[Mick1152]

I'm using the latest version 5 RC, started with RC2 and I'm now on RC 5.

I just started with the version 5 RC's since I wanted to use 3TB drives in my server which you can't use in the stable 4.7 releases (Unless you partition them down to be 2TB drives at least). If I didn't have my data backed up elsewhere too, I don't think I'd have used the RC and risk data loss.

In my case, originally, my data was mirrored on local drives in my main HTPC. The unRaid server was a backup of my movie files from that system which then served the movies to the other systems in my house. I set things up this way for two reasons:

1: I wanted redundancy in my files in case there ever was an issue that caused data loss on the server. No single server, regardless of parity or mirroring etc, will ensure no data loss without a redundant backup.
2: I wanted local storage on my HTPC so I could easily take my entire library with me in my RV

Since then, I picked up a nice little 4 drive RAID enclosure which now has my HDDs from my HTPC in it. That enclosure is hooked up to my unRaid server via USB and my media library is backed up to the USB enclosure automatically. Now I can just take the enclosure with me when I'm travelling. Next project will be a dedicated HTPC for my RV so all I have to worry about is taking the USB enclosure with me.

[Icerat]

Hi
Well the servers up and running now and I'm in the process of running a Pre-Clear on both disks.

I decided to put the 2x 1TB drives I had in my D-Link Share centre into Server.

================================================================== 1.13
= unRAID server Pre-Clear disk /dev/sda
= cycle 1 of 1, partition start on sector 64
= Disk Pre-Read in progress: 48% complete
= ( 485,291,520,000 bytes of 1,000,204,886,016 read ) 84.9 MB/s
=
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=
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Disk Temperature: 34C, Elapsed Time: 1:26:07

================================================================== 1.13
= unRAID server Pre-Clear disk /dev/sdb
= cycle 1 of 1, partition start on sector 64
= Disk Pre-Read in progress: 35% complete
= ( 355,332,096,000 bytes of 1,000,204,886,016 read ) 82.0 MB/s
=
=
=
=
=
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Disk Temperature: 33C, Elapsed Time: 1:08:15

The drive temps seem to fluctuate between 32-34C at the moment whilst Pre-Clearing, is this ok.

Once the pre-clear is done and I add them to the array what if i I remove them for any reason ie upgrade, do I need to pre-clear them again if I wanted to put them back into the array at a future date?

Not that I've figured out how to upgrade (1tb to 2tb) the disks yet once they have data on lol.

[aptalca]

Icerat,

I have the antec 300 illusion as well. When I had the server in my living room, I had all four fans set to low (two in the front, one in the back and one at the top). The drives (five 5400rpm and one 7200) were in the low thirties when all were in use (during a parity check). I think those temps are totally fine. Plus preclearing really stresses the drives and pushes them to their max. During normal use, they will probably run a little cooler.

I since moved it to the basement (unfinished and open to the outside through two little steel grated windows with no glass). Because it's open to the outside, it can get quite hot during the summer. Since I no longer care about the noise, I turned all the fans to high. It sounds like a jet engine :-) but now the drives run in the 27-29 degree range even when it's pretty hot down there (that's about the room temperature down there).

[Icerat]

Checked this morning and the pre-clear was on the last bit. The drives were sitting at 28 and 29 degrees.

silly question time. I use putty to connect to the server if I closed the session would the pre-clear cancel.

Only ask as I currently have server and main machine running at moment.

[Mick1152]

if you used "screen" then no, it will continue if you close putty. If you didn't use screen then it will stop when you close the session.

[Icerat]

"Screen" sorry you lost me.

The Pre-Clear finished and said it successfully finished, do these results look normal.

Not sure what all the "command not found" errors are?

