Hello all,

I'm a Noobie at this so bare with me trying to explain what I have and what is not working.

 

I have an old computer with an D856Perl Mother board, 2gb ram and a P4 processor that I am trying to build a starter Unraid server with.  I have created a flash drive with the syslinux files and the copied Unraid files to it and tried to boot up, but I get the following error:

 

Disk error

Press any key to restart

 

Then:

Reboot and select proper boot device.

or insert proper boot media in selected boot device

 

From this I think it is trying to read the USB to boot, right?

 

Did I not create the boot drive properly?  Do i need to try a different USB port?  I configured the BIOS to boot from the USB drive similar to the BIOS configuration on the sample BIOS settings on the server installation page. 

 

Will this motherboard work? I have another Motherboard and CPU, but i need to get a power supply to make it work, so that is why I decided to try this setup first.

 

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Oscar

It sounds to me like the motherboard is still trying to boot from a hard drive.  Go back into your BIOS settings and play around with the boot priority options.  Disable all boot options except for the USB drive.  You may also need to change the USB drive options to emulate a HDD, FDD, etc.

If you have another computer you can try it on, you can verify that the flash drive boots. That will place the blame firmly on the motherboard. A lot of boards from the P4 era had wonky USB boot implementations.

are you using window vista/7 to write to the usb stick

then its possible windows UAC is the problem

 

that was the issue when I first tried, then I ran a command prompt as admin (you can also disable UAC)

the i run the syslinux command from the elevated command prompt and then it worked it wrote the boot sector to the usb stick

 

also make sure you writing to the correct drive letter ( in my case it was also f: as in the example)

If everything is right in the BIOS for booting from the USB stick, and the USB stick has been properly prepared, you might want to try a smaller capacity stick. I remember having problems trying to prepare a 2g stick on my first rig, but when I went to a 1g stick, the machine had no problem booting from it.

 

If not, there are some hybrid booting options. Search the forum and wiki for "kicker".

Thank you all for your suggestions,

 

I am using an XP computer to copy the files on to the flash drive.  This morning i tried it on another computer and received the same error message.  I then formated the flash drive again and ran the syslinux.exe file, copied the unRAID files and tried again.

 

This time it worked.  Transfered flash to old computer and I got the Tower Login:

 

New question:

Do i need to access the server remotely?  I have never worked with Linux OS before and I am a little lost.

 

thanks again,

 

Oscar

Thank you all for your suggestions,

 

I am using an XP computer to copy the files on to the flash drive.  This morning i tried it on another computer and received the same error message.  I then formated the flash drive again and ran the syslinux.exe file, copied the unRAID files and tried again.

 

This time it worked.  Transfered flash to old computer and I got the Tower Login:

 

New question:

Do i need to access the server remotely?  I have never worked with Linux OS before and I am a little lost.

 

thanks again,

 

Oscar

Congratulations on getting the flash drive configured.  Going forward, to upgrade to new releases it will only be necessary to copy the bzroot and bzimage files from the unRAID distribution to the flash drive. (occasionally you 'll also need to copy memtest, if a newer version is released of it, but typically the existing version would work regardless)

 

As far as the Tower: login prompt.  Most of what you need to do is via the web-interface, not the command line after you log in at that prompt.

There is a write-up in the wiki that describes how to proceed in detail:

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

 

Joe L.

thank you Joe L.

 

One more question on what is the best way to move data onto the server.  I currently have redundant copies of my music and movies.  In my HTPC I have a 2TB, 1TB, and a 250GB hard drive. My system drive is a 500GB partitioned to 150GB for system and 350GB for programs and music.  My 1TB if full of movies and the 2Tb is about 1/2 full of music and movies. The 250GbB is almost full of movies as well.  I have most of this backed up on external drives.

 

In my UNRAID server I have a 2TB HD that is empty.  I would like to use the 2TB for my Parity drive.  Do I need to Pre-clear this drive?  Can I copy the data to this drive and still use it as a parity drive?  I am unclear as to how the best way to go about transferring data to the server.

 

thanks again for your advice,

 

Oscar

No, your parity drive would not hold actual "files", it will be just 1s & 0s based on the bit settings on all the DATA drives

Will you be moving some of the drives from the HTPC (once you have the data moved to unRaid)?

Since you said you have redundant copies, I would do the following. You will not have Parity Protection until all steps are done.

 

1. Preclear (using Joe L's pre-clear script) the empty 2TB drive.

2. once that is good, assign it to unRaid as a DATA drive

3. Copy/Move the files from the HTPC 1TB & 250GB drives to the unRaid 2TB drive

4. Move the 1TB & 250 GB drives to unRaid

5. Preclear the 1TB & 250 GB drives (both can be done same time)

6. Once they are good, assign them to unRaid as DATA drives

7. Copy/Move the files from the HTPC 2TB drive onto unRaid

8. Move the HTPC 2TB drive to unRaid

9. I don't believe you have to preclear the Parity drive but I do to give it a work out first and check for errors

10 Once that is good, assign the 2 TB as the Parity Drive and build parity

11 All your data is now moved and has Parity Protection

 

thank you Joe L.

