Hello,

 

I'm about to upgrade my parity again to a 3Tb WD Red.. In another post, I asked if my M/board could handle a drive larger than 2.2Tb, but there is no real consensus. It is an Asus P5B-E. One site I found hinted that it can, but I guess the proof is in the pudding. Here is that info http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=29405.msg264764#msg264764

 

What can I expect if the M/B can't handle the 3Tb drive? I guess it won't show in the WebGUI as correct size for a start.

 

Can I keep the existing 2Tb parity drive as a backup? (Someone said you could use Maintenance Mode). As I'm new to V5, I'm still trying to find my way around.

 

 

Wow...over 1000 views and not a single comment. Surely someone has come across this issue before? I've looked in the bios and the 2Tb drives show as 2Tb drives, even though I'm running an older bios version. I guess my only option is to throw the 3Tb one in and see if it's correctly recognised by the bios - although I'm certain I saw a post somewhere that had a similar issue and their bios didn't see the drive as 3Tb, but unRAID saw it correctly. Does this matter within unRAID?

BIOS may not see past 2.2TB but the unRAID OS may. This is fine.

Simply attach a 3 or 4TB drive to your system;  boot to the Web GUI;  Stop the array; and then look at the drop-down for any of the drive assignments ... don't change anything; but see what it shows for your new drive.  If it shows the correct size, then you're fine.

 

As I noted in the other thread (and dgaschk indicated above), the BIOS may or my not show the correct size; but as long as the Linux drivers "see" the right size, you're fine.

 

Can I keep the existing 2Tb parity drive as a backup?

 

Now sure what you mean here.  Yes, you can keep the existing 2TB drive for other uses; but as soon as you've rebuilt parity on the new, larger drive, and then make ANY changes to the array, the old 2TB parity drive will no longer be valid.

 

You can, of course, reformat it and use it for backups;  or pre-clear it and add it to the array as an additional data drive.

 

Thx very much for the help. It'll make it much easier knowing what to expect.

 

Now sure what you mean here.  Yes, you can keep the existing 2TB drive for other uses; but as soon as you've rebuilt parity on the new, larger drive, and then make ANY changes to the array, the old 2TB parity drive will no longer be valid.

 

You can, of course, reformat it and use it for backups;  or pre-clear it and add it to the array as an additional data drive.

 

I was meaning - if the 3Tb drive doesn't show as 3Tb, can I re-insert the existing 2Tb parity and still have the correct parity?

 

I my other thread, someone mentioned maintenance mode - in that I could put the original parity drive back in and the parity would still be correct (if I checked M/Mode). I assumed this was something else (being new to V5), but saw the M/Mode when I upgraded. Don't really know what this is for?

 

Time to get the hands dirty and throw the 3Tb in and see what happens.

Do you have an extra SATA port in your system?

 

If so, it's trivial to see what size the drive is.  Just attach it to a spare SATA port;  then run Joe L's pre-clear script on it.  If it shows as 3TB, all is well.  If not, your system isn't going to work with drives > 2TB.

 

If you don't have any spare SATA ports, it's a bit more complex ... but still not hard.    But first, answer the question r.e. an available SATA port.

 

Do you have an extra SATA port in your system?

 

If so, it's trivial to see what size the drive is.  Just attach it to a spare SATA port;  then run Joe L's pre-clear script on it.  If it shows as 3TB, all is well.  If not, your system isn't going to work with drives > 2TB.

 

If you don't have any spare SATA ports, it's a bit more complex ... but still not hard.    But first, answer the question r.e. an available SATA port.

 

Sorry...NO spare SATA ports.

 

I figured I would set unRAID to NOT START at startup -, that way the existing parity drive shouldn't have changed. The WebGUI should show the size without the array having started. If it doesn't show 3Tb, then I put the 2Tb one back and all should be good.  Well....that's the theory

With no SATA ports available, then just to be certain your flash doesn't change anything when it "sees" a bad configuration, I'd do the following instead:

 

(a)  On a DIFFERENT flash drive; format it with the UnRAID label; then copy the v5.0 distribution to it; and then run the MakeBootable bat drive with administrative privileges.    In other words, prepare a v5.0 Basic (free) version of UnRAID.

 

(b)  Now connect the 3TB drive to one of the SATA ports on the system (temporarily disconnecting any other drive).    Boot to the NEW flash drive -- then go to the Web GUI (there won't be any drives assigned), and assign your new 3TB drive as the ONLY data drive for this system.    Since there's no parity, this will be very quick -- it will want to format the drive (you can go ahead and let it).    See what it shows as the size of the drive.    ... Now you know if 3TB drives will work on that system.

 

©  Shut down;  restore the original drive and the original flash drive, and you're ready to boot your array.

 

You can now reformat the temporary flash drive you made and use it for whatever you like.

 

 

IF the 3TB drive was seen okay, you can now, at your leisure, replace your parity drive with it.  But be CERTAIN you've done a "clean" parity check (i.e. that all's okay) before you make that change.

