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How to rebuild server and swap drives at same time


DigitalDivide

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I'm going to rebuild my server this weekend and was wondering the best way to do it.  I will be putting the MB into a new case and adding the SM-8 card.  As well I want to replace my parity drive with a WDEARS 2TB drive and use my current 1TB parity drive to replace an old IDE drive.  I also want to add an old 320GB drive as a cache drive.

 

I was thinking of first doing a parity check before I start.  THen when I switch cases, pop in the new parity drive and do a parity check.  Once that is done, remove the ide drive and and pop in my old parity drive.  Run a preclear on the drive, then rebuild the drive, then do another parity check.

 

Once done, pop in the cache drive.

 

Would that be the proper way?

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I'm going to rebuild my server this weekend and was wondering the best way to do it.  I will be putting the MB into a new case and adding the SM-8 card.  As well I want to replace my parity drive with a WDEARS 2TB drive and use my current 1TB parity drive to replace an old IDE drive.  I also want to add an old 320GB drive as a cache drive.

 

I was thinking of first doing a parity check before I start.  THen when I switch cases, pop in the new parity drive and do a parity check.  Once that is done, remove the ide drive and and pop in my old parity drive.  Run a preclear on the drive, then rebuild the drive, then do another parity check.

 

Once done, pop in the cache drive.

 

Would that be the proper way?

 

I tend to take a slower route just so nothing fubar's during the process.  I would:

 

1. run a parity check with the current system

2. take a screen shot of the drive assignments so you can reassign if needed

3. Assemble everything in the new case including the SM card

4. Boot the system and run a parity check (I realize that not much hardware has changed but better safe than sorry)

5. Shutdown the system and replace the parity drive (hopefully you have precleared it to stress test it)

6. Once the new parity drive is in you can re-calculate parity.

7. Check parity now to make sure nothing changes.

8. OPTIONAL: I like to run for a week with the new parity drive just to make sure nothing is wrong with it.  Keep the old parity drive set aside for that week also

9. After a week replace the old IDE drive with the old parity drive

10. Let the data rebuild onto the old parity

11. Run a parity check to make sure everything is good to go.

 

It may take you a longer to do it this way but it is the way I do all of my drive upgrades.

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One other question.  I have 3 WD Green 1TB drives in my system already. I never did anything about the jumpers on these drives and I haven't had any problems.  I read in other threads about the jumper on the WD 2TB Green Drives.  I'm assuming I don't have to worry about it with the 1TB drives?  

 

Everything is up and running in the new case but I'm going to have to take some of it apart again tomorrow and redo some cable clean up.  It's such a mess!  I can't believe it's taken me a full day.

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One other question.  I have 3 WD Green 1TB drives in my system already. I never did anything about the jumpers on these drives and I haven't had any problems.  I read in other threads about the jumper on the WD 2TB Green Drives.  I'm assuming I don't have to worry about it with the 1TB drives?  

 

Everything is up and running in the new case but I'm going to have to take some of it apart again tomorrow and redo some cable clean up.  It's such a mess!  I can't believe it's taken me a full day.

It's not the size of the drive that matters (less then or equal to 2TB) it is whether it is an "Advanced Format" drive (I.E. 4K sectors or the older standard 512byte sectors).  EARS are usually "Advanced Format" drives.  EADS drives usually are not.  I've heard of exceptions to that rule however.
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Just a question on the preclear.  My new WD 2TB will be my new parity drive and my current 1TB parity drive will be added to my data array.  I'm not sure exactly how to preclear the disk.  I do have the script and know the command but do I assign the new drive to be cleared to a data slot, start the array, then run a preclear on it?  Can I add a data disk to do this when the new drive is currently larger than the parity drive?  Do I assign the drive to a slot but don't actually start the array, then run the preclear?

