Posts Tagged Computers
Upgrading/replacing a parity drive in unRAID
Posted by J.D. in Ask J.D., unRAID tips and tricks on May 26th, 2010
I’m preparing to upgrade my 2TB WD Green parity drive to a 2TB WD Black parity drive on my unRAID system. I did a lot of searching for resources on this topic and while there are some great forums posts out there, they are sometimes hard to find. So here is a consolidated list of useful links for parity drive replacement:
NOTE: many thanks to all the helpful and supportive unRAID users out there, the credit for all of this awesome info goes to them!!!
1 – Ran parity check last night, no errors. This step not really required, but a sanity issue
2 – stop the array
3 – go to devices tab, remove parity drive from configuration
4 – power down system via “powerdown” button
5 – remove existing 750 GB parity drive, replace with new 1 TB drive
6 – power on unraid
7 – go to devices tab, assign 1TB drive as parity drive
8 - start the array with the “start” button
9 – wait for parity rebuild to complete
10 – power off array and system
11 – install 750 GB drive removed in step 5
12 – power on machine, start the array
13 – go to devices tab, add the new/old 750 GB as a data disk
14 – start the array – disk will be formatted and added to the array.
NEW: jump straight to step-by-step photos of the entire process!
Answer from Joe:
You’ve done your homework.
The steps you listed look good. When you go to add the 750Gig drive back into the array as a data disk you will probably also need to check a checkbox indicating you wish it to clear and format the disk.
Once that checkbox is checked, press the “Start” button.
The rest is just a matter of time to let it build parity on the new parity drive, and then to clear and add the old-parity/new-data disk.
Answer by prostuff1:
unRAID will only see one parity drive as it will be the one assigned to the parity slot on the Devices page.
My suggestion when upgrading parity is to:
1. Run preclear on the drive a could of times (not necessary but will stress test the drive to find early failure)
2. Take out the old party by disconnecting it
3. Hook up new parity drive and assign it as parity once the computer is started back up
4. Let parity rebuild and then run a check on it to make sure nothing is going funky.
5. Shut down the server and hook the old parity drive back up
6. Run preclear on the old parity drive and let it complete
7. Assign the old parity drive to a slot and your all done.
The end, for now!
Favorite homebrew computers: 1997-2010
Posted by J.D. in Building, Computers, Daily Updates, Work on January 31st, 2010
Some people enjoy building hot rods, or building model airplanes. I enjoy building computers.
The first PC I built was in 1997, I was a sophomore in HS. I can still remember researching all the parts, using a computer in the HS science classroom (I didn’t have internet at home at that time). Tom’s Hardware and Anandtech were my primary sources of motherboard and CPU reviews. Those two sites helped me immensely in choosing the best components for my “first build”.
Since that time I’ve built around 35-40 computers. Some for friends, some for family, a lot for clients and a lot for myself (for business use and personal use). Some of the machines are rather forgettable, but there are others I’ll always remember 
.
So, here are some of my favorites spanning from 1997 to 2010:
Fixing dual-monitor problems in Solidworks
PROBLEM: Dave here. I wanted to see if you could help me out with my computer from work. After installing the second monitor I’ve been having a couple issues. When I have both of my programs up, Solid Works and Gibbs CAM, if I open up more than maybe 2 files in Solid Works the program gets really slow and I have to shut Gibbs down for it to return to normal. John set me up with a program that puts the task bar on both screens and that seemed to help a little, but it still does it. I appreciate your help.
Dave
I did some checking online and it looks like it could be one of two issues:
#1 VIDEO CARD DRIVER – you may just need to update to a different video card driver that works better with Solid Works
+I believe your video card was an NVIDIA card, you can download NVIDIA drivers here http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us
or if it was an ATI card then here http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx
+along those same lines, adjusting your video card driver settings may help as well
+you could try reducing the color depth to 16 bit, making sure OpenGL is enabled…
#2 you may need a faster video card
+solidworks has a list of recommended cards: http://www.solidworks.com/sw/videocardtesting.html
For most of the posts I read online, the driver seemed to be the issue. This would make sense, since SolidWorks was working fine with just one monitor, however, it’s also possible that the higher resolution (dual monitors) is simply beyond the capabilities of a non-workstation [high end] video card…
Best regards,
-
Only 0 days until the baby is due!
100% of the way there:J.D.'s Weight Chart
NEW! See a BIGGER version
This graph reads from left to right. Starting from the left, the first day listed is April 6th, 2009 and the far right point should be pretty close to today...
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