I have searched and read loads, but is there a simple explanation anywhere on how to clear 4 drives at a time?

 

 

This should help:

 

http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php?title=Configuration_Tutorial#Preclear_Hard_Drives

Thank you

So i have all four drives pre clearing so how can i see the results? I am searching for the answer...or see what's actually happening?

 

 

I have followed the instructions but i cannot get any prompts to work to see what is happening  

When i press CTRL-A n to see what is happening nothing happens.

 

 

So i have all four drives pre clearing so how can i see the results? I am searching for the answer...or see what's actually happening?

 

 

I have followed the instructions but i cannot get any prompts to work to see what is happening 

 

The results appear in real-time on your screen.

 

What exactly did you do?  Because if the disks are clearing, you would not be asking how to tell what is happening.

 

 

When i press CTRL-A n to see what is happening nothing happens.

I have root@tower:/boot#      on my screen with the curser flashing after the prompt

 

I followed this exactly

Double check to make sure the Drive model and/or serial number are what you expect. If everything is copacetic type "Yes" and press enter like the box tells you too. When you do, EVERYTHING on the drive will be DELETED.

 

Step 5 Now that the first preclear is running, to start the next one press

 

CTRL-A c

 

That translates to hold down the Control key and press the A key. Release both keys then press the c key. This creates a new screen inside Screen and gives you a prompt. Start the preclear for this drive just like the preclear for the first one. You can create a new screen for each preclear you need to run, however, it is not recommended to run more than 6 (need to get actual recommendation from Joe!) at once.

 

and everything went fine each drive started the preclear okay

but i am unable to see what is happening now?

 

 

 

 

 

When i press CTRL-A n to see what is happening nothing happens.

I have root@tower:/boot#      on my screen with the curser flashing after the prompt

did you download and install "screen" ??

 

Did you invoke it by typing "screen"

 

What happens when you type

Control-A ?

 

What do you see when you type

ps -ef | grep screen

 

No I did not download screen.."my bad"

when i type Control-A I get command not found

I cannot get my keyboard to type "|"  so i cannot try the command "ps -ef | grep screen"

 

Can i recover from this? i assume the preclears are all running.

Do i need to download screen?

 

No I did not download screen.."my bad"

when i type Control-A I get command not found

I cannot get my keyboard to type "|"  so i cannot try the command "ps -ef | grep screen"

 

Can i recover from this? i assume the preclears are all running.

Do i need to download screen?

 

"|"  is on most keyboards ... what language/country are you in?  Or are you using an unusual keyboard?

 

If you cannot type "|" then simply type

ps -ef

and post the entire output.

 

I'm guessing none of the preclears are running.

 

 

Sounds like the Preclearing with Screen section needs some more work.  And Joe L. already did it, thanks!

 

On US keyboards the pipe symbol "|" is usually paired with the "\" key (requiring shift to get to it) and looks like 2 bars, one on top of the other instead of a single bar as shown when typed.  Wikipedia has some more info on the ambiguities if you are interested in drowning in information.

 

If you have a monitor and keyboard attached to your server you may have an easier time preclearing from the console's V-terms as described in the section Preclearing Without Screen.

Okay I have left my server clicking away overnight, not sure what is going on tbh. All the drives are warm and it sounds like I'm surrounded by a load of croaking frogs abroad, so I am assuming something is happening

I have run this command..grep preclear /var/log/syslog>>/boot/preclear_results.txt

And have a .txt file (preclear_results.txt) on my usb but I do not now how to attach it to a post here and cannot find any instructions in the help section on attaching a file. Do I have to upload the file somewhere first and then link to that location?

I have downloaded screen 4.0.3 but all it is is a bunch of files so I'm searching around for some instructions on how to run / implement screen

when I type ps -ef a whole bunch of text appears on the screen is this being saved somewhere?

I can type "|" on my pc keyboard but not on the server keyboard, I get a ">" symbol and I obviously cannot change any settings at the moment.

I ran preclear successfully on 3 drives one at a time when I was evaluating / testing unRAID and had no problems I have 20 hdd's to preclear and would like to do them in groups of four but I would like to be able to see what's happening.

I guess.Ii require a little hand holding here!

I have added a screen shot of the text on my screen when i type ps -ef

 

http://i125.photobucket.com/albums/p73/userpaul/S7301248.jpg

Okay I have left my server clicking away overnight, not sure what is going on tbh. All the drives are warm and it sounds like I'm surrounded by a load of croaking frogs abroad, so I am assuming something is happening

Sound like "something" is happening to me too, although I'm not sure if croaking frogs is a normal sound of multiple drives clearing.  They will be active during the process.

