Re: Format XFS on replacement drive / Convert from RFS to XFS (discussion only)


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Usually that happens when you do a New Config.  The file system type is set to Auto, which does not appear to be working correctly, not identifying the correct file system on each drive.  With the array stopped, just click on each drive and change the file system to XFS, and they should all be good again!  Make sure they are ALL correct, before restarting the array.  I don't trust the Auto setting any more.

 

I just tried it and I got the same result.  I set each to XFS and I checked each one.  See attached.

 

* At first, I suspected you attached the wrong picture, since it didn't match the current data, perhaps was from earlier.  ;)

 

* The diagnostics indicates you probably did a New Config, and have now assigned a Parity drive and Disk 1, and set Disk 1 to XFS.  Nothing else is assigned, including the Cache drive.  The disk.cfg file, probably from earlier and doesn't have the changes saved into it yet, shows only Disk 1 set to XFS, and the rest of the drives set to Auto, including the Cache drive.  The super.dat is empty, no drives assigned at all (normal after a New Config, array not yet started).  Now there are intermediate steps where what's on disk is not in sync with what is actual, but once you start the array, it's all saved.  Your picture shows the array started, so does not match the data.

 

* One reminder, which I'm sure you know and did, after changing the file system type to XFS you MUST click the Apply button, each time.

 

* Timezone is different than an earlier syslog, probably back to its default, so I assume you may have started fresh, and not set it yet.  It's a different machine, but half the drives are the same.

 

* Networking is odd, the network.cfg file is empty.  There is some configuration for it elsewhere, so it too may be in an intermediate state, not saved yet.

 

* I noticed that your diagnostics have been downloaded 48 times!  That's about double recent numbers of unusual downloads.  Sometimes I wonder if there's a computer science class or 2 where the instructor has made the students download these for study.  If so, Howdy! to all of you!  More likely, I just said Howdy to some silly spambots.  We're getting popular with them.

 

* Your flash drive shows evidence of past file system corruption, apparently fixed.  Probably fixed by the built-in fsck, but you've also had it in a Windows machine.

 

* OK I'm now examining your syslog, I see you started with an empty super.dat, no assignments, then assigned the drives according to the attached picture, set them to XFS, started the array, but when the system tried to mount each data drive as an XFS partition, all of the formats were wrong, incorrect for unRAID.  You then stopped the array, and did another New Config, assigned Parity and Disk 1 and that's where the syslog ends.

 

Because my most critical data is saved on CrashPlan, I decided to just start over.

 

All went well until I tried to add one more drive to the array.  This was an RFS drive that I copied over to Disk 1 and then formatted to XFS using UNASSIGNED DEVICES.  Unraid DID NOT accept this XFS drive, and said it needed to be reformatted. 

 

This is exactly how I lost 28TB of DATA.  I used UNASSIGNED DEVICES to format XFS, then I copied data to these drives.  UNRAID did not recognize their XFS, and required a FORMAT.  I tried overnight to recover XFS before I quit and started over.

 

I am now out of drives, but I am sure this situation is repeatable.

 

1. Format a drive XFS with UNASSIGNED DEVICES

2. Try to add it to a new array configuration

 

You will not be able to do so without reformatting the drive in the array.

 

Which is totally fine, unless you added data to the drive before trying to add it to the array like I did. 

 

Unassigned Devices did have a problem like that before, but I thought it had been fixed.  Formatting a drive requires a lot of parameters, but all we usually do is 'format drive', not realizing that we are actually choosing a lot of parameters at default values.  Clearly Unassigned Devices and unRAID are *not* choosing the same parameter values.  While this has come up before, it has probably not been stressed enough that any drive that will be used in an unRAID array should only be formatted by unRAID itself.

 

But all is not lost.  You can add drives you know are empty to unRAID, then mount the other drives through Unassigned Devices, copy the data over to unRAID, then add each of those drives to unRAID, where they will be reformatted.  To do it quicker, no waiting for clearing and faster writing, you can skip adding the parity drive until the end.  You do have CrashPlan backups.

