Mover won't move files off of cache to array


Recommended Posts

I originally setup my Unraid server without cache drives. I ended up adding 2 cache drives into a pool after the fact. I changed the settings on 4 shares to prefer cache. The 4 shares were appdata, domains, downloads and system. I use a qbittorent docker to download torrents that go into the downloads folder and then I move those downloads into the respective share they ultimately go in like lets say tv shows. The problem I am having is that my cache is filling up (74% full) even though I have moved the files (using binhex Krusader) to the respective shares that aren't on the cache drives (some files still show they are on the cache drive if I use the browse files feature on the shares tab for the tv shows share). The mover does nothing at all. According to the logs as soon as I start the mover it finishes instantly. I have even changed around the type of cache that the download share is set to and that still does nothing. Some direction regarding this would be greatly appreciated. It is probably something simple but I'm just not figuring it out.

Link to comment
9 minutes ago, therecker said:

I just checked and I DO NOT have that plugin installed.

 

OK.

 

I would suggest that you enable mover logging under Settings -> Scheduler; try the move again and then you are likely to get better informed feedback if you attach your systems diagnostics zip file (obtained via Tools->Diagnostics) to your NEXT post.

Link to comment

What share are you expecting files to be moved for?   You have several files set to Use Cache=No with files on the cache.   if you turn on the Help in the GUI for the Use Cache setting you will see it says with that setting mover will take no action.    If you want files to be moved from Cache to array then you need Use Cache=Yes as the setting.

Link to comment

Share T--------s  (TV Shows)  has cache no, but share exists on cache. Files from here will not be moved unless it is set to yes.

 

When you move the files from download are they going into TV Shows on cache and you manually moved them to disk1 or 2?

 

# Share exists on disk1,disk2,cache

Edited by SimonF
Link to comment

I never had the cache setting for TV Shows set to anything but NO. The qbittorent docker downloads torrents into downloads and then I moved them from the downloads to the tv shows or movies shares and they seem to STAY on the cache even though those two folders were never setup to be on the cache. And the reason the downloads share is set to that is I was trying different settings to determine if the MOVER would take any action. As far as manually moving from disk to disk I guess I don't know how to do that. I was using binhex krusader to move from share to share and I just assumed that it would move from cache to the array if the share I was moving to was not part of the array.

 

So if I set Tv Shows to YES and Movies to YES the files in cache will go from the cache to the array if I invoke the mover? That logically doesn't make sense to me.

Link to comment

So I set that to yes on both those shares and invoked the mover and it is indeed moving the files. So in the future if I don't want this to happen I should turn of the downloads share to NO for using the cache otherwise I'm just going to have to do this if I move from downloads to other shares? Or is there a better approach?

Link to comment
3 minutes ago, therecker said:

I never had the cache setting for TV Shows set to anything but NO. The qbittorent docker downloads torrents into downloads and then I moved them from the downloads to the tv shows or movies shares and they seem to STAY on the cache even though those two folders were never setup to be on the cache. And the reason the downloads share is set to that is I was trying different settings to determine if the MOVER would take any action. As far as manually moving from disk to disk I guess I don't know how to do that. I was using binhex krusader to move from share to share and I just assumed that it would move from cache to the array if the share I was moving to was not part of the array.

 

So if I set Tv Shows to YES and Movies to YES the files in cache will go from the cache to the array if I invoke the mover? That logically doesn't make sense to me.

 

Changing the setting to Yes WILL make it work.    If you carefully read the help for that setting you might work out why Yes is needed.    The effect of the different values is not immediately obvious.

 

The problem you are encountering stems from the fact that qbittorrent is working at a level where it is falling foul of the way moves are handled at the Linux level and is thus managing to by-pass the User Share system creating the folder on the same drive as the downloads folder.

Link to comment
9 minutes ago, therecker said:

So I set that to yes on both those shares and invoked the mover and it is indeed moving the files. So in the future if I don't want this to happen I should turn of the downloads share to NO for using the cache otherwise I'm just going to have to do this if I move from downloads to other shares? Or is there a better approach?


you almost certainly want all the working folder for qbittorrent set to either ‘Only’ or ‘Prefer’ to keep those files on the cache for efficiency.     You then want the final target folder to have the Use Cache setting of Yes to ensure mover later picks up the files and moves them off the cache to the array.

 

Part of the problem was that originally the Use Cache only had settings of Yes or No.   When more sophisticated behaviour was introduced the values of ‘Only’ and ‘Prefer’ were added.    Nobody could come up with a better single word than ‘Prefer’ to describe how that setting works.   If we were starting with a clean sheet we would probably invert the meaning of the Yes and Prefer settings, but there is to much legacy around to do that at this stage without massive disruption.  

Link to comment
7 minutes ago, itimpi said:

 

Changing the setting to Yes WILL make it work.    If you carefully read the help for that setting you might work out why Yes is needed.    The effect of the different values is not immediately obvious.

 

The problem you are encountering stems from the fact that qbittorrent is working at a level where it is falling foul of the way moves are handled at the Linux level and is thus managing to by-pass the User Share system creating the folder on the same drive as the downloads folder.

Thank you for the clarification. I'm no linux expert so it just takes me a bit of time to wrap my head around how all this works under the hood. So the best practice here would just be to leave the downloads folder set to NO for cache drive usage then? Otherwise I will just keep running into this issue.

Link to comment
Just now, therecker said:

Thank you for the clarification. I'm no linux expert so it just takes me a bit of time to wrap my head around how all this works under the hood. So the best practice here would just be to leave the downloads folder set to NO for cache drive usage then? Otherwise I will just keep running into this issue.

If you read my previous reply you will see I am recommending against using No for this.

Link to comment
9 minutes ago, itimpi said:

Glad you think so :) 

 

While this is fresh in your mind any feedback on ways to make this clearer the first time around that might occur to you would be welcomed.   This is a common area in which users get confused.

Honestly not sure to be honest. A very specific use case based tutorial that is pretty dumbed down maybe? I would suspect that most people who start using UNRAID are not linux experts so therefore this concept is likely over their head.

 

So this is how I set mine up after the mover completed. I also setup my mover to schedule a move operation at 3:30AM once a week on a Wednesday.

 

image.thumb.png.3da578346fe3a011b40cf8ce16335b4e.png

Link to comment
14 minutes ago, therecker said:

So this is how I set mine up after the mover completed. I also setup my mover to schedule a move operation at 3:30AM once a week on a Wednesday

Those look sensible.

 

Once you get your head around the concepts then it is easy to later make changes if your needs change.

 

As to the frequency at which mover runs then it really is up to you and your usage pattern.  The key point is to run mover at a time that has minimal impact on your use of the system and it does not have so many files to move that it is still running when you want to start using the server for other things.   If you leave your server powered on 24x7 then the default of every night at around 3:30 is as good a time as any.    If you have plenty of space on the cache drive for the amount of new files you accumulate then less frequently is fine.

 

You should set the Minimum Free Space value for the cache and for any share to be greater than the largest file you expect to have.    That way unRaid will transparently switch between using cache and array without failing transfers due to insufficient space for a particular file.

 

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.