Hi,

 

I was wondering to what degree the components of unRAID can be switched out without losing any data. For example, at some point in the future I would like to exchange my current setup for one with a different mobo and cpu. If I constructed a different physical server, could I just throw over the hard drives from the old one and have it recognize them? I would hate to have to transfer everything to a middleman.

 

Also, how does one go about upgrading from a basic license to a pro license? I'm hoping that it will recognize my current setup and boot into unRAID without reformatting any of my drives.

 

Thanks for any help. I guess these two questions are basically getting at the same thing.

Hi,

 

I was wondering to what degree the components of unRAID can be switched out without losing any data. For example, at some point in the future I would like to exchange my current setup for one with a different mobo and cpu. If I constructed a different physical server, could I just throw over the hard drives from the old one and have it recognize them? I would hate to have to transfer everything to a middleman.

 

Also, how does one go about upgrading from a basic license to a pro license? I'm hoping that it will recognize my current setup and boot into unRAID without reformatting any of my drives.

 

Thanks for any help. I guess these two questions are basically getting at the same thing.

You can replace just about anything and the data will still be recognized.  You may have to use the "devices" page to re-assign the drives back to their logical slots on the array, but that's about it. (different hardware will assign the disks different IDs on the PCI/PCIe/PCI-X bus.)  To be able to re-assign as needed, take a screen shot of the existing "devices" page after you change the disk configurations and save it someplace safe.

 

The "config" folder on the flash drive holds just about everything else.  Save a copy of it elsewhere and you can recover all your settings easily.

 

To upgrade is simple.  Purchase a license from lime-tech, put the supplied license file in the config folder, reboot.  Everything else stays as it was, no need to transfer anything of re-load your data.

Ok, thanks. I have one more question, though. If I wanted to move some of the SATA connections around for organizational purposes, should I unassign the hdd's from their slots before moving them around, or should I just move them and start unRAID and then have it be confused until I reassign them? I'm just afraid that if I move things around it will assume that something really bad happened and then reformat all my data.

 

I'm probably making this seem more difficult that it really is, but I'd just hate to do something out of order and lose my data.

 

Thanks again.

Ok, thanks. I have one more question, though. If I wanted to move some of the SATA connections around for organizational purposes, should I unassign the hdd's from their slots before moving them around, or should I just move them and start unRAID and then have it be confused until I reassign them? I'm just afraid that if I move things around it will assume that something really bad happened and then reformat all my data.

 

I'm probably making this seem more difficult that it really is, but I'd just hate to do something out of order and lose my data.

 

Thanks again.

Just move them.  It will not start if it is really confused.  It will not re-format your data unless you press the "Format" button, and it will only do that if it thinks the drive cannot be mounted as a valid reiserfs file system.

 

If moving the drives between the same set of ports, it will usually figure it out on its own but if it cannot it will not start until you assign the drives as appropriate.  If using a new port you'll need to use the "devices" page to put them on their correct assignments.

 

Joe L.