[SOLVED]Pre-Clearing multiple drives

[wirenut]

The configuration tutorial reads  If you are pre-clearing multiple drives it is recommended you also use the optional "-r" "-w" and "-b" options when preclearing multiple drives with these suggested values -r 65536 -w 65536 -b 2000. Is this still a valid/necessary suggestion with version 5? I am running v5.02 and have 8GB Ram installed and plan to clear three 4TB drives concurrently. I've done three 2TB drives in the past with no issue but thought I'd ask before I did my first 4TB drives.

[garycase]

I've always restricted myself to no more than 3-at-a-time, but have never used any of the optional parameters.  I've done 3 4TB units at once with no problem on a system with 4GB of RAM.

 

[johnodon]

Joe would be the person to ask.

 

I haven't pre-cleared multiple drives in about a year and a half, but the last time I did it was 6 drives and I did not use any switches.  Pre-clearing completed without issue.

 

But again, wait for the author to chime in.

 

John

[wirenut]

Thanks for the responses.

I wait hoping Joe has an opportunity to provide input.

[nacat78]

Using Putty/Screen Options I was able to use the default settings and preclear three 3TB simultaneously with no issues. If you use the screen options if the host computer that you are running putty on shuts down or restarts the preclear process with continue.

[Joe L.]

The configuration tutorial reads  If you are pre-clearing multiple drives it is recommended you also use the optional "-r" "-w" and "-b" options when preclearing multiple drives with these suggested values -r 65536 -w 65536 -b 2000. Is this still a valid/necessary suggestion with version 5? I am running v5.02 and have 8GB Ram installed and plan to clear three 4TB drives concurrently. I've done three 2TB drives in the past with no issue but thought I'd ask before I did my first 4TB drives.

I'd use the extra parameters.... or risk running out of memory.  (does not matter how much RAM you have, you only have s much "low" memory.  Type "free -l" to see.

 

Joe L.

[wirenut]

The configuration tutorial reads  If you are pre-clearing multiple drives it is recommended you also use the optional "-r" "-w" and "-b" options when preclearing multiple drives with these suggested values -r 65536 -w 65536 -b 2000. Is this still a valid/necessary suggestion with version 5? I am running v5.02 and have 8GB Ram installed and plan to clear three 4TB drives concurrently. I've done three 2TB drives in the past with no issue but thought I'd ask before I did my first 4TB drives.

I'd use the extra parameters.... or risk running out of memory.  (does not matter how much RAM you have, you only have s much "low" memory.  Type "free -l" to see.

 

Joe L.

 

And the results are:

 

                    total      used      free          shared    buffers    cached

Mem:      16621676  10599556    6022120          0    220488  10108652

Low:          766500    459460    307040

High:      15855176  10140096    5715080

-/+ buffers/cache:    270416  16351260

Swap:            0          0          0

 

Not sure what it all means. Is it good, bad, average? Am I at risk of running out of memory if I didn't?

To run it correctly for two passes i would type "preclear_disk.sh -r 65536 -w 65536 -b 2000 -c -2 /dev/sdX" Yes?

Does using these extra parameters have any effect on the overall time it will take? [im guessing around 80 hours]

Just want to learn more. Thanks for the reply Joe.

[Fireball3]

I've also been successfully preclearing 3x 4TB drives at a time without additional parameters on a 4GB machine.

Pretty stock unRAID although! If you run plugins or cause any other load on the server

it may get hairy.

 

[wirenut]

I've also been successfully preclearing 3x 4TB drives at a time without additional parameters on a 4GB machine.

Pretty stock unRAID although! If you run plugins or cause any other load on the server

it may get hairy.

pretty stock here also, unMenu is all.

[neilt0]

If you run RAM-hungry add-ons, you can run out of lowmem preclearing just one 4TB drive. That happened to me on my server with 8GB RAM.

 

I ended up using my second server (with 3GB RAM) that has no add-ons and I precleared 3x 4TB drives simultaneously. I can't remember if I used any parameters. I don't think I did.

[wirenut]

The drives arrived today [late but that's another story] I'm going with Joe's advice. He suggests it, he authored it, minimize the risk.

Thanks for the input!