Hi,

 

I'm after some advice as to the best way of replacing my current cache/VM storage drive and reusing the old drive as an additional data drive.  I'm currently running 6.1.9 Basic with the following config:

 

- 1 x 2tb HDDs parity

- 2 x 2tb HDDs data

- 1 x 250gb HDD cache & VM storage

 

I want to convert the existing 250gb cache drive to an additional data drive, and use a new 256gb SSD as cache and VM storage so that it looks like this:

 

- 1 x 2tb HDDs parity

- 2 x 2tb HDDs data

- 1 x 250gb HDD data

- 1 x 256gb SSD cache & VM storage

 

Please could someone advise the best way of achieving this?  I thought about simply disabling the cache drive and then manually copying the VM files to the new SSD, then setting it up as a new cache drive.  I could then reformat the old cache drive and set it as a new data drive.  Should I preclear it first?  Is there a better way?

 

Many thanks in advance.

 

Tim

your cache should be already in a compatible format

so adding it to your array should just work

just assign your old cache to the data pool

and assign your new drive as cache

then just copy over using midnight commander in terminal

your cache should be already in a compatible format

so adding it to your array should just work

just assign your old cache to the data pool

and assign your new drive as cache

then just copy over using midnight commander in terminal

This will not work, then you add a drive to the array unraid will with 0 to the entire disk so the parity can stay valid.

 

You should unmount the 250GB HDD, add the 250GB SSD and then copy everything from the 250GB HDD to the SSD. I think you can use Unassigned Devices and midnight commander for this.

https://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=45807.0

After that you can preclear the old disk, or just add it to the array if a bit of downtime is okey for you (time taken to write 0 to the entire disk).

Thanks for your replies.

 

I have enough space on the existing data drives for the VMs so I'm thinking the easiest thing would be to temporarily copy them off the cache drive, remove it as cache, preclear and add as data, add the new SSD cache then finally copy the VMs back.

 

The current cache drive is btrfs while the existing data drives (which came over when I upgraded from 4.7) are reiserfs. Should I format the new data drive as reiserfs as well?

 

Thanks,

Tim

Thanks for your replies.

 

I have enough space on the existing data drives for the VMs so I'm thinking the easiest thing would be to temporarily copy them off the cache drive, remove it as cache, preclear and add as data, add the new SSD cache then finally copy the VMs back.

 

The current cache drive is btrfs while the existing data drives (which came over when I upgraded from 4.7) are reiserfs. Should I format the new data drive as reiserfs as well?

 

Thanks,

Tim

No, go with XFS.

If you can, you should change you data drives to xfs as well, but it is not necessary.

 

If you are not going to use mulitple ssd's in cache, you should use XFS for cache drive as well.

This will not work, then you add a drive to the array unraid will with 0 to the entire disk so the parity can stay valid.

 

You should unmount the 250GB HDD, add the 250GB SSD and then copy everything from the 250GB HDD to the SSD. I think you can use Unassigned Devices and midnight commander for this.

https://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=45807.0

After that you can preclear the old disk, or just add it to the array if a bit of downtime is okey for you (time taken to write 0 to the entire disk).

 

forgot to mention you would need to start a new config before adding the old drive to the data pool.

then after copying of the data to new cache complete a new parity check to have a valid parity.

This will not work, then you add a drive to the array unraid will with 0 to the entire disk so the parity can stay valid.

 

You should unmount the 250GB HDD, add the 250GB SSD and then copy everything from the 250GB HDD to the SSD. I think you can use Unassigned Devices and midnight commander for this.

https://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=45807.0

After that you can preclear the old disk, or just add it to the array if a bit of downtime is okey for you (time taken to write 0 to the entire disk).

 

forgot to mention you would need to start a new config before adding the old drive to the data pool.

then after copying of the data to new cache complete a new parity check to have a valid parity.

Or you can do it the way I said, and you will still have a valid parity without a new parity check, and not have to make a new config

Why loose a valid parity and need to rebuild it if you don't have too?