Hello.  You guys are probably tired of me asking these questions, but we all have to learn sometime.

 

I am in the process of shrinking my array and adding a new drive at the same time.  That is, remove 2 lower density drives and add a new 8TB drive.

 

I am following the The "Remove Drives Then Rebuild Parity" Method found here:  https://lime-technology.com/wiki/Shrink_array and I realized that it is missing a step.

Here is the relevant part of the page:

 

Quote

Procedure

1. Make sure that the drive or drives you are removing have been removed from any inclusions or exclusions for all shares, including in the global share settings. Shares should be changed from the default of "All" to "Include". This include list should contain only the drives that will be retained.
2. Make sure you have a copy of your array assignments, especially the parity drive. You may need this list if the "Retain current configuration" option doesn't work correctly
3. Stop the array (if it is started)
4. Go to Tools then New Config
5. Click on the Retain current configuration box (says None at first), click on the box for All, then click on close
6. Click on the box for Yes I want to do this, then click Apply then Done
7. Return to the Main page, and check all assignments. If any are missing, correct them. Unassign the drive(s) you are removing. Double check all of the assignments, especially the parity drive(s)!
8. Do not click the check box for Parity is already valid; make sure it is NOT checked; parity is not valid now and won't be until the parity build completes
9. Start the array; system is usable now, but it will take a long time rebuilding parity

 

At step 3 you stop the array, at steps 4 thru 7 you unassign the disks to be removed. At 9 you start the array and the parity rebuild starts.

But, where do you power down the server and physically remove the disks?  Do you have to wait for parity to be rebuilt, then stop the array, and power down and remove them?

Or can you power down after step 8 and then reboot and let the parity rebuild then?  Also, can I add the 8 TB drive at the same time?  It should show up as unassigned after the reboot, right?

 

 

Basically, New Config lets you assign the disks any way you want. If you change the number of disks then you have to rebuild parity. That is all that procedure is trying to lead you through.

 

At step 3 you could just shut down, remove the disks, boot up. The array won't start because you would have too many missing disks. At that point you could proceed with step 4.

 

Once you have set the configuration where those disks aren't part of the array anymore, unRAID doesn't really care whether they are still physically installed or not. You can remove them before New Config or after rebuilding parity.

On 8/12/2018 at 6:12 PM, trurl said:

Basically, New Config lets you assign the disks any way you want. If you change the number of disks then you have to rebuild parity. That is all that procedure is trying to lead you through.

 

At step 3 you could just shut down, remove the disks, boot up. The array won't start because you would have too many missing disks. At that point you could proceed with step 4.

 

Once you have set the configuration where those disks aren't part of the array anymore, unRAID doesn't really care whether they are still physically installed or not. You can remove them before New Config or after rebuilding parity.

 

Thanks again.  I am getting old.  I just remembered a long thread on basically the same theme from 3 years ago!  Of course, that was version 5, so I assume nothing.