[SOLVED] UnRAID Rebuild - Replacing Parity and Array Drives

[AgentXXL]

Hello unRAID experts! I’m about to undertake a big rebuild of my media unRAID system. I’ve only been using unRAID for 1.25 years, but I do feel fairly comfortable with it now. Regardless, I wanted to run my plan by others before I start.

 

I just acquired 4 x 16TB drives (Seagate Exos) for my media unRAID server. Below is my proposed plan to implement them. They’re almost finished the preclear, mainly done to verify there’s no out-of-the-box issues. Two of them are to replace/upgrade my 2 x 10TB Ironwolf drives that have been used for parity. The other 2 x 16TB are being used to replace 2 x 10TB (WD white label Reds) that may need to be warrantied due to increasing reallocated sectors - they’re 5 months old.

 

As I’m replacing/up-sizing the parity and some array drives, I was thinking it would be easier to do a new configuration than to replace the drives 1 at a time. Doing them one at a time would mean 2 x parity rebuilds and 2 x data drive rebuilds, a very lengthy process. My last full parity check was 2 weeks ago with no errors.

 

If I do a new config (Tools -> New Config), one full parity rebuild should be all that’s required. But before I do that, I’d want to remove the 2 x 10TB array drives that are suspect, as well as 2 more that are from the same purchase/batch. These 4 x WD 10TB drives will all be tested using WD’s tools before submitting for warranty replacement. My thinking is the following:

 

1. Shuck the 16TB drives from the STEB USB enclosures and install them in empty bays on my Supermicro CSE-847.
2. Format 2 of the newly precleared 16TB drives with XFS and mount using Unassigned Devices.
3. Use Krusader/MC to copy the files/folders from the 2 suspect 10TB drives to the new 16TB drives.
4. Also copy files/folders from the other 2 x WD 10TB drives that are from the same batch as the suspect drives.
5. Once the copies are finished, do a clean shutdown on the media unRAID server making sure the array is set to NOT start automatically (‘Enable auto start:’ set to No in Disk Settings).
6. Power up the server and let unRAID load. Check to ensure all required drives are seen by unRAID.
7. Use the ’New Config’ tool to re-create the new array pool with the new 16TB parity and array drives.
8. After thoroughly checking the new config, start the array and let the parity rebuild occur on the new 16TB drives.
9. While the parity rebuild is underway, test/zero/preclear the 2 x 10TB Ironwolf drives that were used for parity so they can be added to the array pool.

 

If everything goes as planned, I’ll end up with dual 16TB parity drives, and the other 2 x 16TB drives increasing my array size by 12TB for a total of 212TB useable space. As the 2 new 16TB array drives will be formatted with XFS, they should be compatible with the unRAID array and their data will be added to the parity protected array once the full parity rebuild completes.

 

As I’m only copying files/folders from the 4 x WD 10TB drives, I’ll still be able to access them to compare contents by mounting them with Unassigned Devices. Once I’m sure my array is intact and parity protected I’ll then go to work on testing the suspect drives and submitting any required warranty claims.

 

Does this plan seem reasonable? Any input into problems I might encounter will be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[trurl]

Sounds like you've got a plan that should work. One thing you might reconsider

12 minutes ago, AgentXXL said:

9. While the parity rebuild is underway, test/zero/preclear the 2 x 10TB Ironwolf drives that were used for parity so they can be added to the array pool.

Since these are already known to be good might as well just go ahead and put them in with the New Config. If you put them in during New Config no need for them to be clear since parity is being rebuilt anyway, and Unraid will let you format them after you start the array and begin parity sync. You can even format them during parity sync if you want.

[AgentXXL]

8 minutes ago, trurl said:

Sounds like you've got a plan that should work. One thing you might reconsider

Since these are already known to be good might as well just go ahead and put them in with the New Config. If you put them in during New Config no need for them to be clear since parity is being rebuilt anyway, and Unraid will let you format them after you start the array and begin parity sync. You can even format them during parity sync if you want.

 

I thought about doing that also, but as is I'll probably do at least a 'zero' only pass on the Ironwolfs. Even though the parity rebuild would work, my OCD will be better controlled if I know the contents of the Ironwolfs were zero'ed. I can do that on my backup unRAID system so the preclear/zero doesn't take any resources away from the full parity rebuild. Then adding them to the media unRAID will be quick once the parity rebuild is done.

 

Thanks as always for the feedback!