 

One more question on what is the best way to move data onto the server.  I currently have redundant copies of my music and movies.  In my HTPC I have a 2TB, 1TB, and a 250GB hard drive. My system drive is a 500GB partitioned to 150GB for system and 350GB for programs and music.  My 1TB if full of movies and the 2Tb is about 1/2 full of music and movies. The 250GbB is almost full of movies as well.  I have most of this backed up on external drives.

 

In my UNRAID server I have a 2TB HD that is empty.  I would like to use the 2TB for my Parity drive.  Do I need to Pre-clear this drive?  Can I copy the data to this drive and still use it as a parity drive?  I am unclear as to how the best way to go about transferring data to the server.

 

thanks again for your advice,

 

Oscar

To have data protected by parity you need at least two disks drives in your unRAID server.  The Parity drive and a data drive.

 

If I were you I would pre-clear ALL your disks before they are assigned to the unRAID array.  It will take some time, but it will give you some peace-of-mind that they are working properly as the pre-clear is designed to burn them in and to test all their sectors for the ability to read and write reliably.

 

You do not need to assign a parity drive at first.  The "write" speed to the array will be higher since parity will not have to be calculated and you will not be limited by the rotational speeds of the involved disks as they perform read, then write of each sector with a revolution of the disk in between.

 

If you do not have a second free 2TB drive for parity you could do this:

On your existing disks, free up the 1TB drive by moving its contents to the other half of the 2TB drive you said is half full.  

Take the 1TB drive and install it in the unRAID server.   Do not assign it to the array until after you pre-clear it.  Once pre-cleared assign it to the array.

then, you can copy the movies from the 250Gig to the unRAID server to free it.

Pre-clear the 2TB new drive, assign it as the parity drive.  Once the initial parity calculation is completed, the 250 Gigs are protected in the unRAID array.  This will allow you to re-purpose the 250 Gig drive to the unRAID server.  

 

That only leaves the 2TB drive.  If you can move its contents onto the unRAID array you can use it to replace one of the smaller drives.  Or, you can move files around on your existing set of drives to free it initially and start with it and the new 2TB drive for parity.   It is a "shell game" of moving things around.  You are limited by the free license to 2 data drives, so you'll want to use two large ones once you can get them free.

No, your parity drive would not hold actual "files", it will be just 1s & 0s based on the bit settings on all the DATA drives

Will you be moving some of the drives from the HTPC (once you have the data moved to unRaid)?

Since you said you have redundant copies, I would do the following. You will not have Parity Protection until all steps are done.

 

1. Preclear (using Joe L's pre-clear script) the empty 2TB drive.

2. once that is good, assign it to unRaid as a DATA drive

3. Copy/Move the files from the HTPC 1TB & 250GB drives to the unRaid 2TB drive

4. Move the 1TB & 250 GB drives to unRaid

5. Preclear the 1TB & 250 GB drives (both can be done same time)

6. Once they are good, assign them to unRaid as DATA drives

7. Copy/Move the files from the HTPC 2TB drive onto unRaid

8. Move the HTPC 2TB drive to unRaid

9. I don't believe you have to preclear the Parity drive but I do to give it a work out first and check for errors

10 Once that is good, assign the 2 TB as the Parity Drive and build parity

11 All your data is now moved and has Parity Protection

 

If you are using either of the paid versions of unRAID those instructions will work.  The free version is limited to two data drives.... you'll need to work within that constraint until you decide to pay for a license .key file.

 

Joe L.

One piece of advice. Do not delete your backups at least until the files have been copied to unraid, your unraid array is parity protected, and you have run an additional parity check (of course it is important to always have a backup of critical data, but many users do not keep backups of movies and music that could be recreated).

 

Since unraid will be new to you, I would recommend keeping backups of everything longer until you understand it and have proven to yourself that it is working reliably (e. g., about a month). Although rare, some new users make mistakes during the learning process, or discover hardware problems in their new servers, and wind up losing data or wanting to start over. Your backups would give you that extra assurance that you are protected as you learn. With 2T drives priced at $70, this would be a good time to get one or two to kickstart the array. Your older disks can always be moved over later (assuming you have the unraid licenses).

Ok, I don't know if I screwed up.  I am currently using an unregistered version of UnRaid.  I plan on upgrading as soon as I am comfortable with the server.  I assigned disk1 to the 2Tb drive and formated it before running  pre-clear on it. How do I go about running it?

