Hi All,

 

I've done a lot of learning and I'm ready to move forward.  I'm a bit nervous so I want to explain my hardware and describe my plan and get as much input as possible before I begin.

 

I have 2 servers,  I'll refer to them as local server and remote server.  Remote server is a 1:1 backup of local server.

 

Local server hardware

 

Elysium Case

Asrock Extreme 11ac w/ onboard LSI 3008

32 GB RAM

1 x 128GB SSD System Disk

2 x 5TB (one of these is USB 3.0)

7 x 4TB (one of these is USB 3.0)

9 x 3TB

 

Remote server hardware

 

Large Milk Crate Case

ASUS Sabertooth Z77

RocketRaid 2720

16 GB RAM

1 x 128GB SSD System Disk

3 x 5TB (two of these is USB 3.0)

4 x 4TB

11 x 3TB

 

This is my setup right now.  Both running Windows 7 and local backs up to remote nightly by doing a robocopy to the remote machine over a hamachi vpn.

 

I love to tinker learn and grow and unRaid 6 looks like just what I've been looking for all my life.

 

When a file is written to a share which drive does it end up on and how is that decided?

 

Here's where things get hairy... Correct me if I don't make sense.

 

First I would get my remote machine and run it locally

 

Then on my local machine I would:

 

Remove the 128GB System Drive

Add 2 x 500GB SSD Cache drives to the 6 block of onboard non LSI ports

 

Boot into unRaid

 

assign the 2 x 500GB SSD Cache drives

Copy two of the 3TB drive to a 6 TB drive temporarily and then

Assuming the LSI 3008 is recognized I would assign the two 3TB drives on LSI ports to the array which will automatically begin to clear them

Then copy over the contents of the 6TB to the newly cleared unRaid drives, rinse and repeat until all drives have been moved over cleared and loaded via the 6TB drive.

Then install the 6TB as the parity drive.  I don't understand if I should be using High Water or any of the other types of disk filling limits so I'd appreciate if someone could tell me which would suit me best for my usage.

 

This way would be the safest method that my frazzled brain can fathom, am I making this more complicated than it needs to be.  I don't want to be out of 1:1 at any time.

 

I know no matter what I do this is going to take months but I have a good APCUPS and I can keep my remote server running all the while so I won't be without my media but I would love to hear how long people think this might take or how I could do it faster without risking losing anything. 

 

Ultimately I want to get my local server loaded with all the 4 and 5 TB drives that are in the remote server and move all the 3 TB drives to the remote server.  Once I have parity I won't be 100% reliant on the remote server so I'll be able to move over the larger drives from the remote server one by one by removing a 3 TB drives on my local machine, replacing it with the larger drive and allowing it to rebuild.  Once my local server has all the 4 and 5 TB drives in it I should be at around 63TB and I'll have room for lots media of virtual machines, cloud storage, mobile device and network backups etc.  My remote server would get switched from a milk crate to a lian li cube cabinet loaded with all the 3 TB drives, a 3 TB Parity drive and the 2 x 128GB SSD drives as Cache.

 

All the while I want to keep my static drives as close to 90% full and leave room on the drives that I will be adding data to but I really want to get my share structure done right so I don't end up having to stick things in where they don't belong because a drive in my array is too full.

 

That's all I got, does that make sense?

 

Thanks for your help!

Change of plans.  I left my remote server in place and got 3 more four terabyte drives. That should hold my movies and free up 4 old drives. Once I get all the movie files spread out nicely into the new array I'll be able to add and clear the old drives and get music and random videos moved over then repeat until all the tv shows are done.  I didn't want to spend any more money but this way I can move to unraid much faster and I needed the extra space anyway. 

 

I'm so excited to be so close to finally booting up and adding content and dockers and vm's.  My builds so far have been pretty mundane, it's nice to have a fun project again with new challenges to overcome and a hell of a prize at the end of the tunnel.  The more I read up the more excited I get.