New server is finally setup and I need to start the transfer. I'm starting with movies and it's about 20TB which if I math is right is going to take 5 days. Not horrible but not great either. I ran a test rsync and it transfered 16.5GB in about 8 minutes which is there I got that number. Again, if my math is right that's only like 250mb/s which is pretty low for a GBit network. I'm not sure if it's my network or that I'm not using the cache disk. If I use cache (which is only 300GB) I'm assuming it will fill up before the mover kicks in so I shut it off. Is there a better way to do this transfer?

No point in using cache, it will fill up quickly then you'll need to run the mover or transfer directly to the array anyway.

 

Enable turbo write and make sure you're not using compression with rsync (-z), much slower for Ethernet transfers.

No point in using cache, it will fill up quickly then you'll need to run the mover or transfer directly to the array anyway.

 

Enable turbo write and make sure you're not using compression with rsync (-z), much slower for Ethernet transfers.

 

Wow, I've used -z my entire life and thought since it was just extra cpu it wouldn't hurt but removing that boosted the speed almost 4 times! Damn, now I'm flowing at close to Gb/s. Nice, thanks!

First:

So, i take it you have enough storage on server one and two to do a complete copy without swapping out disks?

 

If so, turn off parity on the destination, copy all the stuff over, then add parity(or double parity) and if all data is transfered and parity checks out, retire the older system.

 

If you have parity while filling all the disks, it will be written over several times as parity changes each time one of the array drives does change. While the CPU rarely is the limiting factor here, write/read confirmation on two disks does take longer then on just one. You also save your parity from the heavy load of all that writing.

 

Second:

I assume the limiting factor is your network and not the write speed of your disks, in that case, especially if without parity, you could add data faster to the new system if you use USB on top of it. You might have one or two USB storage drives available that you could fill localy on your old server and then add to the new one. Be sure to set data or a drive as the source for the usb transfer, that is not currently read from for the ethernet transfer. if you copy movies over ethernet for instance, why not copy music (on another disk) to usb.

 

not realy:

Well ultimately,  pass through a usb controller (for the unraid usb drive) and a sata controller card (for your new hdds/sdds) to a vm in your old server, and start your new unraid server on your old one. Should achieve 10gbit speed max , if it'l work out at all...