I couldn't find what I was looking for in the search, so I figure it would be safer to ask.  I purchased a couple of new 1.5TB drives so that I could expand my array a bit and I'm now playing musical disks a bit.  The first thing I did was upgrade my parity from a 1TB to one of the new 1.5TB, which went perfectly.  Then last night, I upgraded a 500GB with the other 1.5TB and that just now finished with no problem.  So, I'm left with the old 1TB parity and I still have a few 500GB left, so I want to upgrade one of them.  Can I just do the swap and perform another rebuild, or does that drive need to be cleared/formatted externally first?

 

Thanks,

 

Jon

So, I'm left with the old 1TB parity and I still have a few 500GB left, so I want to upgrade one of them.  Can I just do the swap and perform another rebuild, or does that drive need to be cleared/formatted externally first?

You can just swap it in place of one of your smaller drives.  You don't need to do anything to it.  The rebuild will configure it as needed to use its full size.

I figured as much, but you can never be too safe.  Thanks Joe

Hello, please can I ask what is the process to do exactly this?

 

Stop, Power Down, Replace smaller drive with larger one (but less than or equal to the size of the parity drive), Power Up and then Start ticking any "I'm sure I want to do this" type box?

 

Thanks

Hello, please can I ask what is the process to do exactly this?

 

Stop, Power Down, Replace smaller drive with larger one (but less than or equal to the size of the parity drive), Power Up and then Start ticking any "I'm sure I want to do this" type box?

 

Thanks

If by "do exactly this" you mean to replace an existing data drive with one that is as least as large as the drive being replaced and no larger than the parity drive, then yes.

 

Stop array

Power down array

Install new drive.  (if you have enough ports in your server, you can leave the drive being replaced in the server, or remove it at this time)

Power up the array.  If you used the same port for the new drive unRAID should detect it and ask if you wish to use it to replace the one removed.  If you used a different port you will need to stop the array (if not already stopped) go to the "Devices" page and assign the new disk to the slot being replaced, then go back to the main page and "Start" the array.  (You might need to check the checkbox under "Start" to enable it)

 

DO NOT USE THE "Restore" BUTTON to start the array... It is very poorly named.  It will set a new initial configuration, without parity, and then rebuild parity.  If replacing an existing drive it would cause your array to forget the old drive and its data ever existed.  If the drive being replaced was defective, you would have lost its contents.  Always use the "Start" button to start the array... (minor exceptions to this rule, but search "wiki" for "Evils of Restore Button" for more detail) 

That is great thank you; I plan to pull out a working 300GB IDE drive and replace it with a 500GB SATA drive. I will follow your advice and I'm sure all will be good.

That is great thank you; I plan to pull out a working 300GB IDE drive and replace it with a 500GB SATA drive. I will follow your advice and I'm sure all will be good.

Because they will be on different controllers  (PATA vs. SATA), you will almost certainly need to use the "Devices" page to assign the new drive to the old slot.

 

Joe L.