New UNRAID user looking for advice please

[kizer]

Typically when I see an error I unplug everything and see if I can boot with everything unplugged to see if its a controller issue or something a bit simpler like your USB.

 

Thanks for hosting your labels and your chart. I grabbed it.

[Rajahal]

My thoughts: your CMOS battery died, and your motherboard reset to some default setting of disabling all your USB ports.  Can you get into BIOS at all?  If not, then the motherboard is probably just fried.

 

Do you use a UPS or good quality surge protector with your server?  If not, then that lightning could very much be pertinent.

[monza]

Kizer - i think what i will do when i get the chance is to disconnect all the drives, plug in a CDROM and a spare HDD and load up a linux boot disk. If i can get it to recognize a USB device plugged into a port then i know its not the ports at fault.

 

p.s glad you found the files useful - i think there is some 'itinerary' information integrated in the latest version of unMENU and i started adding that information there too..cant remember what "view" it was called (and i cant check as my unRAID server is down!). Its quite cool though as when you specify the brand of each drive it gives the matching manufacturer logo in the unMENU UI - it's the little things in life hey  

 

 

Rajahal - slaps on wrist for me... i didnt actually have a surge protector in use  , so maybe just maybe that lightening did have an effect as you say! As per my note above - a little testing will soon tell. As for the CMOS battery, all the previously stored values were still presentin the BIOS and even the date and time are accurate, so i dont think the battery died.

 

(maybe i am just looking for an excuse to build a new server.... did someone mention UCD...?)  

 

 

[monza]

quick pre-clear question!

 

In my current unRAID server (Tower1) I have two jumpered WDEARS running on UnRAID 4.7

 

 

I am building a new unRAID server (Tower2) with a HP Microserver N36L and plan on going 5.0. I have just purchased some Hitachi 5K3000 2TB drives which will live in this new server.

 

So... my questions:

 

1) From what i read, the Hitachi drives are not advanced format drives. What preclear command should i be using to preclear them?

2) Should i be using 4K alignment in unRAID 5.0 when i initialise my array (see note below about the jumpered WDEARS)?

3) How do I get my jumpered WDEARS to live in my new unRAID 5.0 server (tower2)?

4) Do i have an easy upgrade path to using AF 3TB drives in the near future (if possible id like to get this configured now to easily just slot them into my array as and when i buy them. However, if this isnt possible to do now due to the current hardware then so be it...)

 

thanks!

 

 

[Rajahal]

quick pre-clear question!

 

In my current unRAID server (Tower1) I have two jumpered WDEARS running on UnRAID 4.7

 

 

I am building a new unRAID server (Tower2) with a HP Microserver N36L and plan on going 5.0. I have just purchased some Hitachi 5K3000 2TB drives which will live in this new server.

 

So... my questions:

 

1) From what i read, the Hitachi drives are not advanced format drives. What preclear command should i be using to preclear them?

2) Should i be using 4K alignment in unRAID 5.0 when i initialise my array (see note below about the jumpered WDEARS)?

3) How do I get my jumpered WDEARS to live in my new unRAID 5.0 server (tower2)?

4) Do i have an easy upgrade path to using AF 3TB drives in the near future (if possible id like to get this configured now to easily just slot them into my array as and when i buy them. However, if this isnt possible to do now due to the current hardware then so be it...)

 

thanks!

 

 

 

1) Preclear them starting at sector 64.  The latest version of preclear will take the cue from your disk alignment settings on the unRAID settings page and preclear using whatever you have set there.  Or you can specify it manually with the -A flag.  Technically it doesn't matter if you use 63 or 64 since the drives are non-AF, but I think the easiest solution is to preclear all drives at sector 64 regardless (with the solitary exception of a jumpered WDEARS drive...more on that below).

2) 5.0beta defaults to the 4k aligned setting, which is fine to use.  No need to change anything.

3) Since your WDEARS disks are coming from another array, they are already formatted properly (starting at sector 63, but the jumpers force them to use sector 64 and be 4k aligned).  unRAID will not change your disks since they are already formatted in the way unRAID expects.  All the data on these disks will also be intact.  If one of them was a parity drive, then it will be filled with junk data, but unRAID should still figure it out for you.  If you assign it as a new parity drive it should work normally, and if you assign it as a data drive it should appear to be an empty drive.

4) Do you mean hardware or software upgrade path?  5.0 beta 10 already supports 3TB drives, so unless some new bugs are discovered with it there shouldn't be any reason to upgrade just to gain 3TB support.  You can upgrade to the 5.0 stable once it is released just by following LimeTech's instructions at that time.  There may be other reasons to upgrade to subsequent beta releases, but I can't advise on those until they are released.  As for hardware, most hardware on the market today does seem to work fine with 3TB drives.  Since unRAID boots off a flash drive and not a hard drive, the motherboard doesn't need to have UEFI to support 3TB drives in an unRAID environment.

[monza]

thanks dude...as always you are AWESOME!

 

i just started preclearing the drives (all four of them simultaneously) using the default command "preclear_disk.sh". As you mentioned, it picked up my unRAID WebUI setting of "4K_aligned" so all is well.

 

I'm loving this HP Microserver and these Hitachi coolspin disks [so far]. After 2 hours of preclear, the server itself if very slightly warm to the touch, exhaust heat from the rear fan is minimal, and drive temps are fluctuation between 35 and 37 degrees (45% through preclear step1)

 

 

With regards to the "upgrade path" .. i was talking software. Mostly just wanted to ensure that however I setup the new server on 5.0, it allowed me to simply slot in a 3TB drive in as parity later on down the road. I was a little confuzzled wrt the new 5.0 MBR:4K aligned option, preclear options and my jumpered WDEARS. I think you cleared it all up for me so let the UCD commence 

 

 

 

[Rajahal]

For your current 2 TB drives it sounds like you are all set.  Note that 3 TB drives currently require preclear1.12beta to be precleared properly.  Hopefully by the time you get 3 TB drives that version of preclear will be out of beta and marked stable.  I've been doing my own testing with it and haven't found any problems with it, so it seems likely.