Just got a SATA extension card, now what?

Hello,

I am running version 5.0.5 and I have just installed a Promise FasTrak S150 SX4-M PCI card, therefore I added 4 new SATA ports to my computer.

To it I connected 2 new hard drives.

Unraid loaded ok but it does not see the Promise card, and of course the HDDs too.

What did I miss?

Thanks

This looks like a (hardware) raid controller. 

See if you can set it to JBOD or passthrough mode and try again.

According to the hardware list it has not been tested with unRAID until now.

You're the first to do this.

It may work or (probably) not...(no drivers for unRAID)

For the use with unRAID you need an HBA only.

This looks like a (hardware) raid controller. 

See if you can set it to JBOD or passthrough mode and try again.

Support for RAID level 0, 1, 10, 5 and JBOD, Online array expansion and RAID level migration to add capacity on the fly

Probably need to enter the BIOS of the card and make the switch.  Here is a link to the quick start guide on how to enter bios and switch to JBOD on page 6,7 and 8.

Some Promise PCI cards allow you to disable the BIOS via a Ctrl-A during POST.  Unfortunately this is not one of them -- and switching it to JBOD still won't let the individual drives be seen by the UnRAID drivers.

You simply need to get a new SATA card.  If you're going to use PCI slots (not a good idea if you have any available PCIe slots), you shouldn't attach more than 2 drivers to a card ... so you may as well just buy a 2-port card (or a couple of them if you need 4 slots).

Great info!

And what if I have 2 empty PCIe slots, could I use 2 faster cards with 2 SATA ports on each?

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Great info!

And what if I have 2 empty PCIe slots, could I use 2 faster cards with 2 SATA ports on each?

Yes.

A couple of these would work nicely:  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816132008

We don't have them where I live.

But we do have other brands.

Does it have to support JBOD?

What about this one for exemple?

http://www.lycom.com.tw/PE-120.htm

That card needs a PCIe x2 slot => does your motherboard have an available PCIe slot with more than one lane?  [x4, x8, or x16 will work fine ... but an x1 slot won't work unless it's open at the back, so you can plug in a card designed for more lanes (then the card would work, but at a lower-than-designed speed)]

These are the slots available on my motherboard:

1- 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x16 (PCIEX16)

2- 1 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x4 (PCIEX4)

So again, will this http://www.lycom.com.tw/PE-120.htm card serve my purpose?

It does not mention JBOD. Is that important?

Either of those slots will work fine with an x2 card.

It's not important that it doesn't mention JBOD.  The only thing that matters is whether or not it will work without using the RAID functionality ... and it certainly implies that's not a problem, since it will ONLY support non-RAID drives if you're using a port multiplier.

But as it doesn't mention the specific controller chip that's on the drive, it's difficult to say for sure that it will work with UnRAID.  I'd certainly expect that it will work with no problem ... but the only way to know for sure is to try it.

Either of those slots will work fine with an x2 card.

 

It's not important that it doesn't mention JBOD.  The only thing that matters is whether or not it will work without using the RAID functionality ... and it certainly implies that's not a problem, since it will ONLY support non-RAID drives if you're using a port multiplier.

 

But as it doesn't mention the specific controller chip that's on the drive, it's difficult to say for sure that it will work with UnRAID.  I'd certainly expect that it will work with no problem ... but the only way to know for sure is to try it.

Well  that's good enough for me.

I will get it and try.

I will also let you know, in this same thread, for all to see.

So thanks a lot for your help.

That card needs a PCIe x2 slot

Are you sure? - That would be technically possible, but very unusual.  And the pictures only show enough edge connector fingers for a PCIe x1 slot.

Are you sure?

Yes.

... the pictures only show enough edge connector fingers for a PCIe x1 slot.

No, they show an x2 slot.

Look CAREFULLY at the following:

(1) An Adaptec PCIe x1 controller:  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816103229

(2)  A SYBA PCIe x2 controller:  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816124060

(3)  The controller asked about here (which is described as a PCIe v2 2-lane adapter (i.e. x2):

http://www.lycom.com.tw/PE-120.htm

If you look carefully at the pictures, you can see that the rear connector is notably wider on the x2 cards.  The first connector is for power;  the 2nd connector is the data lanes -- if you look at x1, x2, x4, x8, and x16 cards you can see this fairly clearly.

There are actually quite a few x2 cards available => what's unusual is to see an x2 slot on a motherboard.  They're usually either x4, x8, or x16  (and often the x4 and/or x8 slots are in physical x16 sockets, so any card can be used in the slot).

Are you sure?

Yes.

My error!  My apologies.  You are (as so very often) completely correct!

I was up late and quite literally followed the wrong link to look at the product in question.  I will look more carefully (for my own needs as well) in the future.

Thanks.

I eventually got this one http://www.lycom.com.tw/PE-123i.htm

They had it in stock and I didn't want to wait.

It is fairly plug and play as I could see the new drives in the Unraid disk management list.

