Upgrade parity disk

[steve1977]

I am planning to upgrade my parity disk from 6TB to 10TB. Also, I'd like to replace one 4TB disk within the array with a 10TB disk.

 

Would love to get some guidance how to do this most effectively. Assume I cannot change two disks at once? So, I will need to change the parity disk first? Should be easy. Just take old parity out when array is offline and add the new disk? It will then rebuild parity? Same for old data disk in array (4TB). I just take it out and put a new 10TB disk in? It will then rebuild the 4TB on the 10TB disk and I have 6TB free?

[Helmonder]

You need to change the parity first.. If you do the data drive first then that data drive will not be protected when you change the parity drive..

 

1) Shutdown server

2) Build in two 10TB drives

3) Start server

4) Pre-clear both 10TB drives

 

When preclear is finished:

 

5) Shutdown server

6) Remove parity drive

7) Start server

8- Assign new 10TB drive to parity slot

 

Wait for parity to be recreated again

 

9) Shutdown server

10) Remove 4TB drive

11) Start server

12) Assign new 10TB disk to slot of 4TB drive

 

Wait for parity to have recreated drive contents.

[steve1977]

Thanks for your message. This is clear and helpful.

 

I don't have free internal slot. I may be able to do the pre-clear over USB if strongly advised. Or just skip it and go straight to parity creation?

[bonienl]

Preclear is not mandatory, though most people use it to test the disk upfront. A straight swap without preclear is a possibility though.

 

 

[steve1977]

Thanks. If doing a straight swap, can I do it in the same HD slot? I shutdown Unraid and then take out "old" disk and add a new one to replace in the same slot. Then power up Unraid and start the array. And then the magic begins?

 

I just realized that I will need to do 3-4 swaps:

 

1) Parity: 6TB to 10TB

2) Data 1: 6TB to 10TB

3) Data 2: 4TB to 6TB ("old" parity")

4) Data 3: 4TB to 6TB ("old data 1")

 

I could save one swap going from 4TB to 10TB, but this would then require a lot of copy activity between the disks. So, 4 swaps may be needed?

 

I think I'll take my chance when upgrading the parity disk without preclear. Worst thing that can happen is that building the array fails, bu it shouldn't bring data loss (unless one of the data disks fail at same time). For the upgrade of data 1, I will probably need to do the preclear not to risk losing data.

 

When re-using my "old" parity disk to upgrade my data 2 disk, do I need to do anything differently or does this work same way as a new empty disk?

[bonienl]

Before swapping disks I recommend you set Enable auto start to NO (see Settings -> Disk settings).

 

Power-off your system, swap your parity disk and start your system again. At this point you can assign the new disk to the parity slot and start the array. A parity sync will start automatically.

 

The above procedure can be repeated for all your data disks too (one at the time), an automatic data rebuild will occur.

[KR1SeS]

Will creation of a new parity drive be any faster with Turbo Write enabled?

[JorgeB]

10 minutes ago, KR1SeS said:

Will creation of a new parity drive be any faster with Turbo Write enabled?

No.