I backup my digital photos and computers to disk1 of my unRaid server using NT Backup and some some RoboCopy scripts. I feel good about having my most important data backed up and secure, but in the case of fire or theft, i'm still screwed.

 

What I would like to be able to do is have three disks identical to disk1, and on a periodic basis, pull disk1 out and move it offsite then stick in one of the other two disks and rebuild it from parity, then rinse and repeat.

 

my main question revolves around what happens when the first dist that got pulled comes back around and gets re-inserted into the array. Does the old data on that drive get overwritten with the current parity information or does the parity get recalculated because a valid unRaid disk was placed in disk1 location.  Also, if I did need to replace the disk with the offsite version, what would be the best procedure to do that? Stop the array, select Rebuild option, shutsown, swap drive, boot, and then start the array to calculate new parity?

 

Much thanks.

Good idea!

 

To simplify, let's assume the disks you are rotating are all the same size.

 

To make a copy:

1. Save a copy of the config/super.dat file.

2. Power down, replace drive with new one, power up.

3. unRAID will detect "upgrade" attempt; click Start, let reconstruct finish.  The new installed drive now has same contents as the drive you removed.

4. If operation fails for some reason, replace previous drive, replace previous super.dat file, reboot.  System should now be in original state.

 

To recycle a drive (don't care if contents gets clobbered):

Just follow same procedure as "make a copy".

 

To restore a copy:

1. Save a copy of the config/super.dat file.

2. Power down, replace drive with the copy, power up.

3. Select Restore Array Config (check 'are you sure' checkbox). Array will now appear as "all new devices".  That's ok, click Start and parity will get regenerated.

 

 

Make sense?