Drive Upgrade Procedure Check

[blu3_v2]

Hi,

 

I currently have a HP N40L Microserver running 4x4Tb HGST HDD on unRAID 6.4.1. I have just purchased 2x8Tb WD MyBook Externals, and plan on shucking the drives to Upgrade my server. Initially these drives will replace two of the existing drives (the first being the Parity disk of course, seeing it will be larger than my current Parity Drive), however, I then plan on adding the old drives to the array in the 5.25" slot using a PCI SATA card and Nexus Double-Twin.

 

After reading the FAQ I think I have the procedure worked out, but wanted to check with the unRAID community (read - experts) to make sure I was planning on doing everything correctly as I wild hate to screw things up and lose any data. 

 

Parity Drive Replacement Procedure (Additional question - is this the same to replace an old 4Tb Array Drive with a new 8Tb?)

1. Run non-correcting Parity Check

2. Stop Array

3. Unassigned current Parity Drive

4. Shut Down server

5. Replace old 4Tb with new 8Tb Drive

6. Reboot server

7. Assign new 8Tb to Parity slot

8. Restart Array, at which point unRAID will prompt me to rebuild parity.

 

Re-adding old drive(s) as new Array Drive (should this be done one disk at a time or can both old drives be added at the same time to extend array?)

1. Stop Array

2. Shut Down server

3. Install extra Drives

4. Reboot server

5. Add Drives to extra Disk slots

6. Restart Array, and unRAID should prompt me to format and add to Array.

 

Am I missing anything or is this the correct Upgrade Procedure?

 

On the subject of Formatting Drives, all of my current drives are formatted as ReiserFS. Am I best to: Format the new disks as ReiserFS so that all disks are the same format, format the new disks as XFS, or take this opportunity to convert my whole array to XFS which is now the recommended format as per unRAID?

[JonathanM]

24 minutes ago, blu3_v2 said:

format the new disks as XFS

Yes, do this.

24 minutes ago, blu3_v2 said:

or take this opportunity to convert my whole array to XFS which is now the recommended format as per unRAID?

That isn't an or, to convert you need to copy the data from a ReiserFS disk to an XFS disk, then format the freshly copied Reiser disk to XFS, and copy the next Reiser disk. Lather rinse, repeat until all disks have been copied and formatted.

 

The way you stated it made me think you may be expecting a way to convert your ReiserFS disks in place to XFS. That isn't possible with unraid. You must copy the data to a disk with the desired file system type and format the Reiser disks to XFS, which erases all the data on them.

[blu3_v2]

33 minutes ago, jonathanm said:

Yes, do this.

Thanks for the advice,

 

I realise I cannot convert in place. I thought that while I had a spare disk it might be an opportune time to use the mirror-method to copy my data disk by disk and convert to XFS, but was wondering if it is worth going to the trouble (is ReiserFS fine to keep using, and is XFS that much of an improvement?). If I am going to convert to XFS, it would be best to do it sooner rather than later (as amount of data and copy time is only going to increase with time).

[JonathanM]

The support for ReiserFS is dying, since the author Hans Reiser is rotting in prison for killing his wife.

 

Some people experience hard lockups when writing to ReiserFS file systems, and in any case performance is abysmal when writing to a relatively full ReiserFS drive, the larger the drive, the worse it is.

 

Sooner is better than later.

[trurl]

1 hour ago, blu3_v2 said:

Parity Drive Replacement Procedure (Additional question - is this the same to replace an old 4Tb Array Drive with a new 8Tb?)

1. Run non-correcting Parity Check

2. Stop Array

3. Unassigned current Parity Drive

4. Shut Down server

5. Replace old 4Tb with new 8Tb Drive

6. Reboot server

7. Assign new 8Tb to Parity slot

8. Restart Array, at which point unRAID will prompt me to rebuild parity.

Step 3 is unnecessary.

 

1 hour ago, jonathanm said:

you need to copy the data from a ReiserFS disk to an XFS disk

If you are planning to copy it back to the newly formatted XFS disk then it doesn't matter where you put it in the meantime. If you don't have room, you could copy it to an Unassigned Device or even another computer, for example. The key thing to remember is if you change the filesystem of a disk unRAID will format it. And you can only format an array disk while it is already part of the array.

 

26 minutes ago, blu3_v2 said:

If I am going to convert to XFS, it would be best to do it sooner rather than later (as amount of data and copy time is only going to increase with time).

If all new disks are XFS, then the only thing that might increase is if you continue to write to ReiserFS disks. It is possible to exclude certain disks from user share writes. All user share settings only determine where unRAID will write new files. All reads will still include any disk (unless it is excluded from all user shares in Global Share Settings).

[blu3_v2]

29 minutes ago, trurl said:

Step 3 is unnecessary.

Thank you for the simplification. Am I correct in assuming that the same procedure applies to replacing a smaller array disk?

 

Looks like XFS is the way forward. I will have to do some more reading, and may start a new topic to check my procedure when I am ready to add the old disks back to array.

[trurl]

4 minutes ago, blu3_v2 said:

Thank you for the simplification. Am I correct in assuming that the same procedure applies to replacing a smaller array disk?

Yes

[blu3_v2]

Update:

 

I have replaced my old 4Tb Parity Drive with a new 8Tb HDD, and am currently completing the Parity Rebuild.

 

I would like to re-use my current 4Tb Drive as a new Array Drive seeing that there is nothing wrong with it and I have room in both my case and on my unRAID Licence, but just wanted to check the correct process (as last time I added brand new drives to the array after using the preclear script - and I believe this is no longer required).

 

Can I just do the following once the Parity Rebuild is complete:

- Stop Array and Shutdown Server

- Install the old Parity Drive

- Restart Server, and assign it to a new Disk Slot

- Start Array, and unRAID will format the drive

 

Will unRAID be confused by the old parity disk being added back to the array in a new disk slot and mess up parity, or will it allow me to format and clear the drive for use (and probably to use the mirror-method to convert all of my Drives to XFS)?

[JorgeB]

Start Array, and unRAID will format the drive

First it will clear the drive, but the array remains available during the clearing, only when done you can format.

 

Will unRAID be confused by the old parity disk being added back to the array in a new disk slot and mess up parity

No confusion.

 

 

 

[blu3_v2]

1 hour ago, johnnie.black said:

First it will clear the drive, but the array remains available during the clearing, only when done you can format.

 

 

No confusion.

 

 

 

Awesome. Thanks for the confirmation johnnie.black

[superloopy1]

Awesome. Thanks for the confirmation johnnie.black

Just reading this, can i ask will parity rebuild again be necessary after adding back the 'old' parity drive? If so, could the old drive (4TB) have been added and reassigned to a data slot in parallel with the new (8TB) drive?

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[JorgeB]

4 minutes ago, superloopy1 said:

Just reading this, can i ask will parity rebuild again be necessary after adding back the 'old' parity drive?

No, the old drive will be cleared before it can be added to the protected array, but array is available during this time.

 

5 minutes ago, superloopy1 said:

If so, could the old drive (4TB) have been added and reassigned to a data slot in parallel with the new (8TB) drive?

Yes, but it would require a new config, if parity is already syncing just wait and add the new drive when it finishes.