================================================================== 1.13
= unRAID server Pre-Clear disk /dev/sdb
= cycle 1 of 1, partition start on sector 64
= Disk Pre-Clear-Read completed DONE
= Step 1 of 10 - Copying zeros to first 2048k bytes DONE
= Step 2 of 10 - Copying zeros to remainder of disk to clear it DONE
= Step 3 of 10 - Disk is now cleared from MBR onward. DONE
= Step 4 of 10 - Clearing MBR bytes for partition 2,3 & 4 DONE
= Step 5 of 10 - Clearing MBR code area DONE
= Step 6 of 10 - Setting MBR signature bytes DONE
= Step 7 of 10 - Setting partition 1 to precleared state DONE
= Step 8 of 10 - Notifying kernel we changed the partitioning DONE
= Step 9 of 10 - Creating the /dev/disk/by* entries DONE
= Step 10 of 10 - Verifying if the MBR is cleared. DONE
= Disk Post-Clear-Read completed DONE
Disk Temperature: 32C, Elapsed Time: 15:43:23
========================================================================1.13
== WDC WD10EACS-00D6B0 WD-WCAU44987157
== Disk /dev/sdb has been successfully precleared
== with a starting sector of 64
============================================================================
** Changed attributes in files: /tmp/smart_start_sdb /tmp/smart_finish_sdb
ATTRIBUTE NEW_VAL OLD_VAL FAILURE_THRESHOLD STATUS RAW_VA LUE
Power_On_Hours = 74 75 0 ok 18982
Temperature_Celsius = 118 115 0 ok 32
No SMART attributes are FAILING_NOW

0 sectors were pending re-allocation before the start of the preclear.
0 sectors were pending re-allocation after pre-read in cycle 1 of 1.
0 sectors were pending re-allocation after zero of disk in cycle 1 of 1.
0 sectors are pending re-allocation at the end of the preclear,
the number of sectors pending re-allocation did not change.
0 sectors had been re-allocated before the start of the preclear.
0 sectors are re-allocated at the end of the preclear,
the number of sectors re-allocated did not change.
root@Pluto:/boot# ============================================================== ==== 1.13
-bash: ==================================================================: comma nd not found
root@Pluto:/boot# = unRAID server Pre-Clear disk /dev/sdb
-bash: =: command not found
root@Pluto:/boot# = cycle 1 of 1, partition start on sector 64
-bash: =: command not found
root@Pluto:/boot# = Disk Pre-Read in progress: 35% complete
-bash: =: command not found
root@Pluto:/boot# = ( 355,332,096,000 bytes of 1,000,204,886,016 read ) 82.0 MB/s
-bash: syntax error near unexpected token `355,332,096,000'
root@Pluto:/boot# =
-bash: =: command not found
root@Pluto:/boot# =
-bash: =: command not found
root@Pluto:/boot# =
-bash: =: command not found
root@Pluto:/boot# =
-bash: =: command not found
root@Pluto:/boot# =
-bash: =: command not found
root@Pluto:/boot# =
-bash: =: command not found
root@Pluto:/boot# =
-bash: =: command not found
root@Pluto:/boot# =
-bash: =: command not found
root@Pluto:/boot# =
-bash: =: command not found
root@Pluto:/boot# =
-bash: =: command not found
root@Pluto:/boot# Disk Temperature: 33C, Elapsed Time: 1:08:15
-bash: Disk: command not found
root@Pluto:/boot#

[Mick1152]

"Screen" sorry you lost me.

The Pre-Clear finished and said it successfully finished, do these results look normal.

I'm a linux noob but I'll do my best to explain. Screen is like sitting at the computer, with a graphical interface, and opening another "screen" or desktop or window or however you want to think of it (sure there's some technical term here but I have no idea what it is). It lets you go back to the main screen, or in the case of a telnet connection, close your connection completely, leaving the new screen you opened running whatever command you told it to until it is finished. You can log back in and use the screen command to reopen the screen you left open and see the progress.

Here's a link on how to use screen when running the preclear: Preclear with Screen

As for the errors, I'm not sure, guessing some sort of error in the preclear script you used... I didn't pay that much attention to mine as I cleared three 3TB drives with multiple passes and it took about a week so when I saw the script finished I happily continued setting up my system.. have me wondering now though....