I need to rearrange my HDs physically and want to also rearrange virtually (also adding 2 drives 12&13 not yet shown).  I have to connect one drive to a PCI card (disk13) and since this will be the lowest performance I was thinking my Music Share HD (currently disk9) would be the best choice since it only streams music.  I would also like to have all the other drives in size order starting with (yet to be installed) 2TN as disc1 and going down.  Then I would like to also arrange them this way in the Web View. So is this correct:

 

1) Add two new HDs to drive12 & drive13 and start and mount.  Then power down.

 

2) Physically remove and write down were each HD was (in case of problems), then put HDs in the physical order I want (My case has swappable trays).  Power up and hit "Restore" and it will figure out the new arrangement and start up.

 

3) To rearrange virtually, stop array and click on Devices.  Rearrange them in the order I want and hit "restore" and it will accept the new virtual arrangement.

 

4) Go to Shares and reenter the correct data for the new arrangement.

 

Picture as is now (or last night since parity is complete)

 

 

Never hit "restore"

 

Let me repeat that...

 

Never hit restore.

 

Itis ONLY used when you wish to delete the existing configuration and force the complete re-calculation of parity when you next start the array.  during that re-calculation you are NOT protected from a disk failure.  I can see from your screen shot you are currently not protected by parity (the orange indicator shows that) so let that parity calculation finish before doing anything.

 

Unless you are doing something very unusual, the only time the "Restore" button ever is needed is if you are removing a drive from the array and are NOT replacing it.  In other words, reducing the number of data drives in the array.  In fact, the most current release of unRAID has removed the "Restore" button.  Pressing it at the wrong time (when you have a drive that has failed) will result in a loss of data.  You would NOT be happy.

 

Your screen-print just documented the locations of the existing disks. 

 

The steps I would follow are

1. Let the current parity calculation complete. 

2. Stop the array

3. Power down the array

4. Physically add the new drives, move the existing disks to the slots you want.

5. Power up the array. 

6. Odds are high the array will not start.  It might even complain of missing disks since you moved them to slots on the disk controller that were unused previously.  Go to the "Devices" page and assign ONLY the previously existing drives.  Do not assign the new drives you have pre-cleared... not yet anyway.  Assign the drives to the logical slots in the array you wish.  It is OK to leave gaps in the disk assignment.  Example: You can have disk 6 and 8 assigned and leave disk7 un-assigned.  The only drive that is critical to stay in the same logical assignment is the parity drive.  Be very careful to NOT assign a data drive as the parity drive.

7. Go back to the main page and press "Start" to start the array.  (You may need to check the checkbox under it to enable it since you are making a change in the configuration)

When the array starts, it should have all "green" indicators.  You will be parity protected, and all the previously existing disks will be in the physical and logical assignments.

 

8. Stop the array by pressing "Stop"

9 On the devices page, assign the two new drives you have pre-cleared.

10 go back to the main page and press "Start" to start the array.  (again, you might need to check the checkbox under it to enable it)

The array will ad the two new drives.  They will show up as "Un-formatted" in the display.  They should be the only two drives that show as un-formatted.  If you see more than that, do NOT proceed.  Post what you are seeing in this thread.

 

If you only see the two drives as un-formatted, and you see all the other disk indicators as "green" then press the "Format" button.  It typically takes less than a minute to format them.  Once formatted, you can then see them as "green" on your web-management display.

11.  Once the two new drives are formatted, you can use them.  You might want to review the settings on the user-shares page if you have any include/exclude disks defined, especially if they were logically moved in the above steps.

 

12. It is at this point where you can run the "mv" command you initially described.

 

This entire sequence was done without losing parity protection, and without the use of the button labeled as "restore"  (It was very badly labeled, an was actually a "Delete Disk Configuration and Invalidate Parity" button.  More than once it caused a person to lose their data when they pressed it after a disk failure expecting it to restore their data.)

 

You might consider at some point upgrading to the newest version of unRAID.  It offers a 20 to 30 percent performance improvement for most people. 

 

Joe L.

Thanks a ton Joe,

 

Your detailed instructions are as always fantastic.

 

It's good to know I can add the HDs (but not assign) and rearrange (reassign) with one shutdown. Just for conformation as long as I keep a record of the way it is now and can always go back and not lose any data (I'm always super cautious about keeping the parity drive correct)?

 

Here is my plan. My parity drive is in slot 1 and slot 2 is now open because I removed my cache drive (to use as a backup for my HTPC).  In slot 3 is disk1 and as far as I know they are sequential from there (slot 4-drive2, ...slot 8-drive5...).  I plan on putting a blank (precleared) 2TB in slot 2 and making it drive1. So at step 6 I will assign current drive1 to drive2 and leave drive1 empty until step 9). Next assign drive2 to drive3,...drive5 to drive7 (so I can leave an empty spot for the former 1.5TB parity drive).

 

Physically I'm moving what is drive9 from a PCIe slot to a (4) PCI board slot (which in my mind is drives 13-17).  However I can still assign it to drive9 (assigned drive numbers aren't hardwired to the physical location) and keep my HD's sorted by size (parity-largest to smallest)?

Thanks a ton Joe,

 

Your detailed instructions are as always fantastic.

