Best way to move existing Unraid drives to a new server build


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I have an old Unraid 6 server (built sometime in 2010) that is failing. Rather than spend anymore time diagnosing the server, I'm just going to cannibalize the case and power supply, and build something new.

 

I'd like to move the disks from the old server into the new machine. What is the best procedure for moving drives with existing data on them to a new build. The new build will have a 4TB parity so that I can add larger drives in the future. Do I just move all the drives over to the new server without a parity drive, and assign the new drives as data? Do I then add the new 4TB drive as a parity drive?

 

The Unraid 6 manual is not very helpful here.

 

Thanks.

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unRAID will still recognize the drives and current array even after hardware changes assuming you have a valid configuration. No need to start over. Typically, just plug the USB into the new server with the same drives and it will boot and work just like nothing was changed.

It might be less error prone to do it that way instead of New Config. Then after everything checks out just replace the old parity with the new larger parity.

 

And of course if you wanted to reuse the old parity as data you could use the method linked in bjp999's sig for a way to avoid having to clear the old parity.

 

So many options! ;)

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unRAID will still recognize the drives and current array even after hardware changes assuming you have a valid configuration. No need to start over. Typically, just plug the USB into the new server with the same drives and it will boot and work just like nothing was changed.

 

So is the drive order irrelevant? I can plug the existing drives in any order into the new server, and Unraid will detect which drive is Parity and what drives are  Data?

 

Thanks.

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unRAID will still recognize the drives and current array even after hardware changes assuming you have a valid configuration. No need to start over. Typically, just plug the USB into the new server with the same drives and it will boot and work just like nothing was changed.

 

So is the drive order irrelevant? I can plug the existing drives in any order into the new server, and Unraid will detect which drive is Parity and what drives are  Data?

 

Thanks.

If you do it like lionelhutz suggested then unRAID will know all the drive assignments by their serial number. (These assignments are stored on your flash in config/super.dat)
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  • 5 months later...

Old thread I know - but thought that somebody else might benefit from this thread too.

 

So, I have a i5 unraid 6 setup with multiple drives. I have the guts of a new server complete.

My question is, can I rip all the drives from the older unraid machine and then it all the data be sat there ready to use if I plug and play into the new machine.

 

Would rather not have to buy 12b of drives to merely do a transfer.

 

Thanks in advance!

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Old thread I know - but thought that somebody else might benefit from this thread too.

 

So, I have a i5 unraid 6 setup with multiple drives. I have the guts of a new server complete.

My question is, can I rip all the drives from the older unraid machine and then it all the data be sat there ready to use if I plug and play into the new machine.

 

Would rather not have to buy 12b of drives to merely do a transfer.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Yes.  But for piece of mind, get a printout of the Main page (and 'Cache' tab, if you have one) of the GUI.  Then, go to 'Settings' tab, 'Disk Settings' icon and set "Enable auto start:" to 'No'.  Shutdown your old server.  Pull all the HD's and Flash Drive and install in the new server. 

 

Boot the server, check the GUI and make sure that your parity drive is assigned to 'Parity' and your 'Cache' drive is set to 'Cache, and that you have the right number of data drives.  (Data drive positions are not important.)  Start the array.  Now change back the "Enable auto start:" to 'Yes'.  If your experience is like mine was, it will be up-and-running within four minutes after you install the last drive. 

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  • 1 year later...

 

 

Appreciate that this is a very old post, but I have just been through this process and wanted to let anyone know that it worked perfectly..

my only issue was my IP reservation on my router, removing the reservation and then trying to assign it to the new mac address. but the process of .....

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Then, go to 'Settings' tab, 'Disk Settings' icon and set "Enable auto start:" to 'No'.  Shutdown your old server.  Pull all the HD's and Flash Drive and install in the new server. 

