September 20, 20169 yr Hello Lime-Technology forum, Currently I have 1 Parity and 3 Data drives. I've moved all files off the 3rd data drive to the first two drives via MC. My plan is to use the 3rd drive to be the 2nd Parity drive in Unraid 6.2. Here is my procedure: 1) unassigned the 3rd drive 2) do a new config in tool for parity rebuild 3) assign the 3rd drive as 2nd parity Please let me know if my method is correct. Also, do I need to do a pre-clear script for the 3rd drive before I make it into a Parity drive? I already did a pre-clear on the drive a year ago when I assigned it as a data drive... Thank you
September 20, 20169 yr That looks roughly correct. 1. New Config (Retain None) 2. Assign drives where you want them 3. Double check the drive assignments! 4. Start array, both parity drives will be built There's no need to Preclear again, if you know the drive is fine. To be totally safe, you could just assign the 2 data drives and start the array, then check they mount correctly and have the right data on them. Then stop the array, assign the 2 parity drives, and start the array again to build parity.
September 21, 20169 yr Author RobJ, I will upgrade to 6.2 then do a New Config as you suggested. My 3rd Data drive still have empty folders created from the User Share. Do I need to go into MC to delete them before I make the drive into a Parity? Hopefully Unraid will do a format on the Parity assigned drives then build. Thank you
September 21, 20169 yr My 3rd Data drive still have empty folders created from the User Share. Do I need to go into MC to delete them before I make the drive into a Parity? Hopefully Unraid will do a format on the Parity assigned drives then build. Parity drives do not have file systems so are never formatted. The drive media is going to be *completely* overwritten with parity data, so it doesn't matter what is on it now (unless you need to save something off it before it's gone, overwritten).
September 22, 20169 yr Would the steps be similar if I was replacing a drive I emptied with a larger drive as a 2nd parity? 1. Unassign old drive 2. Power off and swap with larger drive 3. Power on and assign new larger drive as 2nd parity Is that right?
September 22, 20169 yr Would the steps be similar if I was replacing a drive I emptied with a larger drive as a 2nd parity? 1. Unassign old drive 2. Power off and swap with larger drive 3. Power on and assign new larger drive as 2nd parity Is that right? Unassigning a drive does not remove its data from the array. The current parity is still valid for the current disks plus the unassigned one. If you are trying to completely remove the drive, then you also have to remove it from parity, the current parity drive. When you say you 'emptied' the drive, that just means you have removed the files and folders from the visible file system but not the drive, and means nothing to the parity system, since the data of those files is still on the drive, plus the file system itself. When you delete a file, it's still there (including its metadata) but marked as deleted. To truly remove a file from the drive, it has to be completely overwritten, with zeroes in our case. To do what you want, I would use the same steps I gave earlier, except physically swap the drives first, before the New Config. No need to unassign anything, the New Config unassigns everything.
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