Situation:

Currently running unraid 5.0rc8a. Now that 5.0.x is out, I want to upgrade but I don't have backups for anything on this machine so it has to go off without a hitch. (Crashplan is the first thing I'm setting up after the upgrade) I also have legacy plugins from 4.x days, and plugins I simply won't be using anymore. I also have more memory to throw at the server (from 2GB to 8GB) and am gearing up to try to unlock the second core on this Sempron 140. Really, it has the potential to behave like a different machine.

 

The question:

I'm one of those people that tends to format their computers more often than they should to have that "new car smell" however I'm trying to be better. I'm very tempted to start from scratch with a fresh install of 5.0.x Pro - a fresh start being something I haven't done since getting onboard with unraid however many years ago.

 

Would this be a wise decision? Would I be better off backing up the contents of my USB drive and starting fresh with it, or finding a new drive to use as a test and go from there? Anything I should be wary of before proceeding? Or should I just forget it all and upgrade my current install?   

Since you're already on a 5rc you could just delete /boot/extra, /boot/plugins, /boot/config/plugins, maybe /boot/packages, use the default go file (in the distribution), and follow the upgrade instructions in the readme. This will clean up the folders that have things that autoinstall on boot and probably that's where most if not all of your old addons are.

 

This will have the advantage of letting unRAID remember all your drives, users, and shares so you won't have to set any of that up again and you won't have to rebuild parity.

As trurl mentions you can wipe out several folders, or alternatively make a backup of your USB key and just do a fresh install of 5.0 and reconfigure. If you are going to do this it is suggested to take a screenshot of your UnRAID homepage so you know where each drive is assigned. Also, in the config folder you can copy a few key files like:

 

disk.cfg (for disk info)

ident.cfg (to maintain server name, timezone)

network.cfg (to maintain static ip address)

share.cfg (to maintain your existing shares)

 

If you are using either a plus or pro key you will also want to make sure you have a copy of plus.key or pro.key.

 

As for benefits... the only real reason you would potentially do this if you want to start from scratch with stock UnRAID (i.e. no plugins). Otherwise it's likely not worthwhile.

 

Where this would make more sense is when you are moving to version 6 as all your 32-bit plug-ins won't work anyways, so having a virgin config makes a lot more sense. I did exactly this when moving to the 6.0 beta, but maintained the files I mention above to minimize re-config.

Thanks for the replies. I'm not sure which route I'll go yet (sounds like a weekend project) but seeing as I don't have multiple users set up and don't mind revisiting my shares... I may go the "cleaner" route.

 

Interesting note about v6. I obviously haven't been keeping up

Always make a backup.

 

Then you can start fresh or do a drop in upgrade of bzroot/bzimage.

 

What fresh buys you, a new syslinux.cfg with SAFE mode.

Or

You could copy the syslinux.cfg file from the .zip archive.

 

Tom recommended a fresh start, many of us just kept upgrading the bzroot/bzimage.

 

What ever your choice is, make a backup onto your array.

A couple months from now you can choose to clean up the backup.

I too would like to start fresh upgrading my 4.7 Pro to 5.05.  I plan on just copying my shares and smb cfg files.  I will recreate users and passwords.

 

Should I also copy disk.cfg or just reassign the disks?  If I reassign the disks do I have to rebuild parity or can I trust parity?

 

I only use the cache_dir and unmenu.  Have these been updated for 5.05?

So I ended up taking the route bkastner suggested and copied over each of those files onto a fresh install (I wanted to do away with existing plugins).

 

The server has booted fine but even though I copied disk.cfg, the first thing I saw was the device status page with my list of unassigned disks.

 

Of course I have the screenshot of the previous config, so no big deal, I just thought that file would have avoided this step. I plugged in the drives into their respective slots and opted to check "parity is already valid" as I had just run it prior to the upgrade.

 

At first glance, everything appears to be fine.

Unlocking the second core on the Sempron is a bad idea. Semprons and Althons are made from the same silicon wafers. The cores are tested and then the chips fall into 3 categories: 2 good cores, 1 good core, or 0 good cores. Silicon is cheap but the process is expensive. The yield can be increased but the cost then increases. The core may fail some very esoteric test that will never effect you or it may crash on every boot. Unlocking will not make the server more stable. Expect random or daily crashes once the core is unlocked.

 

Recently a user unlocked the second core and the system would boot but then crash within ten minutes. Another user unlocked a core and every thing was fine until he tried to run Java. Java crashed the system every time until the core was locked.

Hrm, thanks for your input. I didn't have any immediate performance issues that I was trying to address, just thought a free upgrade sounded nice. At least the box has more memory now. I'll leave it like that until performance *does* become an issue.

So I just got plex up and running again, logged in with my account and set up my library. It seems I was mistaken in my thought that media play information was synced to my account in the cloud? It doesn't remember what I have or have not watched. I still have my old directory, so if it is something that was stored local - I can bring it back if I know what I'm looking for (which I don't)

So I just got plex up and running again, logged in with my account and set up my library. It seems I was mistaken in my thought that media play information was synced to my account in the cloud? It doesn't remember what I have or have not watched. I still have my old directory, so if it is something that was stored local - I can bring it back if I know what I'm looking for (which I don't)

I have my PLEX running from a cache drive. On my cache drive, I have PLEX inside a folder called, 'applications'. Your location may be slightly different, but the folder you're looking for is "Plex Media Server":

/Volumes/cache/applications/Plex/library/Application Support/Plex Media Server/

So... I can't recall, I think it was post 5.05 update, I moved all of the old app directories I had on my cache drive to an "old" directory. It had plex, sab, etc.

 

I went looking for them now and the only thing left is the plex directory and when I drill down to plex > library > application support I get a permission denied error from my desktop.

 

Now as I'm typing this I do recall having a separate plex user set up before I did my clean wipe but I didn't go that route this time. I.. may have lost / lost access to the db file it seems?

Run the New Permissions utility.

https://forums.plex.tv/index.php/topic/83262-preserve-watched-status-when-moving-database/ < This link seems to indicate you can bring forward your watch states etc. but it requires the old install to still be running (so you can export).

 

I have regained access to the db files from my old plex install, but what do I need to do with them in order to import it into my fresh live install?

Ask in the Plex forum.

https://forums.plex.tv/index.php/topic/83262-preserve-watched-status-when-moving-database/ < This link seems to indicate you can bring forward your watch states etc. but it requires the old install to still be running (so you can export).

 

I have regained access to the db files from my old plex install, but what do I need to do with them in order to import it into my fresh live install?

 

The instructions at that link don't require the old Plex install to be running.

You just need the database file from the old install which you have.