Hello,

is it safe to add drives under 4.5.6?  Reason i ask is months back i thought i saw a post that said if you weren't careful you could format all your drives!

Just curious if i should update to 4.6.xxx or.

 

Basically i would like to replace both 300gig drives - one at a time with 2tb drives.

 

 

Thanks

Hello,

is it safe to add drives under 4.5.6?  Reason i ask is months back i thought i saw a post that said if you weren't careful you could format all your drives!

Just curious if i should update to 4.6.xxx or.

 

Basically i would like to replace both 300gig drives - one at a time with 2tb drives.

 

 

Thanks

 

That particular bug was in 4.5.3 and was fixed.  Still be careful and pay attention but you should be good to replace drives one at a time if your running 4.5.6.

that's what i thought one at a time, Basically power down, replace the drive then power up then enable it, then run a parity check -  should put back the data from the replaced drive onto the new drive correct?

that's what i thought one at a time, Basically power down, replace the drive then power up then enable it, then run a parity check -  should put back the data from the replaced drive onto the new drive correct?

Almost right.  but there is no "parity check" involved where you stated.

 

1. Perform a parity check before doing ANYTHING.  It ensures all the drives needed to re-construct the replaced drive are working properly.

2. Stop the array

3. Power down

4. Install the new drive.  (It can be either in the same location/disk controller port as the one being replaced, or a different one.)

  Be careful to NOT DISTURB any of the other drives or the wiring to the other drives.

5. Power up.  The array will not start automatically.  If you use the same disk controller port the new drive will be detected in place of the old.  The wording on the bottom of the screen will indicate the contents of the old drive will be re-constructed onto the new if you start the array.  You'll probably need to check the "I'm sure" checkbox under "Start" to enable it.  If  you use a different port you'll need to use the "Devices" page to assign the new drive to the logical slot in the array of the disk you are replacing.

 

6. Start the array.  it will re-construct the contents of the old disk onto the new by reading parity and all the other drives.

 

You will not be able to perform a parity check until AFTER the re-construction is completed.  Only after it is subsequently performed would I do anything with the drive you replaced, as it is a backup copy of your data if the new drive has problems.  That is then the next step.

 

7. Perform a parity check.

 

Then... do the same with the next drive you are replacing.    Notice you do not format any drive in this process.  If any drive shows as un-formatted, do not proceed. Post a system log.

 

It it strongly suggested you pre-clear the new 2TB drives before assigning them to the array.  It will weed out the drives that might suffer from an early failure in the first few hours of their life.

 

Joe L.

Thanks Joe - awesome instructions

 

One question about pre-clear - I assume i have download and install it? for a 2tb drive it probably takes a day to Pre-clear?

 

I bought 2 Seagate 2tb ST320005N4A1AS-RK @ Fry s shouldn't have to play with Jumpers correct?

 

 

Aj

Thanks Joe - awesome instructions

 

One question about pre-clear - I assume i have download and install it? for a 2tb drive it probably takes a day to Pre-clear?

Yes, it is attached to this post:

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=2817.0

 

It will take between 30 and 35 hours to clear a 2TB drive on most systems.

I bought 2 Seagate 2tb ST320005N4A1AS-RK @ Fry s shouldn't have to play with Jumpers correct?

right.  No jumpers.

 

To clear two drives at the same time open up two telnet sessions, or use two console sessions  (ALT-F2 to get second console session, ALT-F1 to switch back to the first.  You have six available ALT-F1 through ALT-F6).