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But all is not lost.  You can add drives you know are empty to unRAID, then mount the other drives through Unassigned Devices, copy the data over to unRAID, then add each of those drives to unRAID, where they will be reformatted.  To do it quicker, no waiting for clearing and faster writing, you can skip adding the parity drive until the end.  You do have CrashPlan backups.

 

Correct, you nailed it all. 

 

I've been using this flash drive for a while, but I have just refreshed the entire system, so I will probably replace the flash drive now soon.  It's had a few fs errors over the years.

 

I am at peace with where I am now.  I did exactly what you said with the very last drive.  I let unraid format the array without adding parity.  All is well.  If I didn't have Crashplan, I would literally be crying.  Fortunately, I have it and I am not worried about the files I can easily replace that were not on Crashplan. 

 

Most importantly, I dont want anyone else to lose data this way.  I really love UNRAID.  And I am looking forward to a better and faster system then I ever had before.

 

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<snip> RobJ's fantastic step-by-step guide to conversion while retaining parity

 

I just want to thank all those (especially RobJ) for the tips and procedures in this thread. As a novice user I had some trepidation about conversion of all my Reiser disks to XFS. I really wanted to get this done as there is no way to read a Reiser disk on OS X, and there is a FUSE plugin for XFS reads available. Plus, it's not a dead FS.

 

I converted 18 disks (totaling about 60 TB) without a hiccup. I couldn't be happier.

 

Thanks again to all those involved.

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  • 2 weeks later...
<snip>

10. Stop the array; we are now going to swap their assignments; when stopped, click on the dropdown for the new drive (e.g. Disk 11) and unassign it; it should notify you of 'Missing drive'

11. Click on the dropdown for the other drive (e.g. Disk 10), the one being converted, and reassign it as the physical drive that was just added, the new drive that was empty; you will be notified of 'Wrong drive'

12. Click on the dropdown for the slot of the new drive (e.g. Disk 11) and reassign it to the physical drive that was being converted (e.g. Disk 10); you will get more notifications of wrong or missing drives; you have just swapped the 2 drives, which is fine as they are identical (except for file system format)

13. Important! Click on each drive name (e.g. Disk 10 and Disk 11) and change the format of the drive; if it's ReiserFS change it to XFS, if it's XFS change it to ReiserFS; it's important to swap the disk formats as well as the physical drive assignments

14. You should see both drives listed with errors, possibly as unmountable, and a check box; click it and click the Start button to start the array; it should start up without issue and look almost identical to what it looked like before the swap, with no parity check needed; however the XFS disk is now online and its files are now being shared as they normally would; check it all if you are in doubt

 

I'm on 6.2 and there doesn't appear to be a way to 'Start' the array with the swapped assignments. I'm getting...

Too many wrong and/or missing disks!

 

The 'Start' is grayed out and nothing to tick to continue.

 

I'm presuming, it's not necessary to swap assignments, if I'm keeping track of the drives through the migration.

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<snip>

10. Stop the array; we are now going to swap their assignments; when stopped, click on the dropdown for the new drive (e.g. Disk 11) and unassign it; it should notify you of 'Missing drive'

11. Click on the dropdown for the other drive (e.g. Disk 10), the one being converted, and reassign it as the physical drive that was just added, the new drive that was empty; you will be notified of 'Wrong drive'

12. Click on the dropdown for the slot of the new drive (e.g. Disk 11) and reassign it to the physical drive that was being converted (e.g. Disk 10); you will get more notifications of wrong or missing drives; you have just swapped the 2 drives, which is fine as they are identical (except for file system format)

13. Important! Click on each drive name (e.g. Disk 10 and Disk 11) and change the format of the drive; if it's ReiserFS change it to XFS, if it's XFS change it to ReiserFS; it's important to swap the disk formats as well as the physical drive assignments

14. You should see both drives listed with errors, possibly as unmountable, and a check box; click it and click the Start button to start the array; it should start up without issue and look almost identical to what it looked like before the swap, with no parity check needed; however the XFS disk is now online and its files are now being shared as they normally would; check it all if you are in doubt

 

I'm on 6.2 and there doesn't appear to be a way to 'Start' the array with the swapped assignments. I'm getting...

Too many wrong and/or missing disks!

 

The 'Start' is grayed out and nothing to tick to continue.

