I need to know what the best way is to transfer data from an old WHS to the new unraid. Basicly this is what I want to do:

 

1. Start with one empty 2TB drive.

2. Add all data from a used drive from the WHS.

3. Add newly empty drive from WHS to Unraid.

4 Repeat untill all drives are empty and added.

5. Add parity drive and calculate parity.

 

So can I do this? Any sugestions?

Absolutely you can do this.  This is how I originally migrated from my desktop with 6 x 500 GB drives to my first unRAID server.  The only change I might add is to preclear your empty (and presumably new) drive.  Since it will contain the only copy of some of your data for a short while, you want to make sure that it is trustworthy.  You can also preclear each subsequent drive from the WHS if you want to, but that may be less important since they are already burned in.

 

To play it safe you should buy two new drives and enable parity from the beginning.  The migration process will be much slower, but your data will be protected as soon as it hits the unRAID server.  If that isn't possible for you, then just go ahead with what you wrote.

The only other thing to remember is that the disk you plan to assign as parity needs to be as large as your largest data disk.  In this case you are going to need it to be another 2TB drive.

Be sure to use a transfer program that calculates and compares CRCs of the files copied to ensure the files are copied without issues.

 

At a minimum, you need another step.

6) Perform a Parity Check and make sure it completes without issues.

 

 

If it's vital information that you want to be protected, do not delete the original files until you have:

 

1) Added a parity drive

2) Parity calculation finishes

3) Parity check completes without issues.

 

That usually means you want to do the following:

 

1) Preclear first data drive and parity drive

2) Assign parity drive

3) Assign empty data drive

4) Start array

4a) Let parity calculation complete

4b) Perform parity check and ensure no issues occur

5) Copy data with CRC verification from WHS to unRAID

6) Preclear old WHS drive

7) Add old WHS drive as new empty data drive

Repeat steps 5 - 7 as needed.

 

I'm not sure if step 4, starting the array in that fashion will force a parity calculation or not. If so, make sure steps 4a and 4b are completed before copying data.

Thanks for your help guys.

 

BRiT - I like our idea but what program would you use? I'm new to this whole CRC and Parity thing.

 

Also which OS do you suggest I use for data transfer? I have access to Ubuntu, MacOS X, and Windows 7 Ultimate. I can also download and burn any ISO based OS.

I think many like to use "teracopy" for CRC validated copies [ http://www.codesector.com/teracopy.php ]. It also includes some nice to have features such as ability to pause and resume file transfers as well as error recovery. It should work well directly on your WHS box.

Amen to TeraCopy