Hey guys, here's what I'm looking to do.

 

I know the "official" procedure for upgrading a cache drive.  I'm not super familiar with linux in general.  I don't want to back up my perfectly good cache drive to my array and then copy it back to a new cache drive.

 

What I want to know how to do is insert a new disk (new cache drive), format it, mount it, and copy the current cache drives contents to it...  Then power down, remove my cache drive, and reassign this new disk as the cache drive.  I can't think of any reason why formatting a drive or mounting a drive should be impossible in unRAID without adding it to the array.  I believe the unassigned devices addon does exactly this - mounts and shares drives outside the array.

 

Can someone give me some straightforward tips on accomplishing the obvious?

Probably better to do this backwards from what you outlined. Assign and format new drive as only cache drive, mount old cache in Unassigned Devices, and copy using rsync.

Remember to disable docker and VM in the settings section of the GUI before you start, that way nothing should be in use.

Probably better to do this backwards from what you outlined. Assign and format new drive as only cache drive, mount old cache in Unassigned Devices, and copy using rsync.

Remember to disable docker and VM in the settings section of the GUI before you start, that way nothing should be in use.

 

Wise man.  Makes perfect sense and I feel like a fool now for even asking.  Well, that's what 10 beers and then deciding to rebuild your server does for you 

Going to replace all the hardware as well so I hope I don't run in to any issues.  I think unRAID activation is tied to the USB key and not some other hardware identifiers, correct me if I'm wrong?

Probably better to do this backwards from what you outlined. Assign and format new drive as only cache drive, mount old cache in Unassigned Devices, and copy using rsync.

Remember to disable docker and VM in the settings section of the GUI before you start, that way nothing should be in use.

 

Wise man.  Makes perfect sense and I feel like a fool now for even asking.  Well, that's what 10 beers and then deciding to rebuild your server does for you 

Going to replace all the hardware as well so I hope I don't run in to any issues.  I think unRAID activation is tied to the USB key and not some other hardware identifiers, correct me if I'm wrong?

As long as the key file matches the GUID of the physical key, you can change EVERYTHING else. New unraid version, new hardware, whatever.

 

If you are just moving all your drives to a new case / mb / etc, you should be able to just boot up with the USB as it is right now and everything (except VM's) should work without tweaking.

knowledge

 

One more really dumb question I don't want to research too hard.  What is the minimum PCI-Express speed to reach 6GB/s?  I see PCI-Express 2.0 cards at 1x advertising 6GB/s, is this legit?  Say I want a 4 port card, which speed slot could actually handle the bandwidth? 4x? 16x?

 

Also, any comment on the http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157500R board I am considering?

In my experience a PCI-Express 2.0 x1 controller can deliver about 400MB/s (while accessing a single device), not quite 6Gb/s but close enough for most uses.

In my experience a PCI-Express 2.0 x1 controller can deliver about 400MB/s (while accessing a single device), not quite 6Gb/s but close enough for most uses.

 

Do you think the limit on bandwidth there is the device or the bus?  That is good for one device but I don't know about splitting 4 over that same speed.

Each PCIe 2.0 lane has a max theoretical bandwidth of 500MB/s, "real word" speed is usually 75 to 80%.

 

You need at least a PCIe 2.0 x2 controller to do 600MB/s with a single device.