 

I'm presuming, it's not necessary to swap assignments, if I'm keeping track of the drives through the migration.

WAG, but you can't swap assignments if you have both parity disks enabled and valid. Single parity - switching slots allowed, Dual parity - slots not movable without recalculating Q parity. It's not necessary to swap things around as long as you don't use disk specific locations, and even then it's fine as long as you change the assignments to track the new disk number.
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<snip>

10. Stop the array; we are now going to swap their assignments; when stopped, click on the dropdown for the new drive (e.g. Disk 11) and unassign it; it should notify you of 'Missing drive'

11. Click on the dropdown for the other drive (e.g. Disk 10), the one being converted, and reassign it as the physical drive that was just added, the new drive that was empty; you will be notified of 'Wrong drive'

12. Click on the dropdown for the slot of the new drive (e.g. Disk 11) and reassign it to the physical drive that was being converted (e.g. Disk 10); you will get more notifications of wrong or missing drives; you have just swapped the 2 drives, which is fine as they are identical (except for file system format)

13. Important! Click on each drive name (e.g. Disk 10 and Disk 11) and change the format of the drive; if it's ReiserFS change it to XFS, if it's XFS change it to ReiserFS; it's important to swap the disk formats as well as the physical drive assignments

14. You should see both drives listed with errors, possibly as unmountable, and a check box; click it and click the Start button to start the array; it should start up without issue and look almost identical to what it looked like before the swap, with no parity check needed; however the XFS disk is now online and its files are now being shared as they normally would; check it all if you are in doubt

 

I'm on 6.2 and there doesn't appear to be a way to 'Start' the array with the swapped assignments. I'm getting...

Too many wrong and/or missing disks!

 

The 'Start' is grayed out and nothing to tick to continue.

 

I'm presuming, it's not necessary to swap assignments, if I'm keeping track of the drives through the migration.

WAG, but you can't swap assignments if you have both parity disks enabled and valid. Single parity - switching slots allowed, Dual parity - slots not movable without recalculating Q parity. It's not necessary to swap things around as long as you don't use disk specific locations, and even then it's fine as long as you change the assignments to track the new disk number.

 

Thanks, but I'm only using single Parity. Also don't have User Shares.

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<snip>

10. Stop the array; we are now going to swap their assignments; when stopped, click on the dropdown for the new drive (e.g. Disk 11) and unassign it; it should notify you of 'Missing drive'

11. Click on the dropdown for the other drive (e.g. Disk 10), the one being converted, and reassign it as the physical drive that was just added, the new drive that was empty; you will be notified of 'Wrong drive'

12. Click on the dropdown for the slot of the new drive (e.g. Disk 11) and reassign it to the physical drive that was being converted (e.g. Disk 10); you will get more notifications of wrong or missing drives; you have just swapped the 2 drives, which is fine as they are identical (except for file system format)

13. Important! Click on each drive name (e.g. Disk 10 and Disk 11) and change the format of the drive; if it's ReiserFS change it to XFS, if it's XFS change it to ReiserFS; it's important to swap the disk formats as well as the physical drive assignments

14. You should see both drives listed with errors, possibly as unmountable, and a check box; click it and click the Start button to start the array; it should start up without issue and look almost identical to what it looked like before the swap, with no parity check needed; however the XFS disk is now online and its files are now being shared as they normally would; check it all if you are in doubt

 

I'm on 6.2 and there doesn't appear to be a way to 'Start' the array with the swapped assignments. I'm getting...

Too many wrong and/or missing disks!

 

The 'Start' is grayed out and nothing to tick to continue.

 

I'm presuming, it's not necessary to swap assignments, if I'm keeping track of the drives through the migration.

WAG, but you can't swap assignments if you have both parity disks enabled and valid. Single parity - switching slots allowed, Dual parity - slots not movable without recalculating Q parity. It's not necessary to swap things around as long as you don't use disk specific locations, and even then it's fine as long as you change the assignments to track the new disk number.

 

Thanks, but I'm only using single Parity. Also don't have User Shares.

 

Unlike v6.1, v6.2 doesn't allow disk swapping even when using single parity, Tom already posted that this will be fixed on a future release.