I have run this command..grep preclear /var/log/syslog>>/boot/preclear_results.txt

And have a .txt file (preclear_results.txt) on my usb but I do not now how to attach it to a post here and cannot find any instructions in the help section on attaching a file. Do I have to upload the file somewhere first and then link to that location?

When replying click on the "Additional Options" link just to the bottom left of the edit window in your browser.  One of the options it to upload a file. Click on the "Browse" button next tothe field browse to

\\tower\flash

Your file should be there to select for attachment.

I have downloaded screen 4.0.3 but all it is is a bunch of files so I'm searching around for some instructions on how to run / implement screen

You may have downloaded the source code for it.    Easiest is to use unMENU to download and install it but you can do it by yourself without it.  You'll need to download two "packages".  Do NOT unpack them.  Leave them with their .tgz extensions.

Create a folder on the flash drive named "packages"  Put both of the downloaded files there.

 

http://slackware.oregonstate.edu/slackware-12.2/slackware/ap/screen-4.0.3-i486-1.tgz

and

http://slackware.oregonstate.edu/slackware-12.2/slackware/a/utempter-1.1.4-i486-1.tgz

 

Then, after logging on via telnet, or on the system console, type:

cd /boot/packages

installpkg screen-4.0.3-i486-1.tgz

installpkg utempter-1.1.4-i486-1.tgz

 

Then you can use "screen" by typing

screen

 

You'll need to re-install screen if you reboot as it is installed into memory only.  (you don't need to download it again as it will already be on your flash drive)

when I type ps -ef a whole bunch of text appears on the screen is this being saved somewhere?

no

I can type "|" on my pc keyboard but not on the server keyboard, I get a ">" symbol and I obviously cannot change any settings at the moment.

I ran preclear successfully on 3 drives one at a time when I was evaluating / testing unRAID and had no problems I have 20 hdd's to preclear and would like to do them in groups of four but I would like to be able to see what's happening.

I guess.Ii require a little hand holding here!

I guess you do.

Preclear results attached

 

EDIT

So now i have screen installed and typed screen what should i type to see whats happening with my drives. I'm assuming that because i did not have screen installed when i started pre clearing my drives I cannot use screen to view what each drive is doing?

preclear_results.txt

Preclear results attached

 

EDIT

So now i have screen installed and typed screen what should i type to see whats happening with my drives. I'm assuming that because i did not have screen installed when i started pre clearing my drives I cannot use screen to view what each drive is doing?

Correct.  It is absolutely useless to see what happened before you installed and invoked it.

 

Now, type

ps -ef >/boot/ps_output.txt

 

then attach it  (the file at \\tower\ps_output.txt ) to your next post.  I see you starting the preclear 4 times, but none completed.  If you are clearing 2TB drives it takes 30 to 35 hours when doing one drive.  Clearing multiple might cause it to be slower.  Has it been that long since you started?

Thanks Joe L.

 

I have attached the ps_output.txt and I started pre clearing the drives about 22:00GMT 30/10/10

ps_output.txt

Can I just stop the pre-clears I have running on my server as i feel uncomfortable not being able to see what is happening. I would like to start them again correctly. If I stop the pre-clear will this harm my hdd's?

Can I just stop the pre-clears I have running on my server as i feel uncomfortable not being able to see what is happening. I would like to start them again correctly. If I stop the pre-clear will this harm my hdd's?

 

Nope, you can stop them and it will be fine... you will just have to start from the beginning on the clearing process.

 

 

To stop the preclears you will probably have to kill the processis keeping them open.

 

A ps -ef will tell you what all is running along with the pid (process ID).  Look for the preclear ones and then type kill 'pid' where "pid" is replaces with the process id listed from the ps -ef.

 

A ps -ef will tell you what all is running along with the pid (process ID).  Look for the preclear ones and then type kill 'pid' where "pid" is replaces with the process id listed from the ps -ef.

 

Which column is the process id. I have a screen full of data with no column headers.

Example below

 

column    1        2         3     4     5     6        7               8

          root    1502   1482   0   jan02  ?    00:00:00  /usr/sbin/smbd -D

 

Thanks

 

A ps -ef will tell you what all is running along with the pid (process ID).  Look for the preclear ones and then type kill 'pid' where "pid" is replaces with the process id listed from the ps -ef.

 

Which column is the process id. I have a screen full of data with no column headers.

 

column    1        2         3     4     5     6        7               8

           root    1502   1482   0   jan02  ?    00:00:L00  /usr/sbin/smbd -D

 

Thanks

 

It is the second, but if you scroll up a little in the window (if you are running the command via telnet) then you will see the column titles.  If you are running the command from the command prompt of the server itself then you can hit shift-pageup and shift-pagedown.