 

Boot the server, check the GUI and make sure that your parity drive is assigned to 'Parity' and your 'Cache' drive is set to 'Cache, and that you have the right number of data drives.  (Data drive positions are not important.)  Start the array.  Now change back the "Enable auto start:" to 'Yes'. 

 

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59 minutes ago, ryoko227 said:

If you have 4 SSDs setup as a BTRFS RAID 0 in your cache pool and wanted to move that over. Would you have to keep the same serial drives as the same drive assignment? Or would unRAID be able to figure that one out too? I ask as I intend to do a server migration over the next week or so.

 

You just need to connect all 4, and FYI device order isn't important in a pool, as long as all are present it's fine.

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  • 1 year later...

I know this is a old post sorry, but I have been reading up on moving my Raid and I have found a few sites that talk about it, and I would like to confirm a few things.

 

I am happy about the parts @Frank1940 posted above, but I found this posting https://www.spxlabs.com/blog/2018/6/15/move-existing-unraid-disks-to-a-new-server, and they are talking about clearing the cache. but no telling you how.

 

the only thing I can think about is moving out is the cache is my work that is label to go to a unraid like Users folder or works folder, but what about the appdata folder ?. do I need to do anything with this folder ?

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  • 3 months later...
1 hour ago, orlando500 said:

okey.. thanks. Guess i have to transfer tru nfs then... 

Or, set a new config and build parity with all the disks. You will be unprotected from drive failure until it completes, so not the safest option, but much faster.

 

Copying then adding keeps parity valid and allows you to compare the files to be sure the copy was successful. Slow, but safe.

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  • 1 year later...
  • 1 year later...

I know this is an old topic and I'm resurrecting a zombie thread...but I just wanted to comment that it still works as of 5/18/2022 with the current up to date version of Unraid (6.9.2).

 

I recently gutted my server and replaced the motherboard and CPU completely and added in an LSI 9211-8i (IT Mode) card.  I then connected all the same hard drives up and powered things online and everything just connected and worked...all VM's, all docker containers, all arrays, all shares...they just worked. 

 

Anyway, just wanted to chime in and let folks know that the above method referenced by @lionelhutz (link directly below)  worked like a charm.  Drive order is irrelevant as serial number is used...so it doesn't matter what connection they are as long as they are connected.

 

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  • 1 month later...
On 5/18/2022 at 9:37 AM, devnet said:

I know this is an old topic and I'm resurrecting a zombie thread...but I just wanted to comment that it still works as of 5/18/2022 with the current up to date version of Unraid (6.9.2).

 

I recently gutted my server and replaced the motherboard and CPU completely and added in an LSI 9211-8i (IT Mode) card.  I then connected all the same hard drives up and powered things online and everything just connected and worked...all VM's, all docker containers, all arrays, all shares...they just worked. 

 

Anyway, just wanted to chime in and let folks know that the above method referenced by @lionelhutz (link directly below)  worked like a charm.  Drive order is irrelevant as serial number is used...so it doesn't matter what connection they are as long as they are connected.

 

I'm doing something similar, but my new motherboard supports NVMe drives so my plan is to add two drives and move my cache to one of them. Should I just boot server and start the array with the two NVMe drives left unassigned, just to make sure everything started and is running fine? Then after that's finished, add the NVMe drives in to the cache pool?

 

Or should I fire everything up first just to confirm everything works, then physically install the drives in to the motherboard and add to Unraid?

Edited by caimakale
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  • 3 weeks later...
On 7/6/2022 at 1:26 AM, caimakale said:

I'm doing something similar, but my new motherboard supports NVMe drives so my plan is to add two drives and move my cache to one of them. Should I just boot server and start the array with the two NVMe drives left unassigned, just to make sure everything started and is running fine? Then after that's finished, add the NVMe drives in to the cache pool?

 

Or should I fire everything up first just to confirm everything works, then physically install the drives in to the motherboard and add to Unraid?

 

I think either one of those approaches will work.  If it were me, I'd do the first one.

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