Lets say I have an array consisting of 12 drives (one of those being the parity drive), and all drives are 500GB in size.  Later, I want to upgrade, but the documentation states that the parity drive must be as large, if not larger, than the other drives.  How does one upgrade the parity drive?  Is it as simple as installing a new parity drive and having it reconstruct the parity from the data drives?

Is it as simple as installing a new parity drive and having it reconstruct the parity from the data drives?

 

From my understanding, yes. Your parity drive dying will not cause you any data loss.  You will just have to reconstruct the parity.

  Is it as simple as installing a new parity drive and having it reconstruct the parity from the data drives?

The short answer is yes, it is that simple.

 

If  all your data drives are 500Gig, and your parity drive is also a 500Gig drive, and you want to upgrade it all you need do is stop your array, unplug your existing parity drive, plug in a new parity drive that is at least 500Gig or greater in size and then re-start the array.  Parity will then be calculated from the 12 data drives. 

 

Note that the "upgrade" might be to change from an IDE drive to an SATA drive for faster performance, or a 750Gig drive to be ready when you eventually replace  one  of your 500Gig data drives with a 750Gig drive you find on sale.

 

Joe L.

Your instructions say "Unplug the old parity drive, and plug in the new larger one".

 

This implies to me that it must be on the same SCSI port on the MOBO. Correct?

 

And if I want to use the old parity drive for data, I presume I just move it to a different port, correct? Do I need to format it first, outside of the box or something?

 

 

Your instructions say "Unplug the old parity drive, and plug in the new larger one".

 

This implies to me that it must be on the same SCSI port on the MOBO. Correct?

 

And if I want to use the old parity drive for data, I presume I just move it to a different port, correct? Do I need to format it first, outside of the box or something?

 

 

You don't need to format any drive in the unRAID array, it will do it for the data drives on its own.  The parity drive does NOT have a file system, therefore it never gets formatted.  You can run the preclear_disk.sh script on it to verify its basic ability to read and write if you like.

 

No, the parity drive does not need to be on the same port, it does not even need to be the same type.  I upgraded from a PATA to an SATA drive at one point on my array.   If you do move it to a different port, you'll just need to assign it on the "Devices" page.

 

Joe L.

It's always wise to check all drive assignments on the Devices page whenever you have made drive changes, to ensure that unRAID has correctly assigned your new drive to be the new Parity drive.  It probably will be correct, but I can think of circumstances where it could get confused, such as if you had other drives installed but not part of the array.

Thanks guys for the quick feedback.

 

I have also found this thread too http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=2280.0 So I should be good to go.

 

 

Now I'm on the search for proper way to upgrade from the free version to a version supporting more drives.

 

 

 

Thanks guys for the quick feedback.

 

I have also found this thread too http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=2280.0 So I should be good to go.

 

 

Now I'm on the search for proper way to upgrade from the free version to a version supporting more drives.

 

 

 

Purchase a "key" file from Tom @ lime-technology, he'll send it via e-mail, put it in the config folder on your flash drive.  Then reboot and you will be able to assign the additional drives.  It is that easy...  Just put the file into place and reboot.  All your files and configuration stay as they were... but you can then assign more disks on the "devices" page.

 

Joe L.