So, after lurking for the last couple months trying to figure out if unraid was the right solution, I think I'm about ready to take the plunge. However, I still have a few questions, more directed at the upcoming 5b3 release.

 

First, from looking around the forums, it seems that the development of the "betas" seem to be pretty solid, and quite a few people are using them. Am I off base in wanting/expecting to be able to use 5b3 when it comes out shortly for my new unraid server, as I'd like to be able to take advantage of the advanced format drive fix as I have a few samsung f4 drives?  To give some background, this server isnt for business or client use, but basic media storage, so I realize that standard beta disclaimers apply; I'm just more wondering if the rest of you would use the beta in my situation.

 

Further, assuming that I would use 5b3, should I expect to be able to use plugins with it such as unmenu and ups support immediately, or will those need to be updated before they are usable with the new releases?

 

Finally, it seems generally accepted that Joe L.'s pre clear script is a good tool to use before adding a drive to the array.  However, from browisng around, it seems that people run it anywhere from once to 6 times...is once sufficient, or should i be running it more?  Additionally, can I run the pre clear on f4 drives right now in anticipation of 5b3 with the advanced format fix, or is the current preclear script specific to the 63 format?  And finally, can I pre clear multiple drives at once, or only 1 at a time?  If I have a few 2tb drives I'd like to start with for a clean build of unraid, about how long do you guess it'll take for me to be up and running incuding preclears?

 

Again, I'm sorry for all the questions, I've read quite a bit around the forums and most of these questions i was still unsure about.  Thanks for any help, and happy new year!

 

Rod

So, after lurking for the last couple months trying to figure out if unraid was the right solution, I think I'm about ready to take the plunge. However, I still have a few questions, more directed at the upcoming 5b3 release.

I'll try to answer, as best I know

First, from looking around the forums, it seems that the development of the "betas" seem to be pretty solid, and quite a few people are using them. Am I off base in wanting/expecting to be able to use 5b3 when it comes out shortly for my new unraid server, as I'd like to be able to take advantage of the advanced format drive fix as I have a few samsung f4 drives?

I'd let a few brave individuals try before you take the plunge, or... if you have the skills, use the new version to play with and learn about unRAID's new 5.0b3 release and not commit your only copy of data to it until it gets through the initial week or so by those with test servers.

To give some background, this server isnt for business or client use, but basic media storage, so I realize that standard beta disclaimers apply; I'm just more wondering if the rest of you would use the beta in my situation.

If you own the original media, no issue... if it is currently on another NAS, just keep it there until we learn of any major bug in the 5.0beta3.  Odds are good you'll be fine, but there is some risk, especially in the code used to identify and use disks with partitions starting on sector 64 without clearing them itself.  It will be a learning curve for all.

Further, assuming that I would use 5b3, should I expect to be able to use plugins with it such as unmenu and ups support immediately, or will those need to be updated before they are usable with the new releases?

unmenu and ups support works today with 5.0b2, so I do not expect to see any issue in 5.0b3.  Regardless since I do have a second unRAID server I'll be running the new release as soon as it is available.  My second server holds a mirror image of my media collection, so it is not a huge risk to me other than the time it takes to rsync from my first server if anything were to go wrong.

Finally, it seems generally accepted that Joe L.'s pre clear script is a good tool to use before adding a drive to the array.  However, from browiaround, it seems that people run it anywhere from once to 6 times...is once sufficient, or should i be running it more?  Additionally, can I run the pre clear on f4 drives right now in anticipation of 5b3 with the advanced format fix, or is the current preclear script specific to the 63 format? 

The current script is specific to the partition starting on sector 63.  I have no idea if it will be recognized as pre-cleared and then have the partitioning reset to start on sector 64.  If not, unRAID will just clear the drive on its own. 

 

Now, for the good news... I have a version of the pre_clear script ready that will allow an initial partition to start at sector 64.  I've not released it yet since it might need to be changed depending on what unRAID 5.0b3 expects.  I'll probably post it soon, but I'm still making improvements.

And finally, can I pre clear multiple drives at once, or only 1 at a time? 

That has been answered many times.  Yes, you can clear more than one drive at a time

If I have a few 2tb drives I'd like to start with for a clean build of unraid, about how long do you guess it'll take for me to be up and running incuding preclears?

Once you get the server running and the disks installed, a single cycle of the pre-clear script will take between 30 and 35 hours... To load your media, days possibly.  To calculate initial parity, 8 to 10 hours.

Again, I'm sorry for all the questions, I've read quite a bit around the forums and most of these questions i was still unsure about.  Thanks for any help, and happy new year!

 

Rod

Happy new year to you too.  Many more tips for a newcomer are in the wiki and not only in the forum.  Be sure to check it out.

 

Joe L.

Thanks so much for the quick and great reply.  I think I'll play around with the new release then when it comes out and just not transition to the unraid server as the primary/sole storage for a few weeks until any potential major issues get ironed out.

However, from browisng around, it seems that people run it anywhere from once to 6 times...is once sufficient, or should i be running it more?

 

For my 2TB drives, I preclear for 3 cycles, which takes about 75 hours on 7200 rpm drives.  This gives SMART a good solid baseline and also is a substantial amount of burn in for a drive to give up the ghost if it is going to be DOA.  I don't think 1 cycle is good enough for a baseline, and I think waiting 2 weeks for 6 cycles to run is just too painful.    Also, I have my preclear commands set to email me results.  Here's the command I use:

/boot/preclear_disk.sh -c 3 -M 2 /dev/sdd

 

Obviously you need to change the "sdd" to whatever drive letter you're clearing.

So, having a little free time, I wanted to try out the current 4.6 release to get a better feel for unraid in general. I had 3 2tb f4 drives that i booted up previously in windows so they have a ntfs partition on them (but no data). I'm currently running the pre clear script on them with the understanding that the f4 drives will still function fairly well (without the 5.0b3 advanced format support) for most tasks other than lots of small, random accesses.  

However, vaguely recalling a lot of the horror stories with people trying to correct unjumpered installs of the WD drives, the question came to mind of whether I would be able to re-format/partition/whatever these samsung drives with a proper sector 64 alignment if i were to switch to 5.0b3 in the future, or if the intitial ntfs partition and/or reiserfs format under 4.6 would somehow preclude that or make it more convoluted.  I apologize if this is something that won't necessarily be evident until the advanced format fix is actually released, or if its something very straight forward (i.e., reformatting always would reset the starting sector). I really am just trying to wrap my head around all of this, and didn't see this issue addressed elsewhere. I think Joe may have already alluded to the answer in his earlier post, I just am not sure how the sector alignment issue plays out.

 

Thanks again

I had 3 2tb f4 drives that i booted up previously in windows so they have a ntfs partition on them (but no data).

 

Make sure to update the firmware on all of your Samsung F4 drives, otherwise you could be a victim of silent data corruption. The link to all the horrific details is in my signature under drive warnings.

I had 3 2tb f4 drives that i booted up previously in windows so they have a ntfs partition on them (but no data).

 

Make sure to update the firmware on all of your Samsung F4 drives, otherwise you could be a victim of silent data corruption. The link to all the horrific details is in my signature under drive warnings.

 

Thanks for the warning. I did already update them as soon as they came out of the box.