So I guess I am done with this thread.

The fact that I didn't manage to find a way to extend my volume on the new disks is another problem.

For that I will open a new thread.

Thanks

Can you tell us if it supports spindown and drive temperatures in unRAID?

I will include it in the wiki.

I will as soon as I get the new drives to be recognized by Unraid as part of the volume.

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What's the issue with extending your volume?    Do you mean extend a share to the new disk(s)?

If it's not doing that, you likely have the share settings wrong -- perhaps you're using Includes and need to add the new disks;  or you have global share settings that are doing the same.

Post the details of your problem -- along with a picture of the Web GUI with the new disks added to the array -- and perhaps we can help.

What's the issue with extending your volume?    Do you mean extend a share to the new disk(s)?

 

If it's not doing that, you likely have the share settings wrong -- perhaps you're using Includes and need to add the new disks;  or you have global share settings that are doing the same.

 

Post the details of your problem -- along with a picture of the Web GUI with the new disks added to the array -- and perhaps we can help.

Why open a blank new thread when all the good guys are here ?

Ok, here you go.

As you can see,

1) 2 new 3TB drives are recognized

2) my existing drives are all 1.5 TB in size

3) my parity drive is 1.5 TB which will not be allowed when I include new 3TB drives since it won't be the largest

4) my cache drive is faster 500GB drive

When I stop my array, it only offers to add a 5th drive (apart from the parity and the cache drives). Is Unraid limited to 5 drives?

How do I add 2 new 3TB drives?

How do trade places between my actual 1.5 TB parity drive and a new 3TB drive?

Then how do I make the former 1.5 TB parity drive a part of the array, along with the remaining 3TB drive?

The first thing you need to do is run a parity check to ensure everything is good (i.e. NO zeroes in the error column and NO sync errors).  If the parity check results in any sync errors being corrected, then do it again until you get the "all zeroes" result.

Then you need to Stop the array and change the parity drive assignment to one of your new 3TB drives.  Then Start the array and let parity be rebuilt on the 3TB drive.

THEN you can add your other drives, up to the 5 data drive limit of the Plus license.  The Plus license supports 7 drives total -- parity, cache, plus 5 data drives.

The first thing you need to do is run a parity check to ensure everything is good (i.e. NO zeroes in the error column and NO sync errors).  If the parity check results in any sync errors being corrected, then do it again until you get the "all zeroes" result.

 

Then you need to Stop the array and change the parity drive assignment to one of your new 3TB drives.  Then Start the array and let parity be rebuilt on the 3TB drive.

 

THEN you can add your other drives, up to the 5 data drive limit of the Plus license.  The Plus license supports 7 drives total -- parity, cache, plus 5 data drives.

I really appreciate your help.

I did as you instructed and also purchased an upgrade from Plus to Pro.

While I am waiting for my new license to arrive I replaced my 1.5TB parity drive with a 3TB drive but the array won't start.

It says "Stopped. Upgrading parity"

The message seems appropriate but nothing else seems to happen.

I don't know if it is really doing it.

And I cannot start the array, not even the Maintenance mode.

Any means of checking what is going on?

I played with the GUI a bit and got into this new situation (see attached screenshot).

But that doesn't help since i cannot start the array.

Running the 'top' command shows that the whole system is idle.

Is that normal?

If you "play" with the GUI, you "play" with your data! 

Have you done a parity check with your initial setup?

What does the screenshot look like when all drives are green?

I suppose 1,5TB parity? (please post a screenshot)

You have 3 options then:

1. like gary already described

replace the parity drive, let parity rebuild (have the old parity drive as backup)

add the rest of the drives in a next step (if they have been precleared it's a matter of minutes)

Did you check "Yes I want to do this"?

3. via "parity swap" - array is protected

adds additional effort with the "replaced drive"

2. via "new config" - array has no parity protection until the parity is rebuilt

but: you can add all drives in one step

WARNING: TRIPLE CHECK, THAT YOU DON'T ASSIGN AN EXISTING DATA DRIVE AS NEW PARITY DRIVE!!!

(not possible in your case but others may read this too)

What action do you prefer?

Edit:

have been rethinking my proposal...

That's right. When my old 1.5TB drive is parity then all drives are green, parity checks ok, and 0 errors.

I would like to opt for a parity swap, but how do you go about it?

Any instructions?

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I've been rethinking this.

Parity swap would work, but adds additional effort with the "replaced drive".

The procedure is more suitable if you want to replace a failed data drive with a bigger drive than your parity.

(It means you have to effectively change 2 drives in your array at the same time.

To be able to do so, you have to cause a data drive to red-ball. See the link in my prior post.)

In your case, what you did in your post here is recommended and should work.

Did you check "Yes I want to do this"?

If you can't "start" (button greyed out) then I'm a bit concerned.

The same might occur on any other action (parity swap) - then you have even more issues to deal with.

At this point I suggest you contact limetech and let Tom have a look at this.