I've had unRAID running for a few days now, and have gathered some general newbie queries. It's a lot, but hopefully some of you can answer one or two

 

- Can I move files manually between disks without messing up user shares or parity? I have split levels disabled everywhere.

- I understand a parity check should be done before and after adding a disk for whatever reason, and on a regular basis; I've scheduled it to run monthly via Dynamix. Is there another time when I should run a parity check?

- Related: is running a parity check on the array after installing a pre-cleared disk necessary or recommended?

- What about "Run disk self-test" in Dynamix - when should I run them on each of the disks? Should it be a routine task, or only do it when something goes wrong?

- Will disk identifiers (ie. sda, sdb, and disk1, disk2 etc.) change without my intervention? I take it that if I switch SATA data cables around it would change them - any other cases? I plan on putting physical sticky labels on the HDDs so that when a disk fails, I can identify which one to replace. Or do I need to check the full identification string on the disk to be 100% sure I'm pulling the right disk?

- I have a 1TB HDD with 16 bad sectors on my desktop, and another with 1200 (!) after a pre-clear run. I'm planning running a few pre-clear cycles before adding it to the array to see if they get worse. Or should I use them as a paperweight?

- Is there somewhere where I can read up on how unRAID is recognized and treated by a desktop? I'm running Linux Mint (newb at that, too), and when I click on "Network" in file manager (Nemo), I see two instances: TheMonolith (name of my "tower") and THEMONOLITH. Former goes to smb://themonolith.local/ and latter to smb://themonolith/ (without .local) but both show the same content: disk1, disk2... flash drive, and user shares. Is there a difference between the two, and why does my unRAID show up twice?

- Also, I have an entry "Windows Network" under "Network," although I currently don't have a Windows machine anywhere. The path leads to smb://WORKGROUP/THEMONOLITH/ (note caps different from previous two cases above), and ends up in the same user shares and disks view as in previous point. How is this entry path different from the previous two?

 

That's it for now!

- Can I move files manually between disks without messing up user shares or parity? I have split levels disabled everywhere.

Yes.  The share will always reflect what is in the share.  Parity is updated on the fly whenever you write to the array.

- I understand a parity check should be done before and after adding a disk for whatever reason, and on a regular basis; I've scheduled it to run monthly via Dynamix. Is there another time when I should run a parity check?

Generally, no.  Monthly parity checks, and before/after adding/removing disks is sufficient.

- Related: is running a parity check on the array after installing a pre-cleared disk necessary or recommended?

Necessary, no.  Recommended, yes.  It certainly can't hurt to do so, so might as well do it.

- What about "Run disk self-test" in Dynamix - when should I run them on each of the disks? Should it be a routine task, or only do it when something goes wrong?

That's entirely up to you and your own level of comfort.  Personally I have a script that pulls a smart report on each drive monthly and saves it to the flash drive.  That way I can periodically check to see if errors are happening and when they started.

- Will disk identifiers (ie. sda, sdb, and disk1, disk2 etc.) change without my intervention? I take it that if I switch SATA data cables around it would change them - any other cases? I plan on putting physical sticky labels on the HDDs so that when a disk fails, I can identify which one to replace. Or do I need to check the full identification string on the disk to be 100% sure I'm pulling the right disk?

They can and do change.  The only time they have ever changed on me was one particular update in the 5.0rc series.  I labeled my disks with the disk serial number, that way if a drive ever fails, there is no mistake in pulling the wrong drive.

- I have a 1TB HDD with 16 bad sectors on my desktop, and another with 1200 (!) after a pre-clear run. I'm planning running a few pre-clear cycles before adding it to the array to see if they get worse. Or should I use them as a paperweight?

RMA them if they are still under warranty.  If not, you can use them if you wish, but I personally would not.  If after a few pre-clears the one with 16 bad sectors still has only 16, then using it might be ok, but I'd keep a close eye on it.  The one with 1200 bad sectors would be a pretty paperweight.

- Is there somewhere where I can read up on how unRAID is recognized and treated by a desktop? I'm running Linux Mint (newb at that, too), and when I click on "Network" in file manager (Nemo), I see two instances: TheMonolith (name of my "tower") and THEMONOLITH. Former goes to smb://themonolith.local/ and latter to smb://themonolith/ (without .local) but both show the same content: disk1, disk2... flash drive, and user shares. Is there a difference between the two, and why does my unRAID show up twice?

Can't help you here.

- Also, I have an entry "Windows Network" under "Network," although I currently don't have a Windows machine anywhere. The path leads to smb://WORKGROUP/THEMONOLITH/ (note caps different from previous two cases above), and ends up in the same user shares and disks view as in previous point. How is this entry path different from the previous two?

This is because the server is advertising an SMB share with the affiliated Windows workgroup (as set in SMB settings).  As far as what you can access through this share, it is no different than the other two.

Thank you for the replies!

 

Good warning on changing disk identifiers, and the tip on including the serial# on the physical HDD labels, I'll do that.