Migrating/Shucking USB hard disks to internal

[Nate53085]

Hi

 

I have (3) Easystore 8TB drives, currently connected to an Intel NUC running Unraid. I'm upgrading and plan on shucking these drives and using them internally in the new system. I have 2 ways to accomplish this:

 

1) Since 1 of the 8TB is used for parity, I could use that disk for data, copying one of the data disks over. Then use that second disk to copy all the data from the third, then use the third as parity. This does put me at risk due to parity not existing during these copies

 

2) If unraid is able to map the drives automatically, I can just slap them in. 

 

Does anyone know if unraid will pick up the drives like (2) or should I be prepared to do the large copies?

[JonathanM]

Not a clear answer, but a possible alternative.

 

1st, connect all three intact as they are now to the new system. Confirm the array functions as it did before.

 

Shuck and install 1 drive, parity would probably be best for testing, and do a non-correcting parity check. If zero errors, you should be ok to shuck the other 2. If you get a bunch of errors, stop and build parity from scratch, then after you get a clean non correcting check you should be good to go to shuck 1 more, and rebuild it, do a non-correcting check, repeat for the last drive.

 

Make no mistake, your data is at risk here, so if any of what I'm saying is unclear, ask questions. You really need to understand the why and the how of each step so you don't make an error that erases your data.

 

Ideally, you should purchase 2 more drives, and use those in the array and leave your current data drives intact as backups. That way there is much less pressure and you have a good foundation of backups to build on.

[Nate53085]

That is clever, using parity rebuild rather than copying. Thanks for the advice.

 

Its unclear to me if file copy is going to be faster / slower than parity rebuild.

[Nate53085]

To close the loop, I ended up buying two more drives and doing the transfer properly. As a result I have double parity and 24TB usable

 

Thanks for the help