 

With no SATA ports available, then just to be certain your flash doesn't change anything when it "sees" a bad configuration, I'd do the following instead:

 

(a)  On a DIFFERENT flash drive; format it with the UnRAID label; then copy the v5.0 distribution to it; and then run the MakeBootable bat drive with administrative privileges.    In other words, prepare a v5.0 Basic (free) version of UnRAID.

 

(b)  Now connect the 3TB drive to one of the SATA ports on the system (temporarily disconnecting any other drive).    Boot to the NEW flash drive -- then go to the Web GUI (there won't be any drives assigned), and assign your new 3TB drive as the ONLY data drive for this system.    Since there's no parity, this will be very quick -- it will want to format the drive (you can go ahead and let it).    See what it shows as the size of the drive.    ... Now you know if 3TB drives will work on that system.

 

©  Shut down;  restore the original drive and the original flash drive, and you're ready to boot your array.

 

You can now reformat the temporary flash drive you made and use it for whatever you like.

 

 

IF the 3TB drive was seen okay, you can now, at your leisure, replace your parity drive with it.  But be CERTAIN you've done a "clean" parity check (i.e. that all's okay) before you make that change.

 

Thx Gary, I'll give this a go and see what the result is. Much appreciated.

A spare USB flash drive with a basic UnRAID install is also handy if you want to pre-clear disks on a different system than your main server => a likely scenario when there are (as in your case) no spare SATA ports for use with pre-clearing.    You just need to include the pre-clear script on the flash drive.

 

Of course to do the test you want here, you HAVE to use the same system, since THAT is the one you determine whether or not it has > 2TB support 

A spare USB flash drive with a basic UnRAID install is also handy if you want to pre-clear disks on a different system than your main server => a likely scenario when there are (as in your case) no spare SATA ports for use with pre-clearing.    You just need to include the pre-clear script on the flash drive.

 

Of course to do the test you want here, you HAVE to use the same system, since THAT is the one you determine whether or not it has > 2TB support 

 

I also have to pick a SATA port from the M/B, as I run Promise TX4 expansion cards, and I'm pretty certain they don't support drives >2Tb.

Success...well that is what is would appear. After using V5 Basic, I started the server and the webgui showed the new drive as 3Tb. Very good.

 

Can I assume that if the new drive shows as 3Tb, a new 4Tb drive will also be recognised correctly? I'd like to upgrade to parity to a 4Tb one. Jumping only 1Tb isn't quite enough.

 

I only issue I had was that when I started the server using my pro version, I could not access the webgui using the stock interface, nor could I get unmenu to access it either. I reboot seems to have rectified it for the moment.

 

Thx again gary for your help.

Can I assume that if the new drive shows as 3Tb, a new 4Tb drive will also be recognised correctly?

 

Yes, absolutely.  The issue is whether or not your system supports drives larger than 2TB.  You've shown that it does ... so you can use 3TB, 4TB, 5TB, 6TB, etc.  as they become available.

 

Note that the 5TB WD Reds are due out by the end of December 

Note that the 5TB WD Reds are due out by the end of December 

Wish they were going to be available for Black Friday and have Black Friday pricing

Note that the 5TB WD Reds are due out by the end of December 

Wish they were going to be available for Black Friday and have Black Friday pricing

 

They are ==> Black Friday, 2014 

 

... might even have 6TB versions available then !!

 

Note that the 5TB WD Reds are due out by the end of December 

Wish they were going to be available for Black Friday and have Black Friday pricing

 

They are ==> Black Friday, 2014 

 

... might even have 6TB versions available then !!

Knew I should have qualified the year 

Note that the 5TB WD Reds are due out by the end of December 

Wish they were going to be available for Black Friday and have Black Friday pricing

 

They are ==> Black Friday, 2014 

 

... might even have 6TB versions available then !!

Knew I should have qualified the year 

This is the unraid forum. It's a given for due dates that the year referenced is ambiguous. I wish I was kidding.

This is the unraid forum. It's a given for due dates that the year referenced is ambiguous. I wish I was kidding.

I wish you were kidding too!

Note that the 5TB WD Reds are due out by the end of December

. I wonder if they'll be available here in NZ in Dec? I might have to wait. Wonder what the price point will be?

 

I'm sure glad the system recognises drives >2.2Tb. Not sure all the ports do, but I checked the port my current parity is on and that one does. Hopefully, all the M/B ports should. That gives me 8 in total if I remember correctly. Thx again for the help. Much appreciated.

As far as I know the Dec rollout of the 5TB Reds is world-wide; but I don't know that for certain.

 

Note also that they've said "by 31 Dec" ... so don't be surprised if they're not available in early December.

 

Finally, I have no idea what the price point will be ==> I'd hope it's no more than $250 ... i.e. the same price/TB that the 4TB units are ... but haven't seen any indication of just what they'll be priced at.