In Short:

 

Need guidance on the best way to refresh my existing unRAID hardware/software/setup because original PC hardware from 2008 is starting to fail on me (maintaining data).

 

Details:

 

I built an unRAID tower in 2008, which has performed admirably and has protected my data and given me network attached storage for the last 7.5 years.  Through HD failures, recoveries, and all, it has performed well for my 13 installed data drives.  The version of unRAID on the server is currently 4.5.6 (I know, pretty old).

 

Recently, some of the drives have stopped being recognized by unRAID.  After some experimenting (swapping out drives, shuffling drive bays, etc) I determined that it's not an issue with the HDs themselves, it's that either the Motherboard or the cabling supporting them has started to fail.

 

All of this leads me to think that perhaps I need to refresh my motherboard and other fundamental hardware pieces.  My current setup is all SATA II.  I'd like to refresh all my hardware and set the grounds for an unRAID server that will last me another 8 years!

 

That said, I have 13 current HDs full of data.  Would like some high-level guidance from the friendly folks on this forum about the best ways to accomplish this.  I think at the very least I need to get a new MB/assocaited CPUs/RAM/cables/etc and use the existing HDs.  Open to other crazy suggestions from folks who have done this sort of upgrade in the past.

 

Thanks again for your help.

So, you currently have more than 1 drive not being recognized?

 

If you say yes, then about all you can do is build the new server, connect all the drives and hope they work. The disk assignment in the old version of unRAID won't be any good because it'll already have set those drives as missing.

 

The biggest thing is to make sure ONE_HUNDRED PERCENT you do not assign a data drive as parity. If you are not sure then start with the data drives assigned only and make sure the array starts and you can access the data on all of them.

 

You can copy the config files for the user shares so you don't have to set them up again.

 

I'd use the newest V6 beta on the new server. I helped a buddy fix his server and a drive was dead when we swapped them over. I had no problem upgrading to V6 and then telling unRAID V6 to trust parity and start the array and it always simulated the dead drive just fine. I even messed around a bunch re-starting the array with different configurations trying different ports and cables. So, upgrading to  the new version of unRAID made a single dead drive fairly easy to recover from since the parity was valid before the drive failed.

I've actually been able to get the server into a happy state by consolidating data onto larger drives and utilizing other, still functional ports on the MB.  However, the fact that I've lost 2 MB ports already is indicative that this old hardware is on the way out and I don't want to be caught without a functioning server if it takes a dive the rest of the way.

 

That said, I don't necessarily need to copy over the config to a new unRAID server exactly--I'm happy to reassign the drives.  Thanks for your tip on the big red flag of assigning a data drive as the parity disk.

 

Essentially though, your recommendation is to simply build the new unRAID hardware, plug in the new data drives, and assign them as needed.

Coming from that older version, I'm sure you will have to run New Permissions, but you can cross that bridge when you come to it.