EARS cons/pros in a nutshell?

[CaptainSpalding]

1. What are the cons?

2. What are the pros?

 

Can I just take an EARS out, replace it with a non-advanced drive, let unraid rebuild data, add jumpers to the EARS drive and use it as a "new" drive? Does unraid automatically preclear it if the data is already in the unraid array? I have one Samsung F3 waiting for this, if it is neccessary. I think this would be easier/safer than to try to preclear a drive on-the-fly, as I'm no linux wizard.

 

I have read many threads about data loss etc. I just wanted to make shure what is the root of the problem.

 

I have 2 1.5G EARS drives and they seem to have the same size as the rest of the 13 drives. Is it only a performance hit when writing data?

 

Thanks for any help!

[Rajahal]

Cons: A jumper on pins 7-8 is required for use with unRAID.  If the drive has previously been used in any system without the jumper, there's a good chance that it will suffer permanently crippled performance when used in an unRAID system.

 

Pros: Cheap, consumes very little power, produces very little heat, about as reliable as any other drive out there.  Green label looks cool.  Warm fuzzies, save the planet, etc.

 

What you described should work.  However, it can also be accomplished by replacing the same drive with itself.  Here's some instructions that should help you:

 

What should I do if I already have an Advanced Format drive in my array that isn't in compatibility mode? i.e. no jumper

 

The problem is that since you are already using your EARS drives without jumpers, you may encounter permanently crippled performance even after following the above procedure.  If you do, I would recommend RMAing the drives (one at a time).  I believe the performance penalty affects both reading and writing, but I might be wrong about that.

[CaptainSpalding]

Thank you Rajahal, for the quick reply!

 

If there is no data loss to worry I think I'm ok. Then there is no hurry replacing the drives.

 

I thought that it was a "bigger" problem.

 

Thanks for solving this short!

[CaptainSpalding]

Hmm... I did as was instructed in the guide, but now when I unassigned the jumpered drive and reassigned it and started the array I got:

 

"Stopped. New parity disk installed." ?

 

Shoud I just countinue with "Start will bring the array on-line and start Parity-Sync." ?

[Joe L.]

Hmm... I did as was instructed in the guide, but now when I unassigned the jumpered drive and reassigned it and started the array I got:

 

"Stopped. New parity disk installed." ?

 

Shoud I just countinue with "Start will bring the array on-line and start Parity-Sync." ?

If it is the parity drive you un-assigned and re-assigned, then you can start the array.  It thinks it is a new drive because it was previously unassigned.

 

If the drive you un-assigned/assigned was not the parity drive you need to post a syslog for analysis and provide more clues and information as to what you are doing.

[CaptainSpalding]

The disk was not the parity. It was the nro 10 (the screenshot was taken a month ago).

 

So the disk has been in use in unRAID.

 

Syslog attached.

 

These were the steps I did:

 

# Run a parity check. If there are errors, do NOT proceed, seek help in the forums.

# Stop the array, power down the unRAID server.

# Put the Advanced Format drive into compatibility mode (take the action specified on the chart above). This may involve physically removing the drive from the server, or it may not, depending on your configuration.

# Power up the unRAID server.

# Go to the 'Devices' page and unassign the Advanced Format drive. Then go back to the 'Main' page and Start the array. The missing disk will be running in emulated mode, and your array will not have parity protection at this point.

# Stop the array, go back to the 'Devices' page, and assign the Advanced Format drive to the missing disk slot.

# Go back to the 'Main' page and Start the array. A Data-Rebuild should begin. Let it finish (this will take a long time).

 

 

I attached the jumper as in this photo: http://images.bit-tech.net/content_images/2010/04/the-facts-4k-advanced-format-hard-disks/4.jpg

syslog-2010-11-31.zip

[CaptainSpalding]

After one more boot I got "Stopped. Disabled disk replaced."

 

Can I now start the rebuild?

[Rajahal]

Don't press anything yet, something may be wrong.  I know the screenshot is a month old, but are there still two Samsung drives missing?  If there are any missing drives, the procedure I linked above won't work.

[CaptainSpalding]

No problem with those Rajahal!

 

They were before got my sunmicro cards.

 

So the only thing now is to determine is "Disabled disk replaced" a statement to start to rebuild?

 

Thanks for fast responses!

[Rajahal]

It sounds like everything is going normally.  The disk disabled is the one you are replacing, correct?  You might want to double check the serial number since you have three 1.5 TB WD EARS drives.  As long as that lines up, then you should be good to go.

[Tom899]

I'm buying (3) 2Tb EARS drives. By any chance do they come with the jumpers? Also, I assume the jumper needs to be on the EARS parity drive too?

[bigdog66]

they don't come with jumpers....could check a local place to see if you can buy a small pack as most places online sell them in a pack of 100

 

any EARS and some EADS need the jumper

[Tom899]

So it is true that unRAID needs the EARS drives jumpered no matter if they are data, parity or cache?

[PhilH]

Yes you need to jumper pins 7 & 8 on EARS drives in unRAID. Doesn't matter if it is a data, parity or cache drive.

[bigdog66]

repeat.....********ANY********

 

lol....just busting your chops