I'm looking to upgrade to unRaid 6 (purchase a basic license), to  maybe use one of those 3TB drives as well. If this migration will be easier there, then I'm open to doing that first.

 

I read the wiki and I read that I could just pull a drive -- perform a rebuild and go from there. I would need to do this for each 3TB as I swap it for a 4TB to my understanding.

 

Is there any easy way of doing this in one fell swoop?

 

 

One at a time starting with the parity drive. Parity must be as big or larger than the largest data drive. Frankly unless you are starved for space right now, I would aim for larger capacity drives.

One at a time starting with the parity drive. Parity must be as big or larger than the largest data drive. Frankly unless you are starved for space right now, I would aim for larger capacity drives.

 

50GB free. I figured adding another 2TB (which would be net gain from the 4TB) + one of these 3TB back in should give 5TB total. That should be plenty more (almost double of what I have right now). Anyone else have thoughts on this?

Rather than replacing all 3 drives with 4TB units and adding a 3TB drive back in to the array [Net gain 5TB at a "cost" of 3 4TB drives], I'd be inclined to just buy a pair of 8TB drives -- upgrading your parity with one of them and adding the other as a data drive .. net "cost" is 2 8TB drives and net gain will be 8TB.

 

Or you could just buy one 8TB drive (for parity) and add the old parity drive to the array => net gain 3TB but you'd then have the ability to upgrade your drives significantly (to 8TB) if/when you need additional space.

 

Rather than replacing all 3 drives with 4TB units and adding a 3TB drive back in to the array [Net gain 5TB at a "cost" of 3 4TB drives], I'd be inclined to just buy a pair of 8TB drives -- upgrading your parity with one of them and adding the other as a data drive .. net "cost" is 2 8TB drives and net gain will be 8TB.

 

Or you could just buy one 8TB drive (for parity) and add the old parity drive to the array => net gain 3TB but you'd then have the ability to upgrade your drives significantly (to 8TB) if/when you need additional space.

 

This would be a good idea if the 4TB drives didn't cost $100 CAD each. The nearest 8TB in Canada is @ http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178748&cm_re=8TB-_-22-178-748-_-Product

 

Not to mention, these are "archive" drives. Are these drives really safe to be just throwing into an array? I can always return these, that's not the problem. Though, I'd like to see what my other options are for $300CAD in terms of reliability, as well.

 

With that price difference the 4TB drives certainly look like a better choice 

 

You can, however, just buy two and gain 4TB of space by just adding the 2nd one to the array instead of replacing a 3TB drive.

 

With that price difference the 4TB drives certainly look like a better choice 

 

You can, however, just buy two and gain 4TB of space by just adding the 2nd one to the array instead of replacing a 3TB drive.

 

Hmm, I thought of that. I guess I've been focused on just having the minimum amount of drives in the device. Though, with proper backups I guess I should not be worrying so much. I already bought 3 but might return the 3rd.. I guess my best two options are (I have five bays total, but this is due for an upgrade, too):

 

Option 1:

1) 3x4TB

2) 1x3TB

Total Usable: 11TB

 

Option 2:

1) 2x4TB

2) 2x3TB

Total Usable: 10TB

 

Option 3:

1) 2x4TB

2) 3x3TB

Total Usable: 13TB

 

Option 4:

1) 3x4TB

2) 2x3TB

Total Usable: 14TB

 

(Is 5 too many drives?)

 

What option would you guys go for the best ratio of price / storage?

Since you already have the drives, I'd go with either Option 3 [13TB of storage plus you have a spare drive]  or  Option 4 [14TB of storage, but no spare ... although it gives you a 3TB drive to use for backups or other purposes].

 

5 is definitely not too many drives => many folks have 24 drives