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Just a question on the preclear.  My new WD 2TB will be my new parity drive and my current 1TB parity drive will be added to my data array.  I'm not sure exactly how to preclear the disk.  I do have the script and know the command but do I assign the new drive to be cleared to a data slot, start the array, then run a preclear on it?  Can I add a data disk to do this when the new drive is currently larger than the parity drive?  Do I assign the drive to a slot but don't actually start the array, then run the preclear?

No drive assigned to the array can be pre-cleared...  The drive must be un-assigned and not in use (not mounted)  It can be any size since it is not part of the array.  You can pre-clear a 2TB drive even if your parity disk is much smaller.

 

Joe L.

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I ran the command to verify that I had the right disk for the preclear and got a message saying my drive does not support SMART.  Should I be worried.  I have the jumpers on 7 and 8.

 

root@Tower:~# smartctl -i -d scsi /dev/sde

smartctl version 5.38 [i486-slackware-linux-gnu]

n

Home page is http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

 

Serial number:      WD-WCAZA0182929

Device type: disk

Local Time is: Sun Oct 17 06:20:46 2010 EDT

Device does not support SMART

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Some boards will only support a limited number of devices, often 7 as you have found. If you have an addin SuperMicro card turn of int13 support, this stops the additional drives being submitted to the bios as possible boot devices. You should then have your IDE drive back. 

 

Preclear is a script from Joe L, disk you are preclearing can't be in the array. Array can be started or not. You run preclear from the console. The idea of the preclear script is too run the preclear without affecting array, meaning the array can be up and running whilst you are testing. 

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Is it possible to preclear another drive while one is being precleared?  If so do I telnet another session or can I do it in the same session.

 

Right now it's showing as 5% done at 90MBPS

 

Disk Temp 35C - Elapsed Time 20min

 

Can I type another preclear line right below that? 

 

Almost forgot.  If I close my current telnet session, how do I find out what stage the preclear is at?  I don't have an external monitor for it.  Can I telnet back in and run a command to find out at what stage the preclear is at?

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Is it possible to preclear another drive while one is being precleared?

Yes
 If so do I telnet another session or can I do it in the same session.

Different session

Right now it's showing as 5% done at 90MBPS

 

Disk Temp 35C - Elapsed Time 20min

 

Can I type another preclear line right below that?

Can't type in same session unless you have installed "screen" and invoked it to create a virtual screen. Open a new telnet session. 

Almost forgot.  If I close my current telnet session, how do I find out what stage the preclear is at?

Tha's easy.  It will have terminated.  It will stop when you terminate the session UNLESS you install and invoke "screen" and then detach the terminal session from it.
  I don't have an external monitor for it.  Can I telnet back in and run a command to find out at what stage the preclear is at?
Only if you install "screen", otherwise you'll know it was terminated when you had logged off.

 

"screen" is described in this post (complete with a download link)

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=2817.msg24827#msg24827

 

If you've installed unMENU, you can use its package manager to download and install "screen" for you.  Otherwise, use the links and instructions in the above thread.

 

Joe L.

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Thanks Joe, just finished reading that info on the preclear thread.  Just one last question.  If I were to shut down or if something happened and I lost my connection on the Post Read, would I have to restart the whole preclear again or would it be safe to go ahead and use the disk?  All 10 steps completed successfully.

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Thanks Joe, just finished reading that info on the preclear thread.  Just one last question.  If I were to shut down or if something happened and I lost my connection on the Post Read, would I have to restart the whole preclear again or would it be safe to go ahead and use the disk?  All 10 steps completed successfully.

use

preclear_disk.sh -t /dev/sdX

(where sdX = your disk's device)

to test if the pre-clear signature was written.

 

Get a SMART report with

smartctl -d ata -a /dev/sdX

to verify no additional sectors are pending re-allocation.

 

Then you'll probably be OK.

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I lied, one last question.  My current parity drive is a 1TB WD EARS drive on which I never ran a preclear on.  Once my current preclear is done on my 2TB drive and make that my new parity drive, can I run preclear on my old parity drive even though it was already used in UnRaid?

sure.  Once it is no longer assigned to your array.
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