I currently have 4 HDDs (6TB, 4TB and 2x2TB) on my Windows 10 PC that are in a storage pool and contain my media, personal files etc in addition to an SSD for the OS.  I want to convert this machine to a unraid machine with a Windows 10 VM (and others to come) running on top, but I'm struggling to work out how to move the data.

 

So far I have:

 

1. Setup unraid USB

2. Install a new 6TB which will be the parity drive once move complete, but use as an array disk initially

3. move files from old 6TB to new 6TB.  Then add old 6TB to array

4. Repeat stage 3 for other drives until all data is within unraid

5. Add SSD to create cache drive

6. Change one of the 6TB drives into a parity drive

 

My questions are:

 

1a.  How do I do stages 3&4?  Can unraid see NTFS disks outside of the array and copy data across to the array?  I.e I can have the drives all connected to the same motherboard, move the data and do reboots, add to the array etc as necessary?

1b. Can unraid read data from a storage pool, or do I need to remove the storage pool in windows before stage 1?

2. What's the best order to do 5 and 6?

 

Thanks in advance.

I would start from the other end. 

 

Set up an unRAID server with the NEW 6TB as the data drive (no Parity).  Now, copy the data from the 2X2TB drives to the server.  Added these two drives to the server.  Then copy the data from the 4Tb drive to the server.  Add the 4TB drive to the server.  Now copy the 6TB drive to the server. At this point, you can add the OLD 6TB drive to the server use it as the parity drive and built parity. 

 

You may have to think a bit about data organization as User Shares can span more than one drive which is normally not the case with Windows.  (You will have 14TB of storage space available that appears as one drive rather than four drives with differing amounts of space.)

 

You also want to make sure if you are planning to use your current hardware to setup a Win10 vm that the hardware is capable of supporting the activities that you intend on using the Win 10 vm for.  (Apparently, not all low end hardware is capable of doing that.  From what I have been able to discern, many folks who are setting up robust Windows vm are building servers with components that meet certain specific specifications.) 

Thanks - and unaid can copy from normal windows drives without any problems?  What about from a storage space?

Thanks - and unaid can copy from normal windows drives without any problems? 

 

Yes, there is a plugin  (http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=45807.0 )  which will allow to mount the drive.  However, as you intimated, I believe you may only have read access.  (Search for NTFS in the support thread for the plugin.)

 

 

What about from a storage space?

 

Not really sure what you mean.  If you mean from a Windows shared disk, I am not sure if it can be done from within unRAID.  But you can certainly copy from the windows share to the unRAID server using a Windows computer.  I have done that using a share on my computer and from a share on another computer using my computer as an intermediary.  (The latter does load up the network a bit!!!) 

Thanks - and unaid can copy from normal windows drives without any problems? 

 

Yes, there is a plugin  (http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=45807.0 )  which will allow to mount the drive.  However, as you intimated, I believe you may only have read access.  (Search for NTFS in the support thread for the plugin.)

 

 

What about from a storage space?

 

Not really sure what you mean.  If you mean from a Windows shared disk, I am not sure if it can be done from within unRAID.  But you can certainly copy from the windows share to the unRAID server using a Windows computer.  I have done that using a share on my computer and from a share on another computer using my computer as an intermediary.  (The latter does load up the network a bit!!!)

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/12438/windows-10-storage-spaces

 

I cant copy over the network as I only have one pc.

 

If the unassigned devices plugin is installed, then unRAID can handle NTFS disks as long as each disk is a self-contained file system.  It cannot handle other more complicated NTFS setups.

If the unassigned devices plugin is installed, then unRAID can handle NTFS disks as long as each disk is a self-contained file system.  It cannot handle other more complicated NTFS setups.

 

Thanks - I didn't think it could handle a storage pace.  I'll use the new 6TB drive to deconstruct the storage space and then the plugin to transfer the files

How are your backups being handled? Why not restore from backup? If you don't have backups, maybe now would be a good time to set that up.

 

Major migrations are always risky, I'd hate for you to lose a bunch of data because you misunderstood how something works.

How are your backups being handled? Why not restore from backup? If you don't have backups, maybe now would be a good time to set that up.

 

Major migrations are always risky, I'd hate for you to lose a bunch of data because you misunderstood how something works.

 

One of the reasons I'm going to unraid is because of a recent drive disaster and I decided it was time to grow up a bit.  I have my most vital files backup up already (family photos, docs etc) and I'm in the process of backing up my media files to backblaze.  After the migration I'm considering Crashplan because of the Docker support.