Best way to reconfigure folders/shares based on Trash guides


propman07

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Hello-

 

Recently recovered from a hardware failure of my nvme drive (https://forums.unraid.net/topic/126560-copy-data-from-a-failing-cache-drive/) Installed two replacement nvme drives, and looking to make corrections to my folder setup.

 

I'm planning to use Trash's setup guides, but right now, my folder structure is a bit different. I'm trying to figure out the least painful way of reconfiguring to be inline with the folder structure as described in the guide.

 

Here is what I have for primary folders structure:

 

user
└── Media
    ├── Movies
    ├── music
    └── Series

 

Here is what I would like to get to (based on the guide)

 

data
├── torrents
│  ├── movies
│  ├── music
│  └── tv
├── usenet
│  ├── movies
│  ├── music
│  └── tv
└── media
    ├── movies
    ├── music
    └── tv

Thanks.

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I'm doing the same thing, have the same user folder hierarchy and am interested in input as well.

 

So far I've created the suggested new data hierarchy and have sonarr, radarr and qbitorrent using that, configured for hardlinks per the guides.

 

That all seems to be working well and as advertised and I can delete entries under \data\media without affecting the actual torrent files in \data\torrents which is great and a huge improvement over having the actual torrent files live in the \user\tv and movies folders.

 

I use Kodi on Nvidia Shield TV so added the \data\media\tv and movies folders as video sources so Kodi sees stuff added there.

 

So far so good.  Now the only question is whether to/how to go about moving files from my \user\tv and movies folders to the \data\media\tv and movies folders

 

I figure I'll move some/all and then run a Kodi library clean on Kodi to get rid of the database entries and then run a scan to read in the moved files to create new database entries.

 

When the \user\tv and movie folders are empty and everything is (still) working I'll get rid of those no longer needed folders/shares.

 

I suppose I don't absolutely have to move the files from \user\tv and movies to \data\media but it seems dumb to have two locations for each etc.

 

Perhaps there are other threads on all this I haven't looked, just stumbled across this one.

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dabl-

 

Thanks for the reply. I figured that I could get the folder structure created, and get the 'arrs re-configured, as well as the download clients. Sounds like that wasn't too painful of a process. I have the same concerns as you....especially when it comes to the movie/TV show files, and what Plex will do when I move them. I'm a little concerned about watch history, but it's not going to be a deal breaker if I lose that. I'm a little behind you in the process, but I plan on moving all of the movies / TV files with Plex shut down. Then, I'll re-configure Plex per Trash's guide to point to the new locations, cross my fingers, and start the Plex docker. I already have the thumbnails/database on a separate SSD, so hopefully that will help things.

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Cool, I forgot to mention that I also run Plex server, but on one of my Nvidia Shield TV boxes, and have so far just done the same thing I did with Kodi which is add the new \data\media\tv and movies folders to Plex so it sees the new stuff added there.  I had missed that Trash had some discussion for configuring Plex I'll check that out.  I was figuring I'd just do the same as my plan for Kodi, just move files and Plex would do it's periodic scan and remove entries for stuff that no longer existed and then re-add them from the new locations.  Then after awhile I'd remove the old locations from Plex.  I also forgot that I just started using the Kodi Library Auto Update add-on so it has the same kind of behavior as Plex and will periodically rescan libraries.  So in theory I won't need to do anything with either app, just move files and they will figure things out.  In the end I should be able to simply remove those empty folders from being used in the apps and then finally delete the actual folders/shares themselves.

 

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I'm hoping that when I move the Plex libraries (movies, tv shows, etc.) while Plex is shut down, it won't break anything. When I restart Plex, it will have the new locations mapped out, and the files will already be there (I plan on moving the files with rsync so I keep all of the dates intact), so it will still think everything is okay.

 

I should have checked the Trash guides for Plex setup....I went there, and saw there was a page, but didn't actually visit the page....see the attached image....looks like he hasn't had time to make any updates.

trash_guides_plex.png

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17 hours ago, propman07 said:

I'm hoping that when I move the Plex libraries (movies, tv shows, etc.) while Plex is shut down, it won't break anything. When I restart Plex, it will have the new locations mapped out, and the files will already be there (I plan on moving the files with rsync so I keep all of the dates intact), so it will still think everything is okay.

 

I should have checked the Trash guides for Plex setup....I went there, and saw there was a page, but didn't actually visit the page....see the attached image....looks like he hasn't had time to make any updates.

trash_guides_plex.png

 

re: the Trash Plex Guide, heh yeah that looks familiar, there are a bunch of others like that, ex for any torrent client config except qBittorrent.

 

Another thought is I doubt there are many unRaid folks who are experts at this that are going to come to our rescue in this thread.

 

Because the docker threads (Sonarr, Radarr etc) dismiss specific application based questions it's the blind leading the blind here.

 

Ex it's widely known so called experts like Spaceinvader One got this kind of configuration completely wrong in his advice to unRaid users about how to set up Sonarrr and  Radarr.

 

 

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1 hour ago, dabl said:

it's widely known so called experts like Spaceinvader One got this kind of configuration completely wrong in his advice to unRaid users about how to set up Sonarrr and  Radarr.

Depends on your perspective. If you only use usenet, or only seed torrents for bare minimum, then there is nothing wrong with setting it up the way he does. It's only been in the past few years that linking files in user shares has worked properly, so it wasn't even an option to optimize with links. People set up their systems years ago with what was best practice at the time.