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<snip>

10. Stop the array; we are now going to swap their assignments; when stopped, click on the dropdown for the new drive (e.g. Disk 11) and unassign it; it should notify you of 'Missing drive'

11. Click on the dropdown for the other drive (e.g. Disk 10), the one being converted, and reassign it as the physical drive that was just added, the new drive that was empty; you will be notified of 'Wrong drive'

12. Click on the dropdown for the slot of the new drive (e.g. Disk 11) and reassign it to the physical drive that was being converted (e.g. Disk 10); you will get more notifications of wrong or missing drives; you have just swapped the 2 drives, which is fine as they are identical (except for file system format)

13. Important! Click on each drive name (e.g. Disk 10 and Disk 11) and change the format of the drive; if it's ReiserFS change it to XFS, if it's XFS change it to ReiserFS; it's important to swap the disk formats as well as the physical drive assignments

14. You should see both drives listed with errors, possibly as unmountable, and a check box; click it and click the Start button to start the array; it should start up without issue and look almost identical to what it looked like before the swap, with no parity check needed; however the XFS disk is now online and its files are now being shared as they normally would; check it all if you are in doubt

 

I'm on 6.2 and there doesn't appear to be a way to 'Start' the array with the swapped assignments. I'm getting...

Too many wrong and/or missing disks!

 

The 'Start' is grayed out and nothing to tick to continue.

 

I'm presuming, it's not necessary to swap assignments, if I'm keeping track of the drives through the migration.

WAG, but you can't swap assignments if you have both parity disks enabled and valid. Single parity - switching slots allowed, Dual parity - slots not movable without recalculating Q parity. It's not necessary to swap things around as long as you don't use disk specific locations, and even then it's fine as long as you change the assignments to track the new disk number.

 

Thanks, but I'm only using single Parity. Also don't have User Shares.

 

Unlike v6.1, v6.2 doesn't allow disk swapping even when using single parity, Tom already posted that this will be fixed on a future release.

 

Thanks for the clarification. I'll just skip the assignment swapping steps and just use the previous drive as the 'new' empty.

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<snip>

10. Stop the array; we are now going to swap their assignments; when stopped, click on the dropdown for the new drive (e.g. Disk 11) and unassign it; it should notify you of 'Missing drive'

11. Click on the dropdown for the other drive (e.g. Disk 10), the one being converted, and reassign it as the physical drive that was just added, the new drive that was empty; you will be notified of 'Wrong drive'

12. Click on the dropdown for the slot of the new drive (e.g. Disk 11) and reassign it to the physical drive that was being converted (e.g. Disk 10); you will get more notifications of wrong or missing drives; you have just swapped the 2 drives, which is fine as they are identical (except for file system format)

13. Important! Click on each drive name (e.g. Disk 10 and Disk 11) and change the format of the drive; if it's ReiserFS change it to XFS, if it's XFS change it to ReiserFS; it's important to swap the disk formats as well as the physical drive assignments

14. You should see both drives listed with errors, possibly as unmountable, and a check box; click it and click the Start button to start the array; it should start up without issue and look almost identical to what it looked like before the swap, with no parity check needed; however the XFS disk is now online and its files are now being shared as they normally would; check it all if you are in doubt

 

I'm on 6.2 and there doesn't appear to be a way to 'Start' the array with the swapped assignments. I'm getting...

Too many wrong and/or missing disks!

 

The 'Start' is grayed out and nothing to tick to continue.

 

I'm presuming, it's not necessary to swap assignments, if I'm keeping track of the drives through the migration.

WAG, but you can't swap assignments if you have both parity disks enabled and valid. Single parity - switching slots allowed, Dual parity - slots not movable without recalculating Q parity. It's not necessary to swap things around as long as you don't use disk specific locations, and even then it's fine as long as you change the assignments to track the new disk number.

 

Thanks, but I'm only using single Parity. Also don't have User Shares.

 

Unlike v6.1, v6.2 doesn't allow disk swapping even when using single parity, Tom already posted that this will be fixed on a future release.

Must have missed that discussion.  :o

 

So, for now if you want to move disk assignments, you will have to set a new config and carefully assign the drives where you want them. Just be ABSOLUTELY positive which drive is your parity drive. You can check the box to indicate parity is already valid, but I would do a parity check afterwards anyway.

