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How to reformat existing drive


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So I started a new install of unraid 6 using a couple of new 4 and 5 tb drives. I have an existing 2 tb drive from my unraid 5 server. The new drives formatted to xfs, the old one is still reiserfs. Will this matter? I've tried to reformat it to xfs but it hasn't worked.

 

First it tells me to stop the array to reformat, but when I do the option isn't available. I've clicked on the drive and changed filetype to xfs but it swaps back to auto and stays as reiserfs.

 

Obviously this isn't a major problem, I'd just like to know how to do it, thanks.

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It should work to Stop array, then click on the device in question.  On that page, select 'XFS' as the file system type, click Apply.  Now back to Main, Start array and that disk should come up 'unmountable' and there should be a Format button - if all appears as I describe, click it!

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So I started a new install of unraid 6 using a couple of new 4 and 5 tb drives. I have an existing 2 tb drive from my unraid 5 server. The new drives formatted to xfs, the old one is still reiserfs. Will this matter? I've tried to reformat it to xfs but it hasn't worked.

 

First it tells me to stop the array to reformat, but when I do the option isn't available. I've clicked on the drive and changed filetype to xfs but it swaps back to auto and stays as reiserfs.

 

Obviously this isn't a major problem, I'd just like to know how to do it, thanks.

 

While RFS will work, many users, myself included, experience performance issues especially with larger drives as the become full. I would recommend migrating to XFS. If you stoo the array, and then click on the disk, you should see the format as reiserfs or auto. Change it to xfs and save the configuration. When you restart the array the drive should appear as unmountable and offer an option to format it. Parity is maintained through this process. Note that all of the data on the drive will be lost when you format it, so please ensure that all useful data has been successfully migrated to other disks beforehand.

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  • 1 year later...

How is parity maintained when you format a disk in the array to a new file system?

 

I'm thinking of migrating my 10 RFS disks to XFS and I have a handle on how to move the data off individual disks so that I can convert them but this is the part I want to be 100% sure of...

 

After the format is complete the array resumes operation with my 10 disks as before?  At any time (e.g. during the format process) is the array unprotected?

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How is parity maintained when you format a disk in the array to a new file system?

 

I'm thinking of migrating my 10 RFS disks to XFS and I have a handle on how to move the data off individual disks so that I can convert them but this is the part I want to be 100% sure of...

 

After the format is complete the array resumes operation with my 10 disks as before?  At any time (e.g. during the format process) is the array unprotected?

Parity has no concept of files or file systems. As long as you only operate on the /mnt/disk or md devices, parity is maintained. If at any point you mess with sd? devices, you will corrupt parity.

 

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I know this is an old thread, but I hate to see threads where there's no confirmation of the information given, so I thought I'd say I just had great success with the process described, and was able to convert an EMPTY 4tb drive in my UnRaid to XFS from RFS..  After the days-long process of moving my data around, it took just a few seconds to do the actual convert. 

 

Thanks for the info..  and just FOUR more disks to go!!  :-)

 

-Steve

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I can also confirm this process works. I have converted 6 of my 9 data disks to XFS from ReiserFS. I started by adding a new data disk as XFS. Then, migrated data from one disk to the next, stopped the array, changed the format setting, started the array, and hit the format button. It's really just that simple.

 

Thanks @limetech!

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  • 1 year later...
  • 2 years later...
On 7/30/2016 at 5:23 AM, jonathanm said:

Parity has no concept of files or file systems. As long as you only operate on the /mnt/disk or md devices, parity is maintained. If at any point you mess with sd? devices, you will corrupt parity.

 

 

Again, I know this is an old thread but may I ask for some pre-emptive confirmation?

 

I am replacing three of my old drives that are showing signs of impending failure.  They are all original disks formatted in reiserfs.  I would like to migrate to xfs format.  I have precleared three new WD red 3TB disks

 

The first disk replacement I tried was one precleared but unformatted 3Tb drive.  I stopped the machine and swapped the disks, then started up again and selected the new HDD in place of the old drive.  Parity sync and rebuild took place fine but the format is still reiserfs despite the default now being xfs.

 

I have now mounted the other two drives as unassigned disks and formatted them as xfs.  My question is: when I swap them into the array as replacements for the two reiserf drives, will the format remain xfs, or will it revert to the original drive format?

