Hi,

 

I got a failed disk, so I got a new one that is 3TB. However, my current parity disk is 2TB, so AFAIK i need to replace the parity with the larger one, but can I replace it when I have a failed disk?

 

Or do I need to first fix and then replace the parity disk?

 

I'm running unraid 5.0.5

AFAIK, you will need to replace the bad data disk first.  My thinking being if you replace the parity disk first, you will not be able to rebuild the data on the failed disk.

There is a procedure for doing this, but I'm not sure the procedure is exactly the same for all recent versions. I'd tread carefully before blindly following a procedure list that you may find that doesn't specifically reference 5.0.5. Best advice I can give is to email support directly to get advice straight from Tom.

The procedure is called parity swap disable. It is not used to frequently, and I agree with jonathanm that you should search for a recent use of this procedure and if you can't find one, reach out to Tom. I seem to remember a post that a user had trouble making it work. I have done most everything there is to do with my unRAID array but I have never done this. So no help here. Sorry.

It should work like this:

 

1. Install the new drive.

2. Assign the new dive as parity and the old parity as the failed disk.

3. Start the array.

 

The parity should be copied to the new parity disk and then the failed disk rebuilt on old parity drive.

It should work like this:

"Should" being the operative word. I would also be absolutely sure there were no add-ons installed if you try this, as I've seen several reports of failures because of incompatible packages being installed. They SEEM compatible, as long as you don't try to rebuild or add drives. The parity swap procedure leaves very little room for error.

Thanks for all responses, gonna check these options better.

 

I was just wondering if there is a way to just use the new HD 3TB as "1TB". I did some search on the forum and my failed drive have some issues on smart report, but preclear it could turn it usable, however it seems to not be a good idea.

 

I have two 3TB because I want to expand my current storage that is on limit.

 

So, considering that I have 2x 3TB, is that possible to use one as "1TB", then after rebuilding I upgrade my parity from 2TB -> 3TB, and then remove the 3TB to replace as a new drive, since now I have a reliable disk to replace the previous failed one.

I was just wondering if there is a way to just use the new HD 3TB as "1TB".

Yes. You would set the drive size with the hdparm utility. bjp999 would know the procedure better than I, he experimented with it a fair amount if I remember correctly. It would probably be better to set it to 2TB, since you already have a 2TB parity drive.