I read the whole thread and I just want to double-triple-quadruple check that I'm doing this the right way.

I'm running v6.8.2. I have 1 parity drive and did have 7 data drives. Disk5 was old and starting to get errors. I have enough space that I can just remove that disk from the array (and it'll free up a slot for me to be able to mirror my Cache drive). So far I have:

- Moved all data off of disk5 onto other disks

- Used the "shrink array" instructions in the wiki to unassign disk5

- Parity check is currently running ("Parity is valid" was NOT checked)

 

When that's done I want to:

- shut down the server

- physically remove what was disk5 from the server and throw it away

- physically move disk6 to the slot previously occupied by disk5

- physically move disk7 to the slot previously occupied by disk6

 

What will I see when I bring it back up after physically moving those 2 drives to different SATA cables (and removing the one that's now unassigned)? 

Can I just do a New Config and reassign the drives that were "disk6" and "disk7 to "disk5" and "disk6"?

When I restart the array after this New Config, should I indicate parity is valid or not?

 

Thanks,

Kyle

27 minutes ago, khager said:

What will I see when I bring it back up after physically moving those 2 drives to different SATA cables (and removing the one that's now unassigned)? 

The removed disk won't show but everything else will be the same since Unraid goes by the disk identifier (serial number).

 

32 minutes ago, khager said:

Can I just do a New Config and reassign the drives that were "disk6" and "disk7 to "disk5" and "disk6"?

Yes

 

32 minutes ago, khager said:

parity is valid

Yes 

@TRURL - thank you.

Worked like a charm. Now I have an empty slot to mirror my cache drive and my OCD is satiated.

 

I keep losing cache drives for some reason - maybe because I keep using my old disks that I pulled out of the array (?).

I have two new WD Reds on order for mirroring cache this time so, hopefully, it'll last for a while.

 

I don't post here very often (unRaid user & member since 2009) so I just have to say - again - I love unRaid. Especially the later versions. 

 

Thanks to everyone for a great product.

1 hour ago, khager said:

unRaid user & member since 2009

longer than me

Is there a way to reorder the disks in a dual parity array, and retain parity in P1, leaving only P2 to be rebuilt?

 

I've tried the following on my test server:

 

• Stop the array, run TOOLS > NEW CONFIG.   Reorder drives, and start the array:
  • With "Parity is already valid" not selected, both parity drives are rebuilt.
  • With "Parity is already valid" selected, you get the "Dual parity valid requires ALL disks in their original slots" warning.
    
     
• Stop the array, reorder as required: 
  • When this is done with 2 drives of different sizes, you get the warning about the replacement drive being too small.

    • "The replacement disk must be as big or bigger than the original."

  • With two equally sized drives: 

    • Both disks show "All existing data on this device will be OVERWRITTEN when array is Started"; and

    • "Start will start Parity-Sync and/or Data-Rebuild."

2 minutes ago, yyc321 said:

reorder the disks in a dual parity array, and retain parity in P1, leaving only P2 to be rebuilt?

New Config without parity2, with other disks in the order you want, parity valid. Then add parity2 and let it build.

Thanks!!

Just want to say thank you. I was able to do this process with two parity disks because this thread answered all of my concerns.

One question I hope someone can help me on. After doing this I noticed that several of the drives appeared in the list of historical devices. I noticed that there is an "x" to delete it. I want to make sure that if I do that I won't be ruining anything. I've never really seen this section before and I'm confused what will happen if I hit that x button.

6 hours ago, dancue said:

One question I hope someone can help me on. After doing this I noticed that several of the drives appeared in the list of historical devices. I noticed that there is an "x" to delete it. I want to make sure that if I do that I won't be ruining anything. I've never really seen this section before and I'm confused what will happen if I hit that x button.

This is part of the Unassigned Devices plugin. Not Unraid's Array.

You can delete unused historical devices.

Delete unused? As in if it’s not in the array anymore? Most of these are still in the array but because of the new config where I moved them around they populated as a historical device.

19 minutes ago, dancue said:

Delete unused? As in if it’s not in the array anymore? Most of these are still in the array but because of the new config where I moved them around they populated as a historical device.

You can always delete the historical devices without affecting the contents.   All it means is that if you in the future plug in as an Unassigned Device the UD will no longer remember any UD settings you had set for that drive.

Ok. Thank you.