 

Unless you have a pressing need to keep each migration's disk assignments correct, I'd just wait til you are all done, then reassign all disks at once.

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<snip>

10. Stop the array; we are now going to swap their assignments; when stopped, click on the dropdown for the new drive (e.g. Disk 11) and unassign it; it should notify you of 'Missing drive'

11. Click on the dropdown for the other drive (e.g. Disk 10), the one being converted, and reassign it as the physical drive that was just added, the new drive that was empty; you will be notified of 'Wrong drive'

12. Click on the dropdown for the slot of the new drive (e.g. Disk 11) and reassign it to the physical drive that was being converted (e.g. Disk 10); you will get more notifications of wrong or missing drives; you have just swapped the 2 drives, which is fine as they are identical (except for file system format)

13. Important! Click on each drive name (e.g. Disk 10 and Disk 11) and change the format of the drive; if it's ReiserFS change it to XFS, if it's XFS change it to ReiserFS; it's important to swap the disk formats as well as the physical drive assignments

14. You should see both drives listed with errors, possibly as unmountable, and a check box; click it and click the Start button to start the array; it should start up without issue and look almost identical to what it looked like before the swap, with no parity check needed; however the XFS disk is now online and its files are now being shared as they normally would; check it all if you are in doubt

 

I'm on 6.2 and there doesn't appear to be a way to 'Start' the array with the swapped assignments. I'm getting...

Too many wrong and/or missing disks!

 

The 'Start' is grayed out and nothing to tick to continue.

 

I'm presuming, it's not necessary to swap assignments, if I'm keeping track of the drives through the migration.

WAG, but you can't swap assignments if you have both parity disks enabled and valid. Single parity - switching slots allowed, Dual parity - slots not movable without recalculating Q parity. It's not necessary to swap things around as long as you don't use disk specific locations, and even then it's fine as long as you change the assignments to track the new disk number.

 

Thanks, but I'm only using single Parity. Also don't have User Shares.

 

Unlike v6.1, v6.2 doesn't allow disk swapping even when using single parity, Tom already posted that this will be fixed on a future release.

Must have missed that discussion.  :o

 

So, for now if you want to move disk assignments, you will have to set a new config and carefully assign the drives where you want them. Just be ABSOLUTELY positive which drive is your parity drive. You can check the box to indicate parity is already valid, but I would do a parity check afterwards anyway.

 

Unless you have a pressing need to keep each migration's disk assignments correct, I'd just wait til you are all done, then reassign all disks at once.

 

Understood, thanks.

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  • 4 weeks later...

If I add 2 new drive is it wise/faster to do rsync (with screen) from 2 drive into 2 new drive,

or do it one by one ?

If your parity is intact and working, only do 1 drive at a time. Reason being, each write has to update the parity drive, so if you do both at once, the parity drive will be trying to keep up with both at once, limiting the transfer speed to somewhat less than each one individually.
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  • 1 month later...

Thanks for the confirmation, appreciate it. If that was listed in the instructions too that would be nice

 

It's a good idea, and I've added it, for the user to consider.  I've also strengthened the warnings, and added words about making sure no other machine attempts a scheduled backup.  Let me know if anything else can be improved.  (I'm sure a better writer could improve it!)

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It's a good idea, and I've added it, for the user to consider.  I've also strengthened the warnings, and added words about making sure no other machine attempts a scheduled backup.  Let me know if anything else can be improved.  (I'm sure a better writer could improve it!)

 

I think you could add that the disk slot swap only works with v6.0 or v6.1, not with v6.2.

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It's a good idea, and I've added it, for the user to consider.  I've also strengthened the warnings, and added words about making sure no other machine attempts a scheduled backup.  Let me know if anything else can be improved.  (I'm sure a better writer could improve it!)

 

I think you could add that the disk slot swap only works with v6.0 or v6.1, not with v6.2.

 

Oh my!  I've been meaning to do that for a long time, and keep forgetting.  Partly I guess because I'll have to rethink how I do it, whether to provide an alternative procedure or ...  I think I was also hoping that the problem would just go away, with an update that restored the easy swapping behavior!  :)

 

I'll put it on my incredibly long list of unfinished projects ...  It doesn't seem to me to be as easy as just saying you can't do it that way any more.

