Trying to replace 2 smaller disks with one larger disk and hope I didn't mess up

[oconnellc]

I hope I haven't screwed myself up, but I guess I know that all my data is still good on my disks.  Anyway, here is the story...  I had two older disks that were 750GB.  I wanted to replace them with one single 3TB disk.  Let's say that the old disk were d1 and d2 and the new disk is d3.

 

The following were done with the array running and d3 added to the array

1) I created sub-folders on d3 called d1 and d2.

2) I copied the contents of d2 to the folder /d3/d2.

3) I copied the contents of d1 to the folder /d3/d1.

4) I used rsync to check the checksum of the files and made sure that everything copied over to the new disk correctly.

 

Then, I stopped the array and did the following.

1) Mounted d3 to a point so I could access the content

2) Moved the content of subfolder /d3/d2 up to the root of the drive

3) Copied the content of subfolder /d3/d1 up to the root of the drive and used rsync to make sure that that copy went well

 

At this point, I think I should have removed d2 and d1 from the array and restarted with a new config.  My understanding is that  parity would have been rebuilt and profit!

 

What I did was, power down the server with the intention of removing d1 and d2 from the server (note, I did not remove anything from the server.  I just powered down and then thought to myself "Hey, dummy, you should have restarted the array first and rebuilt parity").

 

So, now, I'm afraid to power the server back up.  I don't know just how confused the array will be by the changes I made while the array was stopped.  What should I do?  I have unraid v6 installed on the server.  Is it safe to power it back up?  Will it recognize that the array is in a bad state and just do nothing?  Will it try to 'fix' the data disks using the last good version of parity?  (I guess that this wouldn't be the worst thing, since it would just put me back to the end of step 4) above, right before I stopped the array).

 

What should I do?

 

Thanks

 

[garycase]

I would physically remove d1 and d2 BEFORE rebooting.

 

Then I'd boot, and do a New Config ... being CERTAIN you assigned the correct data disks  [Assigning the wrong disk as parity will be catastrophic, as it will do a parity sync to that drive and destroy any data on it].    The safest thing is to NOT assign a parity disk until you've assigned the data disks and confirmed that you have the correct data disks assigned and can see them okay on your network.

 

For future reference, you should have done the New Config WITHOUT d1 and d2 BEFORE you moved the folders to the root level on d3.    The probably is that once you moved those folders to the root level, you had two disks with the same convent in the same share ... this COULD cause significant issues.    Hopefully that's not the case -- and certainly removing d1 and d2 will ensure it.

 

[oconnellc]

I would physically remove d1 and d2 BEFORE rebooting.

 

Then I'd boot, and do a New Config ... being CERTAIN you assigned the correct data disks  [Assigning the wrong disk as parity will be catastrophic, as it will do a parity sync to that drive and destroy any data on it].    The safest thing is to NOT assign a parity disk until you've assigned the data disks and confirmed that you have the correct data disks assigned and can see them okay on your network.

 

For future reference, you should have done the New Config WITHOUT d1 and d2 BEFORE you moved the folders to the root level on d3.    The probably is that once you moved those folders to the root level, you had two disks with the same convent in the same share ... this COULD cause significant issues.    Hopefully that's not the case -- and certainly removing d1 and d2 will ensure it.

 

So, take out d1 and d2 before I do anything else.  Got it.  But, I'm curious, how do I restart the server?  Will it detect that d1 and d2 are missing and not start the array?  Or is there something I need to do on startup to prevent the array from starting and getting all confused and stuff?

[garycase]

If you hadn't already powered down the server, you could have gone into Disk Settings (on the Settings tab) and turned auto-start Off.    But since it's already powered down, it's going to do whatever that setting is set for => which I assume is to start the array.

 

I think with 2 missing disks the array will refuse to start, which is fine.    [if it happens to start but shows the 2 missing disks, just Stop it)    What you want to do next is go to Tools - New Config and define the configuration you want ... then Start the array and confirm all looks well.

 

[itimpi]

In fact I think it would have been perfectly OK to start the disk with all 3 disks assigned.  In my experience unRAID does not get upset with duplicate content  - it just shows the first occurrence.  The fact that data was copied with the array stopped is not relevant other than that if you used the raw devices parity would be invalid (if you used the md devices it would have remained valid).

 

Having said that if there are two disks removed when the system is started I would not think that the array would be started.  It does not matter anyway if the first thing you are going to do is a New Config.  This is certainly the safest way forward at this point.

[oconnellc]

gary and itimpi...  Thanks for the advice.  Now that I've blown the night I had set aside for this, I have to hope the wife and kids will give me an hour to take care of this tonigh...

 

--Chris