 

If I were to transfer all data onto the new drives whilst they are still mounted as Unassigned drives, would this make a difference when I swap them in?  I am thinking that I might have to reformat the new reiserfs drive in situ and then rebuild again?

 

Can anyone shed any light on the logic here?

 

Many thanks, indeed

 

 

D

 

 

 

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A rebuild always rebuilds to the same file system type so cannot be used as a method of converting to XFS.     The standard conversion process always involves copying the data off the disk so that is can be reformatted to XFS (wi-img any existing contents) and then copying data back.

 

in your case I would be tempted to do the following variation on the standard process:

  • Use Tools >> New Config to reset the array (using the option to keep current assignments)
  • Go back to the Main tab and change the assignments for the disks that are in ReiserFS to be the 3 new disks.   At this point make sure that they are set to be XFS (if necessary clicking on the drive to get to the option to explicitly set the format).
  • Start the array to commit the new assignments and start rebuilding parity based on the new assignments.  All disks with existing data will come up as normal and the 3 new disks may show as unmountable (but may not if formatted under UD).   At this point the unassigned reiserfs disks will show up under Unassigned devices.
  • Format the new disks to XFS if needed.   Make sure that the disks you are formatting are the ones you expect as you do not want to accidentally format the wrong disk losing its current contents.    This can be done while parity is being built or you can wait until that completes.   It is quite a quick process so do it when it is most convenient.
  • mount the reiserfs disks in Unassigned Devices and copy their data back to the array at the location you want.   In theory you can do such a copy while parity is being rebuilt but I would suggest waiting as copying while building parity severely affects the speed of both the copy and the parity rebuild.

the downside to the above is that you are unprotected if one of the reiserfs disks actually fails while doing this and you could lose it’s data (do you have backups?).   The upside is that it will be by far the fastest approach and puts the least strain on the reiserfs disks during the process.   
 

If you do not want to take the risk of being unprotected then you can follow the standard process as documented in this forum thread.

 

 

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38 minutes ago, itimpi said:

A rebuild always rebuilds to the same file system type so cannot be used as a method of converting to XFS.     The standard conversion process always involves copying the data off the disk so that is can be reformatted to XFS (wi-img any existing contents) and then copying data back.

 

in your case I would be tempted to do the following variation on the standard process:

 

 

 

Thank you itimpi, that is a great explanation.

 

I am in the process of transferring data but will do as you suggest afterwards.

 

Thanks again

 

D

Edited by adgilcan
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All worked well apart from a couple of curiosities:

 

1). The data transfer rates from disk to disk were painfully slow at around 30Mb/s to 80Mb/s. Strangely, even though I was doing it through Krusader, it seemed to slow down even further when my laptop was off and it took well over 12 hours to transfer 1.5Tb

 

2). All replacement disks had been formatted in Unassigned Devices but when they were assigned to the array and data transfer attempted, one of them kept throwing up the error "Not enough space......"  And then became an unmountable drive.  The others were fine.  I got around it by putting it back as an UD, reformatting it and transferring the data as two UDs, then resetting the array, reassigning it to the array and doing a new parity build.  Long-winded and SLOW (took a couple of days of data transfer etc) but all done now.

 

Thanks for your help

 

 

D

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  • 2 years later...
On 6/24/2015 at 8:31 PM, limetech said:

It should work to Stop array, then click on the device in question.  On that page, select 'XFS' as the file system type, click Apply.  Now back to Main, Start array and that disk should come up 'unmountable' and there should be a Format button - if all appears as I describe, click it!

I was stuck on this like the user who posted the question but after I slowed down and actually read what you said I saw at the bottom of the "main" page it does in fact say formatt and it's grayed out until you click the small little check box lol you guys/girls are life savers haha I was thinking there had to be something I was missing lol its been a good while since I added disks to my array so good thing for you all ❤️🧡💛

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  • 1 year later...

Ok I too hate to revive old threads, BUT just to be clear. I am using unRAID v6.12.6 and I stop the array and in the "<Main>" menu I see the Array Devices. I click on "Disk 1" and that opens up to the first tab under /Main/Settings/Device?name=disk1 but I do not see any means to format a disk nor to set the file system type there. Partition type just says "Unknown" - and from what I see on the "<Main>" page I do not see any text that states format. I must be missing something really basic.

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Ok that is odd. I had to reboot the unRaid server, because it said all the drives were unknown, then I stopped the array and NOW I see that I can format the drives in one bulk go. I'll keep ya posted.

Edited by bs98
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