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Thanks for the confirmation, appreciate it. If that was listed in the instructions too that would be nice

 

It's a good idea, and I've added it, for the user to consider.  I've also strengthened the warnings, and added words about making sure no other machine attempts a scheduled backup.  Let me know if anything else can be improved.  (I'm sure a better writer could improve it!)

 

I think the disk11 share is not addressed since it appears now (but other drives don't), and also what to do with the exclusion of disk11 in the global share settings when all drives are converted. Probably minor stuff but for the sake of completion and a peace of mind for the less technical like me..:\. And I think it needs to state that it is only for 6.1.9 and below(?)

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A bit of counterpoint ...

 

... the SAFEST way to do a conversion is simply to not do it  :)      => at least not in the array.

 

If you want to take ZERO risk, then just (a) copy all of the data from the disk you want to convert to another system;  (b)  validate the copy (either while doing it; or via a compare operation after it's done; or using checksums if you have them;  © Stop the array and change the file system type for the drive to XFS -- then Start the array and it will format in just a couple minutes;  and then (d) copy the data back to it (validating this as well).

 

Yes -- it's a long process => but almost all "computer time" and just a few minutes of "your time".

 

And there's virtually NO risk.    [The only real risk is that you reformat the wrong drive !!]

 

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I think the disk11 share is not addressed since it appears now (but other drives don't),

I'm sorry I don't understand (I did try!)

 

and also what to do with the exclusion of disk11 in the global share settings when all drives are converted.

I added a sentence, to remind them it's probably still excluded.

 

And I think it needs to state that it is only for 6.1.9 and below(?)

I thought it was only the swap trick that didn't work in 6.2?  (which I do need to mention)  I guess that is rather integral to the way I've written it though ...

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  • 2 weeks later...

 

If you want to take ZERO risk, then just (a) copy all of the data from the disk you want to convert to another system;  (b)  validate the copy (either while doing it; or via a compare operation after it's done; or using checksums if you have them;  © Stop the array and change the file system type for the drive to XFS -- then Start the array and it will format in just a couple minutes;  and then (d) copy the data back to it (validating this as well).

 

Yes -- it's a long process => but almost all "computer time" and just a few minutes of "your time".

 

And there's virtually NO risk.    [The only real risk is that you reformat the wrong drive !!]

 

This is the approach I am taking.  I know it will take longer but I am not really in a rush.  Plus I don't trust myself with all the reassigning,  My current setup is:

 

disk1:  reiserfs  5TB

disk2:  reiserfs  5TB

disk3:  reiserfs  5TB

disk4:  reiserfs  2TB

disk5:  reiserfs  2TB

disk6:  XFS (Newly precleared drive 5 TB)

 

I plan on using disk 6 as the temporary drive and will copy the data from disk 1 to it, reformat disk 1 to XFS, then copy the data back from disk 6.  Then rinse and repeat for each other disk.  Is this an OK approach?

 

I started tonight using  rsync -avPX  /mnt/disk1/ /mnt/disk6/  When I added disk 6 it formatted to XFS since that is my default format and what I want all new drives to be.  Is that OK?  The reason I ask is because RobJ menioned is should not be XFS:

 

 

  - Note: the new drive should not be formatted with XFS; if it is, then you will need to clear it or format it to something else first

 

My current copy rate using rsync seems to be around 36 MB/s.  Is that typical?  My most recent parity check was around 120 MB/s and my most recent preclear results were: Pre Read (105 MB/s), Zeroing (136 MB/s), and Post Read (48 MB/s)

 

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I started tonight using  rsync -avPX  /mnt/disk1/ /mnt/disk6/  When I added disk 6 it formatted to XFS since that is my default format and what I want all new drives to be.  Is that OK?  The reason I ask is because RobJ menioned is should not be XFS:

 

 

  - Note: the new drive should not be formatted with XFS; if it is, then you will need to clear it or format it to something else first

I think the point of that note is that if it is already an XFS formatted drive, then the step where you format it to XFS will not happen. And in fact, before you formatted it to XFS it wasn't. ;)
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