Hi everyone,

 

I'm pleased to say that after some initial major teething problems (in particular, two new WD 1.5TB hard drive failures), my unRAID array is now working.

 

I currently have 3 hard disks installed (each 1.5TB) and am considering further expansion, which will require the purchase of a licence.

 

Foremost in my mind is data security and the possible problems that could affect my ability to access data in the event of a failure.  I have carefully read much of the user manual and FAQs, as well as relevant subjects in the forums.  It is clear to me that in order to minimise exposure to having an unprotected array and also minimise any downtime resulting from disk failure, I should keep a spare hard disk (equal to or larger than the size of the parity disk) on standby so that I can swap out a failed disk at any time a disk failure occurs.  I believe that I should also purchase two flash drives and two unRAID licences so that if the operating flash drive fails, I can swap it for a standby drive without exposing myself to delay while waiting for a replacement license file from unRAID's service centre.

 

However, after reading the documentation it is not clear to me about the procedure for replacing a failed flash drive.  When upgrading a flash drive there is reference to copying the configuration files onto the new drive.  However, an up-to-the-minute version of the config files cannot be sourced if the old flash drive has failed.

 

In the case of a failed flash drive could I simply install my standby flash drive, download a replacement copy of the unRAID software, add the second licence file, then boot up my box and go back to work - or does the fact that I have not imported the config files from the old flash drive add complexity?

 

My apologies if this query has been answered elsewhere - if so, can someone please direct me to the answer?

Hi everyone,

 

I'm pleased to say that after some initial major teething problems (in particular, two new WD 1.5TB hard drive failures), my unRAID array is now working.

 

I currently have 3 hard disks installed (each 1.5TB) and am considering further expansion, which will require the purchase of a licence.

 

Foremost in my mind is data security and the possible problems that could affect my ability to access data in the event of a failure.  I have carefully read much of the user manual and FAQs, as well as relevant subjects in the forums.  It is clear to me that in order to minimise exposure to having an unprotected array and also minimise any downtime resulting from disk failure, I should keep a spare hard disk (equal to or larger than the size of the parity disk) on standby so that I can swap out a failed disk at any time a disk failure occurs.  I believe that I should also purchase two flash drives and two unRAID licences so that if the operating flash drive fails, I can swap it for a standby drive without exposing myself to delay while waiting for a replacement license file from unRAID's service centre.

 

However, after reading the documentation it is not clear to me about the procedure for replacing a failed flash drive.  When upgrading a flash drive there is reference to copying the configuration files onto the new drive.  However, an up-to-the-minute version of the config files cannot be sourced if the old flash drive has failed.

 

In the case of a failed flash drive could I simply install my standby flash drive, download a replacement copy of the unRAID software, add the second licence file, then boot up my box and go back to work - or does the fact that I have not imported the config files from the old flash drive add complexity?

 

My apologies if this query has been answered elsewhere - if so, can someone please direct me to the answer?

Fortunately, once you have assigned your drives to the array the contents of the "config" folder do not change in ways that would not let you copy the "config" folder to another flash drive.   

 

So, you can copy the "config" folder anywhere, even to one of your PCs.  If you make configuration changes, get a new copy.  That will prepare you for most restoration situations.

 

Joe L.