still only shows the Parity drive and 3 storage disks and the Disk Device list under the Devices tab still shows that disk4 device is unassigned.

 

So, I stopped the array again. This time I activated the Devices tab and picked the dropdown next to disk4 and assigned it to the new drive. On the Main tab it now shows "Found 1 new disk." Finally, I started the array. Now it seems to be formatting, etc.

 

So is there something unusual about my server or UnRaid version (unRAID Server Plus v4.3.1)? Or, does the wiki need to be edited to show that you need to add the manual steps that I described?

Your server is acting normal, the wiki is incorrect.  The new drive will not normally cause the array to stop and wait for you to confirm the addition of the new disk.  It will stop if it finds the disks were moved to new hardware controllers.

 

The instructions you quoted above apply when you replace a smaller disk with a larger disk in the same logical slot in the array, they do not apply when adding a new disk to a new (previously empty) slot on the array.

That's good to know. Thanks.

This is in the unRAID Official Manual, here, so this needs to be flagged for Tom, or perhaps NAS can change it.  It needs an additional step between steps 4 and 5, to assign the new disk to the array.