 

Setting up a new system from scratch allows many more options nowadays, it's a little harsh to call old accepted practices completely wrong when they still work, just not as optimized as using the newly available features.

 

Maybe you need to set up guides to help people migrate to the newer setup without losing data?

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4 hours ago, JonathanM said:

Maybe you need to set up guides to help people migrate to the newer setup without losing data?

Who is 'you'?

 

Either one or both of the guys in this thread?

 

We're the ones asking the questions!

 

Maybe you mean the guy at TRaSH Guides?

 

Either way, point taken about the history of available options re: symbolic links and my characterization of 'completely wrong'.  Probably not fair, I'd agree.  I happen to only use torrents not usenet so was keenly interested in the solutions symbolic links offered to the problems I've been dealing with using torrents for the past few years.

 

For my part I found just getting Sonarr, Radarr, and Prowlarr going and working hugely confusing even with any/all guides available, particularly the torrent client part since the only guide with a walkthrough for that was for QBittorrent and then it turned out the past few versions of that broke a bunch of stuff with Sonarr and Radarr so the docker had to be downgraded etc. But nobody said this stuff was a walk in the park :)

My preferred torrent client/unraid docker is ruTorrent but I couldn't get that working with my Sonarr and Radarr dockers.

 

Re: losing data, to me, rebuilding Kodi/Plex libraries would be a worst case scenario which isn't that bad.  God knows how many times I've done that with Kodi and Plex for who knows how many reasons.  Big deal.  I guess that depends on your library sizes though. I wouldn't call mine small.

 

I suppose the mention of watched status is a good point though.  I use Trakt so in theory that may solve that problem.

Edited by dabl
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1 hour ago, dabl said:

Who is 'you'?

 

Either one or both of the guys in this thread?

 

We're the ones asking the questions!

 

Maybe you mean the guy at TRaSH Guides?

 

Either way, point taken about the history of available options re: symbolic links and my characterization of 'completely wrong'.  Probably not fair, I'd agree,

 

For my part I found just getting Sonarr, Radarr, and Prowlarr going and working hugely confusing even with any/all guides available, particularly the torrent client part since the only guide with a walkthrough for that was for QBittorrent and then it turned out the past few versions of that broke a bunch of stuff with Sonarr and Radarr so the docker had to be downgraded etc. But nobody said this stuff was a walk in the park :)

 

Re: losing data, to me, rebuilding libraries would be a worst case scenario which isn't that bad.  God knows how many times I've done that with Kodi and Plex for who knows how many reasons.  Big deal.

 

I suppose the mention of watched status is a good point though.  I use Trakt so in theory that may solve that problem.

I'm really not trying to start anything here....if you read my initial post, I had a hardware issue with an nvme drive which failed due to excessive writes. I put the system online back in 2019, and it recently started to give me issues so I figured that I would come to the experts to see if I can change my configuration for the better, and try to avoid hardware issues down the road.

 

Losing data/rebuilding libraries would be kind of a big deal for me....but it wouldn't be the end of the world either. I've got my critical data (that would be a big deal if lost) backed up several times over, so if I were to lose that data reconfiguring things in unRAID, it would be painful, but again, I've got backups.

 

Watched status in Plex is not a big deal to me....I also use Trakt, but I don't believe that it is two way....meaning I believe that when you watch something on Plex, it will mark it as watched in Trakt, but I don't think that it works the other way around (mark watched on Trackt, and Plex will mark it as watched)

 

I've also been toying around with ways to move the data around to the new folder structure. I was going to try to go the rsync route, but it looks like that involves moving the data to the cache drive, then when mover runs, it will move it to the array. I've found that using Krusader appears to move the folders/files from one location to another without going through the cache drive. It also appears that doing a "move" in Krusader is almost instantaneous.....although I'll bet that transferring data like this is risky (using a move instead of a copy, verify target, then delete source) using Krusader.

 

Thanks

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18 hours ago, propman07 said:

I've also been toying around with ways to move the data around to the new folder structure. I was going to try to go the rsync route, but it looks like that involves moving the data to the cache drive, then when mover runs, it will move it to the array. I've found that using Krusader appears to move the folders/files from one location to another without going through the cache drive. It also appears that doing a "move" in Krusader is almost instantaneous.....although I'll bet that transferring data like this is risky (using a move instead of a copy, verify target, then delete source) using Krusader.

 

Yep, I use Krusader a lot and that would likely be my first choice to move my files.  I've moved tons of files with it and have never seen any kind of problem.

 

Another way you might look at is the unBalance plugin

 

I used that when converting disk filesystems a long time ago.  It makes sure file dates remain intact, that permissions are correct and 'tests' the move to better assure things will work. I think it may use rsync or something similar as it's core.

Edited by dabl
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On 8/8/2022 at 1:14 AM, propman07 said:

tion to another without going through the cache drive. It also appears that doing a "move" in Krusader is almost instantaneous.....although I'll bet that transferring data like this is risky (using a move instead of a copy, verify target, then delete source) using Krusader.

That will be because you are encountering the behaviour described here in the online documentations accessible via the ‘Manual’ link at the bottom of the GUI.

 

if you are on 6.10.x or later Unraid release then I would recommend using the Dynamix File Manager plugin to copy/move files/folders as it would protect you from this behaviour. 

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