 

Thanks,

 

Oscar

You kind of messed up, but nothing too serious.  preclear won't run on any drive that has been assigned to the array (this is to prevent you from accidentally preclearing a drive with data on it).  All you have to do is run the 'initconfig' command (either via the system console or telnet).  This will make unRAID forget about all your drives and set up an 'initial configuration'.  You can then run preclear on whatever drives you wish.

Ok good to here it was a goofup  with a a fix.  I am setting up my server at work and I am accessing it with my MAC ibook.  How do I access system console or telnet with my MAC? I can use one of the PC's on the network but prefer not to.

 

Thanks again,

 

Oscar

How do I access system console or telnet with my MAC?

 

Thanks again,

 

Oscar

Good to see you are on your way to unRAID!

http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=4092.msg36594#msg36594

You kind of messed up, but nothing too serious.  preclear won't run on any drive that has been assigned to the array (this is to prevent you from accidentally preclearing a drive with data on it).  All you have to do is run the 'initconfig' command (either via the system console or telnet).  This will make unRAID forget about all your drives and set up an 'initial configuration'.  You can then run preclear on whatever drives you wish.

All you really need to do is un-assign the disk.  You will then be able to run the pre-clear on it.

You kind of messed up, but nothing too serious.  preclear won't run on any drive that has been assigned to the array (this is to prevent you from accidentally preclearing a drive with data on it).  All you have to do is run the 'initconfig' command (either via the system console or telnet).  This will make unRAID forget about all your drives and set up an 'initial configuration'.  You can then run preclear on whatever drives you wish.

All you really need to do is un-assign the disk.  You will then be able to run the pre-clear on it.

 

Oh?  I thought unRAID would remember the disk until you replaced it with another or ran initconfig.  Good to know.

You kind of messed up, but nothing too serious.  preclear won't run on any drive that has been assigned to the array (this is to prevent you from accidentally preclearing a drive with data on it).  All you have to do is run the 'initconfig' command (either via the system console or telnet).  This will make unRAID forget about all your drives and set up an 'initial configuration'.  You can then run preclear on whatever drives you wish.

All you really need to do is un-assign the disk.  You will then be able to run the pre-clear on it.

 

Oh?  I thought unRAID would remember the disk until you replaced it with another or ran initconfig.  Good to know.

unRAID still remembers it in the super.dat file, but the pre-clear script does not look in it.  It will show as "missing" on the display when you un-assign it, and it will be re-constructed (if it had any files on it) after you re-assign it and start the array if you have parity established.

 

Joe L.

Ok I don't know if I am doing something wrong, but I was able to open a Terminal on my MAC, but I can not run Preclear  from it.  this is what I get:

 

tower

Last login: Sun Mar 15 20:21:05 on console

oscar-cavazoss-macbook-2:~ oscarcavazos$

oscar-cavazoss-macbook-2:~ oscarcavazos$ tower

-bash: tower: command not found

oscar-cavazoss-macbook-2:~ oscarcavazos$ \flash

-bash: flash: command not found

oscar-cavazoss-macbook-2:~ oscarcavazos$ /flash

-bash: /flash: No such file or directory

oscar-cavazoss-macbook-2:~ oscarcavazos$

 

 

I can go to a finder window and I see Tower and I am able to see disk1 and flash with files in it, but where do I go or what do I need to do to run precrear? 

 

I have decided to order 2 2TB HD for an early christmas to finish off my sever for now. Then I can add my other drives once I feel comfortable with UNRAID. Then I will pay for key and add other drives to server.  :-)

 

Thanks again,

 

Oscar

Take a look at the Configuration Tutorial and the unRAID Wiki in general for an explanation.

 

You are going to have to telnet to the server before you can run any of the preclear commands.

Is there a way to do this on a Mac?  Can you use Terminal to log into the Tower?

 

Yes, just go to terminal and type:

 

telnet the.ip.address.here

 

it should work just fine.  There are also some instructions on how to make it work so that you can type telnet nameofserver

also...when you telnet to the server, you should cd /boot  (instead of /flash)

 

 

ok looks like I am finally figuring out how this works.  I am preclearing my first drive.  Looks like 15% per hour.

 

One quick question.  What is the advantage of running UnMenu?  Preclear is running in hyperterminal now.  I have instructed my girl not to close the session,

 

Thanks again,

 

I feel I am closer to getting this going,

 

Oscar

ok looks like I am finally figuring out how this works.  I am preclearing my first drive.  Looks like 15% per hour.

 

One quick question.  What is the advantage of running UnMenu?

 

Many advantages from adding scripts, ease of adding various add-on packages to increase the functionality of your server (status emails, UPS support, torrents), ease of getting a syslog report, SMART testing, etc etc.

 

If nothing else, you can sit and review the information and numerous screens that let you monitor admire your unRAID  ( I've done this a few times.)

 

Preclear is running in hyperterminal now.  I have instructed my girl not to close the session,

 

Oscar