dan4081 Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 I received all the parts for my UnRaid server last week, and just received my 4 2Tb EARS drives from Dell yesterday. I also went ahead and ordered jumpers for the drives from ebay, but they havent shown up yet. Today, I saw this post: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=9936.0 My question is, do I build my server, add my EARS drives unjumpered, and use UnRaid 4.6.1? Is 4.6.1 even offered yet? If 4.6.1 is not out yet then should I just wait for my jumpers to arrive and jump 7 & 8 and be done with it? (BTW, I am moving from a Mediasmart WHS box and have 4tb of data to move over) Quote Link to comment
lionelhutz Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Unfortunately, we don't know the expected release date of 4.6.1. However, Tom is posting about it so I'd expect it to be any day now. At this time, I would be very tempted to not install jumpers on these drives. I would consider using them without jumpers and then re-building them one at a time using a spare disk once 4.6.1 comes out. Maybe you could limit yourself to new data until 4.6.1 comes out. Then, you can do a proper disk re-format if you have managed to keep 1 or 2 of those disks un-used. Basically, it would take 2 nights to swap both a parity and data disk. Then, clear those used ones (write 0's to the first 63 sectors) and you can add them with the correct partitioning. Peter Quote Link to comment
Joe L. Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 Unfortunately, we don't know the expected release date of 4.6.1. However, Tom is posting about it so I'd expect it to be any day now. At this time, I would be very tempted to not install jumpers on these drives. I would consider using them without jumpers and then re-building them one at a time using a spare disk once 4.6.1 comes out. Maybe you could limit yourself to new data until 4.6.1 comes out. Then, you can do a proper disk re-format if you have managed to keep 1 or 2 of those disks un-used. Basically, it would take 2 nights to swap both a parity and data disk. Then, clear those used ones (write 0's to the first 63 sectors) and you can add them with the correct partitioning. Peter According to the roadmap, Tom decided to name the 4.6.1 release as 4.7 since it had provisions in it to handle the advanced-format drives. If you want to use the drives now, before the 4.7 release, I'd put the jumper on and use it. Treat it as if the partition starts at sector 63, even though you know it is really at sector 64. Leave the jumper alone when upgrading to 4.7 onward. It will be compatible if already partitioned at sector 63. (even though the jumper actually makes it aligned.) If you want to wait, leave the jumper off don't use the drive until 4.7 is out. Instructions will be provided with the 4.7 release on how to partition the disk for 4k alignment. (It is my understanding there will be a new setting on the "settings" page for it.) Quote Link to comment
lionelhutz Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 I think the bigger question should be if you will possibly use the drives in another system in the future. Having the jumper can screw up the drive if it's used for say W7 in the future, So, if the answer is yes, then you may want to avoid the jumper but if the answer is no, then use the jumper and carry on. Peter Quote Link to comment
dan4081 Posted January 13, 2011 Author Share Posted January 13, 2011 Thanks guys....I'll weigh the 2 options. Quote Link to comment
lionelhutz Posted January 13, 2011 Share Posted January 13, 2011 I'll throw something else out to think about. Some users are running EARS without jumpers and not seeing any real issues and still get decent transfer speeds and such. Other users with Samsung advanced format drives (same alignment issue as the EARS) have also seen very good transfer speeds. So, the partition alignment doesn't seem to be a huge deal when transferring large files. Some users have had issues getting the drive to accept the jumper after the drive was formatted. The same issues would apply going from jumper to no jumper. That is why I suggesting considering any possible future use for the disks.You might pull the jumper and have the drive just refuse to work right without it. Peter Quote Link to comment
lionelhutz Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Tom has posted that 4.6.1 or 4.7 is coming very soon. http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=9936.msg96897#msg96897 If the link doesn't work right it's reply 41. Personally, being this close I'd wait for 4.6.1 and forget using any jumpers, especially if you can hold out and keep using your WHS box for the moment... Peter Quote Link to comment
ChaOConnor Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 If I wait for 4.7 (or 4.6.1), will the preclear_drives.sh script still work? I read somewhere I have to wait to run that till the new unRaid comes out. Thanks! Quote Link to comment
BRiT Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 You can start putting your drives through the grueling tests now. You should begin the current script now. They take a while to run through on large drives. If you want the drive aligned to start sector 64, you will also need to run a new version of the preclear script once that Joe L has not released yet. It should be as simple as running the new script a single time. Or you can let unRAID 4.7 advance format the precleared drive via emHTTP. Either option should work even after you precleared the drive using the old script. Quote Link to comment
lionelhutz Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Yes, run the pre-clear now. You are basically just burning-in the drives. A new unRAID array configuration is different than adding a new drive to an existing array. You must run a parity build on a new unRAID array configuration, pre-cleared drives or not. So, allowing unRAID to do a format on the new array configuration won't take much time since it's just the format and not a format and drive clearing. Now, if you ask Joe L. he might forward a new version of the script to you with the understanding that it might not actually work right (might not give you a properly precleared sector 64 formatted drive ready to use). He can't fully know what the script should do until the new version is released. Peter Quote Link to comment
PeterB Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Tom has posted that 4.6.1 or 4.7 is coming very soon. According to the Roadmap, testing of 4.7 is now 100% complete - so I guess that the release can't be far away. Quote Link to comment
kizer Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Joe L. is still fine tuning the preclear app to address the advanced drives. He is still fine tuning it so you might want to hold off on asking him for an advanced copy unless of course he speaks up sooner. Quote Link to comment
Joe L. Posted January 14, 2011 Share Posted January 14, 2011 Joe L. is still fine tuning the preclear app to address the advanced drives. He is still fine tuning it so you might want to hold off on asking him for an advanced copy unless of course he speaks up sooner. I'm doing what I hope will be my final test now. If the output looks good, I'll be honored to have you give it a try. Joe L. Quote Link to comment
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