Upgrade path from 4.2.1 Pro

[Argyll]

Back on 10/28/2007 I purchased a licensed copy of unRAID 4.2.1 Pro and built 15 1TB drive array around it to serve as a media array for my Home Theater Setup.

 It has been extremely reliable and I have yet to have a single problem with it.  As of late, I have filled the array and am now contemplating a slow migration from 1TB drives to 2TB drives.  I understand from the Wiki how to upgrade the drives at it looks to be a very straight forward process.  First question, 4.2.1 will not have a problem with 2TB drives, right?

Also, since I was in the 'mood' for upgrades, I was wondering what would be necessary to get caught up and get on the latest release of unRAID?  Simply stated, is it possible to purchase a new license for Pro and keep the 14TB of files on my current array?  I really don't have a way to back up 14TB of data, so I am hoping that there is an upgrade path that would permit the data to stay while upgrading the Flash drive and copying over the necessary configuration information.  Is this possible?  If not, any other recommended approaches?

Everything works great and I really don't have any pressing reason to upgrade (that I am aware of), but would love to get 'caught up' by getting on the most current release.

[prostuff1]

Back on 10/28/2007 I purchased a licensed copy of unRAID 4.2.1 Pro and built 15 1TB drive array around it to serve as a media array for my Home Theater Setup.

 It has been extremely reliable and I have yet to have a single problem with it.  As of late, I have filled the array and am now contemplating a slow migration from 1TB drives to 2TB drives.  I understand from the Wiki how to upgrade the drives at it looks to be a very straight forward process.  First question, 4.2.1 will not have a problem with 2TB drives, right?

Also, since I was in the 'mood' for upgrades, I was wondering what would be necessary to get caught up and get on the latest release of unRAID?  Simply stated, is it possible to purchase a new license for Pro and keep the 14TB of files on my current array?  I really don't have a way to back up 14TB of data, so I am hoping that there is an upgrade path that would permit the data to stay while upgrading the Flash drive and copying over the necessary configuration information.  Is this possible?  If not, any other recommended approaches?

Everything works great and I really don't have any pressing reason to upgrade (that I am aware of), but would love to get 'caught up' by getting on the most current release.

Upgrading your version of unRAID is as easy as copying over 3 files.

The bzroot, bzimage, and the memtest file.

There are a lot of updates since 4.2.1 and i do suggest updating.  Before you do that though, please take a screen capture of your disk configuration page.  That way if some disks get recognized in a different order your can put them back in the correct spots.  With all the updates that have been done you may experience a hiccup like i just mentioned but it is nothing to get worried about.

[Joe L.]

as mentioned, it is as simple as downloading and un-zipping the new release to a folder on your PC, then copying those three files to the flash drive on your unRAID server, then rebooting.

You can get to the flash drive in windows explorer by typing \\tower\flash as the path, so you can do it all from the PC, no need to do unplug the flash drive.

If you wish to be able to revert to the old release, just rename the current bzroot to bzroot.421, and rename bzimage to bzimage.421, then copy into place the new files.  Then, reverting is as simple as renaming them back to their original names and rebooting.

As mentioned, some versions of unRAID scan the hardware in a different order, so take a screen shot of the devices page in case the devices are not identified automatically.  (you can then just re-assign the disks to their respective slots in the array)

No data will be lost, you don't even need to re-calculate parity, and there is no need to purchase a new version from lime-technology. (The upgrade is free)

The release notes on the most recent release are here: http://lime-technology.com/forum/index.php?topic=5496.0
The download link is here: http://lime-technology.com/download/cat_view/49-unraid-server

There have been some users reporting drives appearing as "Unformatted" when initially starting their array on the 4.5.3 versions.  Stopping and re-Starting gets the display back in sync.  I think it is not allowing enough time for the file-systems to check themselves before attempting to mount them.   For that reason, some have preferred the prior release even though it does not have the performance improvement of the 4.5.3 release.  (The 4.5.3 release uses a new Linux kernel that vastly improved performance)

I've never seen the "Unformatted" disk problem on my server, and odds are you will not either... so go for the 4.5.3 release.   If by chance you do see "Unformatted when you expect to see your data disk, just do not panic.  Do not press the "Format" button. 
Just Stop the array, and re-start it.   It is a display issue, not really an unformatted disk.

As far as I know, none of the unRAID releases will have problems with the 2TB drives. 
Just remember when upgrading the drives to always press the "Start" button.   
Do NOT press the button labeled "restore" as it sets a new disk configuration and immediately invalidates parity.

Joe L.

[Rajahal]

Also keep in mind that if you buy a 2 TB WD EARS drive (the new WD drives w/ 64 mb cache), you will need to install a jumper on pins 7-8 BEFORE installing the disk in your unRAID server.  At the current time, no other 2 TB hard drives require a jumper.

[Argyll]

First let me take a moment to sincerely thank you all for taking the time to respond to my question so completely and quickly!

I had just inserted the first new 2TB drive into the Parity drive position and was waiting for the server to 'upgrade parity drive' when I read the last comment about the EARS drive which is the exact model I had purchased (three of them to start with).  The server is showing 1.953 disk space on the parity and that it is 'upgrading parity drive' shows in the lower bottom corner, and I had NOT installed the jumper.  I guess I need to shut it down and install the jumper.  Thanks for the heads-up!

[Rajahal]

Installing the jumper will invalidate any data already on the drive.  As long as it is just parity data, no big deal, you can just build parity again.  However, if it is your personal data, you need to back it up before installing the jumper.

[Argyll]

Whew!  Nope it was just the Parity drive so all is good!

Thanks again so much!

[Joe L.]

Whew!  Nope it was just the Parity drive so all is good!

Thanks again so much!

After installing the jumper make sure you press the "Check" button to have it re-calculate parity...  By putting the jumper on after you calculated parity you've invalidated all the parity calcs, but unRAID does not know it yet.   When you press the "Check" button it will find almost all parity is wrong,  and it will correct it.

Joe L.