Will be moving into a new ryzen based system. I understand I just plug the existing array disks in, boot, and everything will work on the new hardware? I have 4 3tb disks in the array and a 256gb ssd cache. 
 

I want to make the cache a pool, using 2 x m.2 ssd on the motherboard,

 

am I best moving all my old disks to the new motherboard/cpu/ram/case and getting it running using the existing 256gb ssd cache, Then put in the m.2 drives and move the cache data to them?  
 

what’s the best way to do that? Backup the cache to the array, then restore it to the m.2 cache cluster once configured?

I think the way I would do this is on the old system to move all the data on the cache drives back to the array. Then remove the cache drives from the configuration.

 

Then move just the array drives to the new system. Configure the M.2 drives as the new cache. Then move everything that should be on the cache to the new drives.

You can do this all with the mover by changing the "Use cache disk" option appropriately on each of the shares you have assigned to the cache drive. Then manually run the mover so it will automatically move all the files for you.

Thanks, sounds much simpler your way:)

 

do I need to use the automated backup restore app data plugin, or just manually copy the data, and manually copy it back?  I have app data, docker image, a download folder where temp downloads go to, and a vm folder with my vms and the libvert image.  Not a big cli guy, so unsure if I can just grab the lot, move it, then move it back so it all works

Sorry, replied before I saw your second reply. 
 

ok, so I use the mover to move the data to the array on the old hardware, move disks to the new hardware. Introduce the m.2 drives and set them up as cache pool, then change the relevant shares again to be cache only, and mover will move all the data back?
 

i plan to then wipe the old 256gb ssd and put that back in the system, no idea what for, perhaps an unassigned drive. Seems a waste not to use it?

To be more specific. The shares you want to move from the cache to the array should be set to "Yes". That way the mover will move the data to the array.

 

When you're ready to move the shares back to to the new cache you should set them to "Prefer" so that the mover will move the data to the cache. Once the mover is finished you can set those shares back to "only".

 

Setting to "no" or "only" will not allow data to be moved between cache and array. It only tells where new data should be written.

 

Keep in mind that any files you have outside the array such as maybe your docker.img file will need to be moved manually. I personally keep those files in, I believe what is the default location, at /mnt/cache/system/docker/docker.img. I had originally manually set it so I actually have no idea now what the default location should be.

 

Keep in mind you might have to disable Docker and the VM Manager for it to move all your files from the cache.

Thanks, that’s a great help. My shares are set to cache only, not prefer, should I set them to prefer prior to copying the data, is that the advised way to run shares you only want on the cache drive and thus keep them on prefer when I have the m.2 cache pool running

59 minutes ago, rorton said:

Thanks, that’s a great help. My shares are set to cache only, not prefer, should I set them to prefer prior to copying the data, is that the advised way to run shares you only want on the cache drive and thus keep them on prefer when I have the m.2 cache pool running

Set them to “yes” to move data to the array. Set them to “prefer” to move data to the cache.