Newbie Questions!! (!SOLVED!)----:)


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I hope this thread is still being monitored, if not ill post new don't matter.

 

I'm new to unraid  and running on trail but plan on buying. I've been looking for that perfect nas os and this one just feels right. Probably because any IT guy that doesn't trust raid, or doesn't want to put that much pressure on consumer sata drives has had this idea with the same name like me. You guys were the first tho right to implement parity backup and drive pooling with out stripping on mixed drives.

 

Anywase my question is just basics and I kant find a simple yes or no, does unraid allow for multiple arrays?

Do I need a separate drive from the array for system files, ie plugins, docker, ets?

Finally right now not really an unraid question so I guess it can be ignored If want, I haven't looked this one up yet just thought I throw it in there but whats the best integrity check plugin for unraid?

O almost forgot I've read the 2 methods for transferring your data to the array initially, using the unsigned  device plugin and over the network. My question is can I just shut dow the system take the drives out and hook them up to a standard system with a simple os like Ubuntu the can read all formated drives like ntfs and xfs and just transfer directly?

Edited by Telcar
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2 hours ago, Telcar said:

Anywase my question is just basics and I kant find a simple yes or no, does unraid allow for multiple arrays?

no

2 hours ago, Telcar said:

Do I need a separate drive from the array for system files, ie plugins, docker, ets?

 

No, but most people keep those shares isolated on the cache drive for performance reasons

 

2 hours ago, Telcar said:

hook them up to a standard system with a simple os like Ubuntu the can read all formated drives like ntfs and xfs and just transfer directly?

You would have to format them within unRaid (it has special partition requirements), and then you could do that.  Afterwards, you would have to do a New Config so that the parity drive will sync itself correctly.

 

2 hours ago, Telcar said:

best integrity check plugin for unraid?

Dynamix File Integrity

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2 hours ago, trurl said:

I have split your post into its own thread. Please don't post to the FAQs. They are intended to be Answers to Frequently Asked Questions.

Sorry for that

 

2 hours ago, Squid said:

no

No, but most people keep those shares isolated on the cache drive for performance reasons

 

You would have to format them within unRaid (it has special partition requirements), and then you could do that.  Afterwards, you would have to do a New Config so that the parity drive will sync itself correctly.

 

Dynamix File Integrity

Thank you for answering everything just the way I wanted.

 

So if I understand right about the drives put them in there set up config let unraid format drives stop sync and array if starts (witch shouldn't be issue because I believe you have to manually start array after format) delete array config shutdown if need im hotswaping place disk in old server transfer data from ntfs drives to xfs drives, place back in new server rebuild array and parity with filled xfs disk?

 

Is there something about the xfs formatting method in unraid because doesn't documents say you can start array with filled disk as long as there already xfs, is that xfs formatted by unraid of anything  

Edited by Telcar
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The array will be started when formatting.  After the format is done, stop the array.  Just for safety sake though, I wouldn't delete the file(s) off of the ntfs drives until you verify that unRaid can read the disks.  Never done this actually, (I always used the network), but there's no reason I see why it shouldn't work.

 

Alternative is as you mentioned either using the UD plugin or network.

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9 minutes ago, Telcar said:

Is there something about the xfs formatting method in unraid because doesn't documents say you can start array with filled disk as long as there already xfs, is that xfs formatted by unraid of anything

The documents say that you cannot add a drive with data to an existing array (that contains parity) without the drive being wiped clean.  If no parity is involved (or a new config under the tools menu is issued), then unRaid will not touch the drive(s).  So long as the partitioning is correct hence the need for unRaid to initially format the disks instead of your Ubuntu system.

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I took array down and plugins are stilled installed and working so I guess that means there installed on the flash drive I have a 2 tb extra im going to throw in there for cache, So I'm assuming everything is stored for plugings just like programs in the root home dir this is just Linux right, so how do you tell the system to transfer whats already installed and install and store new system content to cache drive. When I had my centos server It was command line and an extreme pain to change to root home dir to a different drive then the boot is

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Unraid actually installs itself on a RAM disk every time it boots. (The installation does not take very long since only the Linux components necessary for Unraid to function are installed to this RAM disk.  It even scans your hardware to load the proper device drivers during the installation.)  From what I have observed, plugins and Dockers apps are also installed in RAM even though they may have the configuration settings stored on a physical device.  Thus, once the system has booted, it does not really need access to a physical device to run except to store any changes that you make to Unraid to meet your requirements--- Share names, share settings, server name, IP addresses, etc.) 

 

By the way, Unraid was designed this way to reduce the read/write cycles to the flash drive.  (It extends the life of the flash drive to minimize this type of activity.)  If you need a cache drive, you need to use a seperate SSD or HD assigned to the cache drive slot.  Should you decide to install a cache system that are several setup options.  The 'Help' icon on the toolbar will give a short explanation of the choices.  

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Yes I have looked though the docs it only gives you basics setting for assigning the drive and stuff. Nothing about using it to store system files and stuff and there's no way all plugin files can be loaded in ram stuff like plex Metadata has to be hard saved. Having to rebuild something like that after every reboot would be crazy 

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51 minutes ago, Telcar said:

Yes I have looked though the docs it only gives you basics setting for assigning the drive and stuff. Nothing about using it to store system files and stuff and there's no way all plugin files can be loaded in ram stuff like plex Metadata has to be hard saved. Having to rebuild something like that after every reboot would be crazy 

Persistent data is not loaded to RAM at each boot. Docker containers are stored in an image file on a hard drive and you can set the location yourself.

all persistent data for both plugins and docker containers are located on hard drives.

 

 

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So any data that has to be saved goes to appdata and the other default user shares, right. So then how do you move the default user shares to the cache drive and let the system know? I want nothing on array but what I hand put, and the only thing I want saved on flash is the core os to load it live and the config files, everything thing else I want on another drive.

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39 minutes ago, Telcar said:

Thanks everybody for all you help I leave ya alone for now, lol. Do I need to mark this thread as solved or something?

Try editing the first post in this thread, and change the title to more accurately reflect the content. Something like [Solved] New user questions.

Or something like that. It's your thread, title it to fit what you think.

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