 

It's good to know I can add the HDs (but not assign) and rearrange (reassign) with one shutdown. Just for conformation as long as I keep a record of the way it is now and can always go back and not lose any data (I'm always super cautious about keeping the parity drive correct)?

To be super cautious, make a copy of the "config" folder on your flash drive.  Save it on your PC.  Yes, you can always revert.

Here is my plan. My parity drive is in slot 1 and slot 2 is now open because I removed my cache drive (to use as a backup for my HTPC).  In slot 3 is disk1 and as far as I know they are sequential from there (slot 4-drive2, ...slot 8-drive5...).  I plan on putting a blank (precleared) 2TB in slot 2 and making it drive1. So at step 6 I will assign current drive1 to drive2 and leave drive1 empty until step 9). Next assign drive2 to drive3,...drive5 to drive7 (so I can leave an empty spot for the former 1.5TB parity drive).

 

Physically I'm moving what is drive9 from a PCIe slot to a (4) PCI board slot (which in my mind is drives 13-17).  However I can still assign it to drive9 (assigned drive numbers aren't hardwired to the physical location) and keep my HD's sorted by size (parity-largest to smallest)?

It sounds like it will work... Just let the current parity calculation complete before doing ANYTHING.  If at any point you see a disk missing from the assignment page it probably has a poor connection on its drive tray.  Correct that before doing anything.  To re-assign a disk on the devices page you need to un-assign it from the existing slot to free it for re-assignment to the new logical slot.

 

Joe L.

To be super cautious, make a copy of the "config" folder on your flash drive.  Save it on your PC.   Yes, you can always revert.

 

 

I'll make a copy of this folder/contents to my Mac and keep a copy until after all is woking (no need to reply if this is correct).

 

It sounds like it will work... Just let the current parity calculation complete before doing ANYTHING.  If at any point you see a disk missing from the assignment page it probably has a poor connection on its drive tray.  Correct that before doing anything.  To re-assign a disk on the devices page you need to un-assign it from the existing slot to free it for re-assignment to the new logical slot.

 

Joe L.

 

My parity finished a 6:00am and I would never even consider moving a file without it.  I'm even a little nervios waiting on it (although I have the "old" parity just waiting. Will give it a go this evening.

 

Thanks,

Not working. I even removed the 2 new yet to be assigned HDs. The Start Button is grayed out. If I check and then uncheck the I'm sure I want to do this Box the Start becomes selectable as in the picture 1. When I hit Start it say as in the picture 2 and I wait, hit refresh and it goes back to picture 1 with the Start Button grayed out again until I check./uncheck the I'm I sure I want to do this box.

 

I have rechecked and all the original drives are geting power and are accounted for in the new configuration.

 

 

Picture 1

 

Picture2

 

 

 

 

Went back and put everything like it was (physical and assignments) and it started right up.  Will try just reassigning now.

 

EDIT: Same results.  Back to my original setup and working fine. Will not except changes for some reason.

Not working. I even removed the 2 new yet to be assigned HDs. The Start Button is grayed out. If I check and then uncheck the I'm sure I want to do this Box the Start becomes selectable as in the picture 1. When I hit Start it say as in the picture 2 and I wait, hit refresh and it goes back to picture 1 with the Start Button grayed out again until I check./uncheck the I'm I sure I want to do this box.

 

I have rechecked and all the original drives are geting power and are accounted for in the new configuration.

 

 

Picture 1

 

Picture2

 

 

 

 

The array is confused since you are using new ports on the disk controller. 

From your screen print it thinks disk12 and 13 are new. (since they are on new ports on the disk-controller)

 

To fix, put the disks in 12 and 13 into the slots you were trying to leave vacant.  Then you should be able to start the array.

 

Once you get it started, you can introduce the new disks in slot12 and 13, then as a last step, once it knows of those ports on the disk controller, stop the array, swap the two new with the disk1 and disk8 slots, and re-start.

 

The array is confused since you are using new ports on the disk controller.  

From your screen print it thinks disk12 and 13 are new. (since they are on new ports on the disk-controller)

 

To fix, put the disks in 12 and 13 into the slots you were trying to leave vacant.  Then you should be able to start the array.

 

Once you get it started, you can introduce the new disks in slot12 and 13, then as a last step, once it knows of those ports on the disk controller, stop the array, swap the two new with the disk1 and disk8 slots, and re-start.

 

Thanks Joe,

 

I think you are right about it being confused but not for the reason you think (since you don't have complete info). I decided not to go through all the trouble of physically moving the discs (except disc7 from the PCIe to a PCI slot).  I put disc7 back in it's physical slot and still no go.  I believe it is confused because of removing the cache disc which was in MB SATA 1 (or slot 2) and/or removing the precleared discs.

 

However I think I've found a looooooooooooong workaround.

 

I physically moved disc7 to the PCI slot and reinstalled the 2 precleard disc (1 in the open cache slot and the other in the open slot where disc7 was).  I started and it sees it as a new disc that must be rebuilt (it won't let me reassign the original disc7 to that spot).  So I'm going to let it rebuild. Then mount the other 2 discs and move the data from the rebuild to disc13 (which already has the data, but....).  Then after all this hopefully I can reassign the discs in the order I want.

 

I know this is confusing to try and understand (hell I'm confused reading it myself).

Finally getting there.