So my general procedure should be:

1. Move files from /mnt/disk3/lost+found/dir/files --> /mnt/disk3/ [DISK to DISK]

Some are orphaned files, and some map to existing shares. Unraid should automatically resolve the existing shares, and create new shares for the orphaned directories.

2. Move files from /mnt/user/share/dir into the correct file [SHARE to SHARE]

Not sure I understand. Let me try to explain how user shares work, and maybe it will make more sense.

 

When you create a user share, Unraid creates folders, with the same name as the share, at the top level of array disks or pools, as needed and in conformance with the settings for that share.

 

Conversely, if there is a top level folder on array disk or pool, it is automatically part of a user share with the same name as the folder. Other top level folders on other disks or pools with that same name are part of that same share.

 

Any user share you haven't made settings for get default settings.

 

So, if you create a top level folder that doesn't already exist as a user share, it is automatically a user share named for the folder, and other top level folders that get created with the same name will be part of that same user share.

I think I understand. Since I'm trying to restore data that was previously in the array, the files copied back to disk3 are now split, and I want to put them back -- here's an example:

 

Some of my shares:

/tv

/movies

/mac (lots of project folders)

 

And restored files from pool "two", copied back to disk3:

disk3/lost+found/123456/s01/episode.mkv  - "123456" is actually "Look Around You", and those files belong under /tv.

disk3/lost+found/123456/project - /project belongs under /mac

 

But I dont want to mix disk files with share files, right? So if I move all the files from disk3/lost+found into root disk3, they'll show as shares (disk>disk), then I should be able to safely rearrange files as needed from /mnt/share/.

Any files at the top level will not be accessible in user shares. Only top level folders are user shares.

9 minutes ago, dealbakerjones said:

disk3/lost+found/123456/s01/episode.mkv  - "123456" is actually "Look Around You", and those files belong under /tv

Look Around You would be a subfolder in /mnt/disk3/tv if you wanted to put it on disk3 in the tv share

Linux is case-sensitive so you must use the correct case when renaming folders and files or it won't be found by plex or whatever already has it in its library.

OK, that makes sense. the only thing I'm not sure of is when there isn't already a root folder in disk3 - e.g., there's no disk3/tv right now.

If you create a top level folder named tv on disk3, it is part of the user share named tv along with all other top level folders named tv on all other array disks and pools.

User shares are created by merging the contents of the array and pools each time the array starts. If a top level folder has settings in the config/shares folder these are applied to the share. The tv share, for example, will have its settings on the flash drive in config/shares/tv.cfg

sorry im still confused - my goal is to merge all these files back into their place.

 

in dynamix file manager, i can't create folders (at least not in the disk view), and when i move folders from /mnt/disk3/lost+found/ to /mnt/disk3/ , they do appear in the shares (/mnt/user/) , but not in smb (so i can open and verify their contents, then put everything where it belongs).

 

should i be creating folders in /mnt/disk3 that match the other shares?

30 minutes ago, dealbakerjones said:

should i be creating folders in /mnt/disk3 that match the other shares?

I would create the top level folders that correspond to shares as Dynamix File Manager does not seem to let you create folders at the top level of s disk shares.   I assume this is intentional (but I am not sure) as it would end up creating User Shares with the folder name.

 

33 minutes ago, dealbakerjones said:

but not in smb

 

This is probably a permissions issue.   You can correct this using Tools->New Permissions (probably do it direct on the list+found share).   You can also set that share to be visible on the network by changing the Export setting under its SMB properties.

53 minutes ago, itimpi said:

This is probably a permissions issue

Probably a different permissions issue. If they create a top level folder that doesn't already exist somewhere, it will be a new share with default settings, so not exported.

Looks like Dynamix won't allow you to create top level folders, which is probably a good thing.

 

So you may have to go to the command line and

mkdir /mnt/disk3/tv

 

OK I think that's pretty much everything! As far as I can tell, only data loss I can detect is maybe one or two folders (one season of a show, which DVD I still have). Thanks so much for walking me through all these steps. Gonna do a quick write up on what I think went wrong and summary of the steps I took with everyone's guidance.