Hello, i've looked around but can't seem to find an answer to my scenario.

 

I've decided to start converting to XFS from REISER FS. I currently have  emptied a 2TB drive ( drive 7 in my array). I have  6tB to replace it ( i want to format it to XFS) to use as my first drive to dump data from another 6TB Reiserfs Drive.

 

how do i proceed?

I don't want unraid to rebuild the drive ( since there is nothing on it), any advice out there?

 

Thanks

Nick

Edited March 4, 20179 yr by nicolasg
added drive assignments

Keep track of your parity but do a "new config" after you remove your disk and put in the new one. Make sure your default disk format is xfs in settings disk settings before you turn on your array. (Preclear too if you haven't) Parity will have to rebuild being the only risk to this. ALSO with that many disks have you considered double parity?

Edited March 4, 20179 yr by phbigred

Thanks for the quick reply. I considered 2 parity drives,  seeing you can now do that in ver 6 ( i just upgraded from 5.2), but I would need another 6TB driveLOL. and indeed it is a lot of drives. plus I have no bays left!... so that's  a no go for now...

 

So I figured i'd need to do some rebuilding. thank you for the quick reply.  one more question...

 

1. after I replace 2TB-> 6TB ( XFS default FS) format and rebuild parity

2. Transfer all data from another 6TB reiserFS  to the empty 6TB XFS , do I simply change the FS on the second 6TB ReiserFS and Format it? ( will unraid rebuild parity again or because the drive is not changing size this time it would just be ok ( since parity was updated when all the data was transferred off of it?)

1 hour ago, nicolasg said:

I don't want unraid to rebuild the drive

You'll either have to rebuild the drive, or rebuild parity, your choice. Roughly the same amount of time either way.

 

If you have good backups of everything you don't want to lose, you could just run without parity for the duration of your filesystem conversion. It would make the drive to drive copies go faster.

Take a look at File System Conversion.

 

I would start by unassigning Disk 7, and assigning the new 6TB to it, and start the array and let it rebuild Disk7.  Don't change the format.  Then you will be ready to start the conversion process from the wiki, using Disk 7 as your initial swap drive.

2 hours ago, nicolasg said:

I don't want unraid to rebuild the drive ( since there is nothing on it)

 

From your point of view, there's nothing on the drive, but from the unRAID view, there is a file system on it plus every file ever deleted on it, and they are all still recorded in parity.

 

(Sorry jonathanm, this new software doesn't seem to inform you of other replies that just happened!)

Step one:  Do a parity check to confirm everything is okay before you start.

 

Then you can do either of two things:

 

(1)  Stop the array; change the file system on drive 7 to XFS; then Start the array and let it format it (very quick);  then stop the array; replace drive 7 with the new 6TB drive; and Start the array & let it do a rebuild of the drive.    The result will be an empty 6TB XFS drive.

 

or

 

(2)  Stop the array; replace drive 7 with the 6TB drive;  do a New Config -- be CERTAIN you assign the correct drive as parity;  and then Start the array and let it do a parity sync.

 

 

FWIW I would definitely consider adding a 2nd parity drive once you get enough space to do so.   After you've upgraded a couple of your 2TB drives to 6TB drives you can probably free up a slot for a 2nd parity drive, which would significantly enhance your fault tolerance.

 

Garycase's option #1 would be the route I would go, didn't think about that one. That way you remain under parity protection. 

You can do it that way, but the File System Conversion will be a little confusing the first time through, as it assumes the swap drive is not ready and empty at the start of each conversion loop.  You will have to keep that in mind, the first time through on steps 4, 6, and 7.  To avoid confusion, I have a note before you begin to make sure it's NOT XFS before you start.  If you know what you are doing, then certainly you can.

Edited March 4, 20179 yr by RobJ
correction

3 minutes ago, RobJ said:

If you know what you are doing

It helps to have a plan, but you don't have to follow the plan someone else has laid out if you understand how unRAID works with parity and formatting.

thank you for all the feedback I ended up replacing DISK 7 with the 6TB and let it rebuild/sync parity, once that was done, I stopped the array changed Disk7 to XFS and formatted, i'm now using unblance to start transferring data from another 6TB reiser to the 6tbxfs. ( i wrote that last night but forgot to actually submit) I woke this morning and check on the progress of the file transfer.. My Parity Drive had many errors and was "X'ed"Submitted advanced RMA to WD and waiting for a replacement.

 

 

Connection issues are very much more common that bad drives. What makes you think it is the drive that is bad? Go to Tools - Diagnostics and post the complete zip.

I didn't stop to take this diagnostics when the problem had occurred. I tried to stop the array at that point since the transfer had halted I believe, the GUI was stuck at some point and I couldn't see what was happening... I had to hard power down my server, after when it came back up the Parity drive was disabled by Unraid.

 

Attached is the Zip file you mentioned.

tower-diagnostics-20170305-1313.zip

Good you didn't have drive cages and locking cables installed. Think of the fun you'd be missing. 

19 hours ago, nicolasg said:

I didn't stop to take this diagnostics when the problem had occurred. I tried to stop the array at that point since the transfer had halted I believe, the GUI was stuck at some point and I couldn't see what was happening... I had to hard power down my server, after when it came back up the Parity drive was disabled by Unraid.

 

Attached is the Zip file you mentioned.

tower-diagnostics-20170305-1313.zip

Unfortunately, the version of unRAID you are using has a bug that prevents it from getting SMART for your drives in your diagnostics. You can get the SMART for your parity drive by going to Main - Array Devices then click on Parity to get to its page and post the Attributes.