- Sphinkx schreef:
- Zijn wd20ears. Sector 64?
There have been so many questions and confusion about the EARS and whether they should be jumpered or unjumpered. I thought I would create this sticky and ask people to refer people to this post when they ask question related to the EARS and jumpering drives. The goal is that it will answer all of the questions and reduce the time we spend answering questions on this topic.
Please help me review this.
Moderators - feel free to directly edit. Others, reply in this thread with updates or suggestions. But be warned that comment posts will be deleted after they are applied. In the end this will be a single post locked thread. - bjp999
Before reading further, immediately go into the unRAID "Setting" tab, and change the value of "Default partition format" to 4K aligned. This will not affect in any way drives that are already in use by unRAID. It simply sets things up so that future disks that are precleared, rebuilt, or added to the array directly are aligned on sector 64. This assumes you are using unRAID 4.7 or newer.
Several of the steps below require you to know the partition alignment of your EARS drive(s). The easiest way is to use myMain (part of unmenu) and go to the Inventory tab. It will tell you the alignment (either 63 or 64). If is is blank, it means that unRAID (or preclear) will create the partition based on the "Default partition format" you just set.
The following should guide what you do with an EARS drive.
1. If you buy a
new EARS drive, do not install jumpers. Preclear the disk. Make sure preclear tells you it will align the partition at sector 64.
2. If you have a jumpered EARS, already in your array, and aligned at sector 63, LEAVE IT ALONE. There is zero performance advantage in removing the jumper and moving to sector 64 alignment.
3. If you have a jumpered EARS, already in your array, and aligned at sector 64, and you are
not experiencing performance problems, LEAVE IT ALONE. (You always have the option of later changing the partition alignment.)
4. If you have a jumpered EARS, already in your array, and aligned at sector 64, and you ARE having performance problems, follow the steps below (TO REMOVE THE JUMPER ON AN EARS DRIVE ALREADY IN THE ARRAY)
5. If you have an unjumpered EARS, already in your array, and aligned at sector 64, LEAVE IT ALONE. This is the optimal setting you are looking for.
6. If you have an unjumpered EARS and it is already in your array, aligned at sector 63, and are not experienceing performance problems, LEAVE IT ALONE. (You always have the option of later changing the partition.)
7. If you have an unjumpered EARS and it is already in your array, aligned at sector 63, and you are experiencing performance problems, follow the steps below (TO PROPERLY ALIGN AN UNJUMPERED EARS DRIVE ALREADY IN THE ARRAY)
8. If you have an unjumpered EARS that is NOT in the array (e.g., was previously used in another system) and, is aligned at sector 64, treat as any other disk to be added. You should preclear it and add it to the array in the normal way.
9. If you have an EARS that is NOT in the array (e.g., was previously used in another system), and did not meet the critieria in #8 above, follow the steps below (TO ADD A USED EARS DRIVE TO THE ARRAY).
10. If you have used the "WD align" software, it is unknown how you should proceed. Ask a question in the general support forum to see if other users have recommendations.
11. If we've omitted your situation, please create a post in general support forum.
TO REMOVE THE JUMPER ON AN EARS DRIVE ALREADY IN THE ARRAY1 - Make sure the unRAID alignment setting is "4K aligned"
2 - Take a screenshot of the unRAID main page. Save it in a JPG or print it out.
3 - Stop the array
4 - Unassign the disk from the array
5 - Start the array (may need to check the checkbox to start the array) - THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. Array must be started with disk missing.
6 - Stop the array
7 - Power down
8 - Remove the jumper
9 - Power up
10 - From telnet prompt run the following commad. This clears the MBR and is necessary to change the partition alignment.
dd if=/dev/zero count=200 of=/dev/sdX
where sdX the is device. Look on unmenu, myMain or the unRAID devices page for the 3 letter device code (e.g., sda, sdb, ...)
11 - Reboot (click reboot buttong on unRAID GUI)
12 - Array should not start automatically. DO NOT START IT YET!
13 - Preclear (optional - if you precleared it when it was new and it is not giving trouble, no need to preclear it again)
14 - Verify that the unjumpered disk is assigned to its prior slot (e.g., if this was disk3, make sure the disk is again assigned to disk3)
15 - If not - go to the devices page and assign it to the devices page
16- Go to main page and compare it to the screenshot taken in step 2
17 - You should see unRAID saying that it will rebuild the disk. (You may need to click a checkbox to enable the start button)
18 - Start the array
19 - Disk will rebuild, let it finish
20 - Verify contents of rebuilt disk
TO PROPERLY ALIGN AN UNJUMPERED EARS DRIVE ALREADY IN THE ARRAY1 - Make sure the unRAID alignment setting is "4K aligned"
2 - Take a screenshot of the unRAID main page. Save it in a JPG or print it out.
3 - Stop the array
4 - Unassign the disk from the array
5 - Start the array (may need to check the checkbox to start the array) - THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. Array must be started with disk missing.
6 - Stop the array
7 - From telnet prompt run the following commad. This clears the MBR and is necessary to change the partition alignment.
dd if=/dev/zero count=200 of=/dev/sdX
where sdX the is device. Look on unmenu, myMain or the unRAID devices page for the 3 letter device code (e.g., sda, sdb, ...)
8 - Reboot (click reboot buttong on unRAID GUI)
9 - Array should not start automatically. DO NOT START IT YET!
10 - Preclear (optional - if you precleared it when it was new and it is not giving trouble, no need to preclear it again)
11 - Verify that the unjumpered disk is assigned to its prior slot (e.g., if this was disk3, make sure the disk is again assigned to disk3)
12 - If not - go to the devices page and assign it to the devices page
13- Go to main page and compare it to the screenshot taken in step 2
14 - You should see unRAID saying that it will rebuild the disk. (You may need to click a checkbox to enable the start button)
15 - Start the array
16 - Disk will rebuild, let it finish
17 - Verify contents of rebuilt disk
TO ADD A USED EARS DRIVE TO THE ARRAY1 - Make sure the unRAID alignment setting is "4K aligned"
2 - Take a screenshot of the unRAID main page. Save it in a JPG or print it out.
3 - If EARS is jumpered ...
- Power down the server
- Remove the jumper
- Power up the server
4 - From telnet prompt run the following commad. This clears the MBR and is necessary to change the partition alignment.
dd if=/dev/zero count=200 of=/dev/sdX
where sdX the device. Look on the unRAID devices page for the 3 letter device code (e.g., sda, sdb, ...)
5 - Reboot (click reboot buttong on unRAID GUI)
6 - Preclear the disk (use the -n option to skip the pre and post read if you have confidence in the drive)
7 - Drive is ready to be added to the array
Onderwerp: Re: Sphinkx's Server 
ma aug 15, 2011 10:40 am
die gaat vliegensvlug lol, wacht maar, je zal wel zien, het duuuuuuuuuuuuurt lang, gelukkig moet je het maar 1x doen