Hi,

 

To re-organize the cables and drives in my unRAID server, I am wondering if there is any concern to just swap all the SATA ports around? I know I have to keep the parity drive in the first SATA port in the system. How about other data drives? BTW, I am using the old official ASUS motherboard which has 8 SATA ports.

 

Thanks,

--Tom

Before you swap, print out the page from the unRAID user interface that shows the drive assignments.

 

Then shut down and move things.  When you restart, go into devices, and make sure each drive is assigned to the same slot, then start the array and all should be fine.

Hi,

 

Thanks for the reply. I think I did not express my question clearly, which means I am not so sure after reading the menu/wiki.

Here are the scenarios I try to understand:

 

Case#1. All the wiring to disk remain the same. Change the disk assignment on the unRAID Devices page.

 

Case#2. keep the unRAID Devices page intact, and change the SATA port to the original disk.

  For example, before changing, diskA --> SATA port #2 and diskB --> SATA port #3.

  Then change to  diskA --> SATA port #3, and diskB --> SATA port #2.

 

case#3. What if I do both 1 and 2 above at the same time?

 

Please pardon my questions. I do not want to experiment the system with the above scenarios before I really know what will happen if I do case#1, #2, #3 above. I have mixed SATA and IDE drives and just purchase two new SATA hd and a 2 ports RAID card. I also need to use the 7th SATA port located close to PCI slots on Asus P5B-VM DO board ( I have used all 6 SATA ports located together in the right).  My plan is to reorganize my (will be 10 drives) server, but want to do it carefully.

 

BTW, is the 7th SATA port any different than the rest of the SATA port? I should post this question in the hardware section, but just tag along here.

 

Thanks,

--Tom

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for the reply. I think I did not express my question clearly, which means I am not so sure after reading the menu/wiki.

Here are the scenarios I try to understand:

 

Case#1. All the wiring to disk remain the same. Change the disk assignment on the unRAID Devices page.

 

Case#2. keep the unRAID Devices page intact, and change the SATA port to the original disk.

   For example, before changing, diskA --> SATA port #2 and diskB --> SATA port #3.

   Then change to  diskA --> SATA port #3, and diskB --> SATA port #2.

 

case#3. What if I do both 1 and 2 above at the same time?

 

Please pardon my questions. I do not want to experiment the system with the above scenarios before I really know what will happen if I do case#1, #2, #3 above. I have mixed SATA and IDE drives and just purchase two new SATA hd and a 2 ports RAID card. I also need to use the 7th SATA port located close to PCI slots on Asus P5B-VM DO board ( I have used all 6 SATA ports located together in the right).  My plan is to reorganize my (will be 10 drives) server, but want to do it carefully.

 

BTW, is the 7th SATA port any different than the rest of the SATA port? I should post this question in the hardware section, but just tag along here.

 

Thanks,

--Tom

 

I am not sure I completely followed your questions, but let me try to explain.

 

1.  Drives are mapped to "slots" called parity, disk1, disk2, ..., disk15

 

If you rearrange which ports are attached to which drives, unRAID will likely get confused and realize that not all the drives are assigned to the right slots.  In this case, you can go to the devices page and reassign the disks so that they are in the right slots.  (The main page helps by telling you what drive IS assigned to a slot and what drive SHOULD BE assigned to that slot (in italics).  Using this as a guide you can straighten it out.

 

2.  If you don't like the way drive are mapped to slots, you can renumber the disks very easily.  Click this link and click on the third link in the "Hail to the Chief" section.

 

Hope this helps.

Hi,

 

I think by combining bubbaQ and bjp999's reply, the following steps should work out fine for me.

 

1. Print out the unRAID Main and Devices page to record each slot being assigned to which disk.

2. Power down the machine.

3. Rearrange all the disks, which means moving disks to different SATA ports to best organize the layout and to have better air flow.

4. Power up the machine.  Now sure if the array will come up, or up with warning since some of the port-disk connection have been changed?

5. On the Devices page, make sure all the slot to disk assignment looks the same as before.

6. Start the array.

 

I think my concern has been how I can change the connection from the hard drive to different SATA port physically for all the drives at once. Or I can only change one disk or two at a time.

 

2.  If you don't like the way drive are mapped to slots, you can renumber the disks very easily.  Click this link and click on the third link in the "Hail to the Chief" section.

Yes. This answers my first question for case#1.

 

Thanks,

--Tom

Hi,

 

I think by combining bubbaQ and bjp999's reply, the following steps should work out fine for me.

 

1. Print out the unRAID Main and Devices page to record each slot being assigned to which disk.

2. Power down the machine.

3. Rearrange all the disks, which means moving disks to different SATA ports to best organize the layout and to have better air flow.

4. Power up the machine.  Now sure if the array will come up, or up with warning since some of the port-disk connection have been changed?

5. On the Devices page, make sure all the slot to disk assignment looks the same as before.

6. Start the array.

 

I think my concern has been how I can change the connection from the hard drive to different SATA port physically for all the drives at once. Or I can only change one disk or two at a time.

 

2.  If you don't like the way drive are mapped to slots, you can renumber the disks very easily.  Click this link and click on the third link in the "Hail to the Chief" section.

Yes. This answers my first question for case#1.

 

Thanks,

--Tom

You can rearrange all the disks at the same time.  The ONLY disk that cannot be move is the parity disk.  (Rather, the same physical disk that holds parity data must be assigned to the parity slot on the devices page.  It is OK if it is on a different cable or controller.)

 

Joe L.

Hi Joe,

 

Thanks a lot. That clear my question and concern.

 

--Tom