I have read a lot on these forums on how to transfer data to an Unraid server. However, this being my first server built, I haven't yet found what would be the most effective way to transfer data from my old QNAP NAS (about 5TB of data) to my new Unraid server. The easiest way would be to be somehow able to mount the Unraid user shares on the QNAP and then just copy the files over in the QNAP filemanager. Or FXP would do it, but I am not sure if Unraid supports that, didn't go far when I tried anyways.

I want to transfer directly over the network, not through my Mac. Is there any consensus on what is the best way? Right now I am leaning to FTP from the Unraid into the QNAP and get the files that way, but I have to read up a lot as I am not that good on the console.

Anyone in this situation has found an elegant way to solve this?

I'm not the expert at this but I would do it like this:

1) make a directory in unraid

2) mount via nfs (or SMB as second choice) the QNAP into the unraid

3) rsync or copy across with screen

 

Josh

 

Hi

 

I am by no means an expert either but I am assuming your drives are hot swapable? Could you not install SNAP on UnRaid register them and just transfer the media over that way?

 

T.T.

I'd recommend copying the files to DISK shares and not user shares. Configuring shares can be tricky and if you don't get them setup right, your copy can split files onto separate disks in a way that can cause problems playing back media.

 

If you are copying files, do some md5 checks on a sample of large files to make sure the transfers are working properly.  Do not delete the data from your NAS until your array is 100% stable and has been working "in production" for at least a couple of weeks. You should run multiple parity checks, and even simulate a disk failure (and run a data rebuild) to make sure all is well.

 

It is best to backup your array, although many users are not able to backup their entire media libraries and risk a long re-ripping process should the worst occur. But at least backup your most critical personal files before repurposing your NAS drives.

 

Hi

 

I am by no means an expert either but I am assuming your drives are hot swapable? Could you not install SNAP on UnRaid register them and just transfer the media over that way?

 

T.T.

 

I don't think if I pull out disk by disk from the QNAP and mount them in the Unraid server that Unraid would be able to read them (my QNAP is setup as raid 5, I think the filesystem is ext3).

 

I wonder is something like this might work, I am just not sure on where to do it (mount QNAP share on Unraid or mount Unraid share on QNAP):

 

1) #mkdir /share/Public/QNAP/

 

2) # mount.cifs //QNAP_IP/SHARE_NAME/share/Public/QNAP -o username=QNAP_USER,password=QNAP_PASS

 

- so this would be from unraid, I have tried around a bit but didn't manage to get it work so far.

 

Another option I am considering is scp , anyone if that works to recursively copy directories from the QNAP to the unraid?

I just found another option that I will try. Use Midnight Commander to FTP to the QNAP and copy files over that way.

It seems that there are lots of options, it's just difficult to see what would be the way to go when you're not that good on the console.

 

UPDATE: OK, so now I managed to connect to a Samba share QNAP NAS in MC. This is probably an easy way to do it. Right now I am doing all my trying through a remote connection from my work to home desktop, where I have telnet into the unraid running. Will further try this tonight, but it looks like I am getting somewhere at last.

I can tell u that using scp would be unneccisary as that's encrypted data copying. Would only slow it down horrendously. Only use scp when transferring over Internet or to from unsecured connections.

 

Your doing it right as far as how I would handle it except if you can, I would use NFS. I personally on my home network get better transfer rates over my 100mbit Nic's with cat6e using NFS versus SMB.

 

PS working on home stuff from work and getting paid for it is classic!!!!! Just pray your boss isnt a member as well on the forums. I never tell people who I really am or where I work just because I frequently ssh into home server and do TONS of work. Lol

 

 

Tapatalk is tha shizzle

 

Your doing it right as far as how I would handle it except if you can, I would use NFS. I personally on my home network get better transfer rates over my 100mbit Nic's with cat6e using NFS versus SMB.

 

 

How would I go about using NFS? I have now tried inside Midnight commander using from the QNAP SMB shares > Unraid and also FTP > Unraid. SMB gives me only speeds of around 3 MB/s and FTP up to 9.6 MB/s I was hoping for way better speeds, at this rate it will be weeks before I have migrated all my data.

 

Your doing it right as far as how I would handle it except if you can, I would use NFS. I personally on my home network get better transfer rates over my 100mbit Nic's with cat6e using NFS versus SMB.

 

 

How would I go about using NFS? I have now tried inside Midnight commander using from the QNAP SMB shares > Unraid and also FTP > Unraid. SMB gives me only speeds of around 3 MB/s and FTP up to 9.6 MB/s I was hoping for way better speeds, at this rate it will be weeks before I have migrated all my data.

I literally just found out about unRAID recently and have not setup my own server yet. I have read that real life tested throughput using tweaked NFS settings was getting this guy approx 73 MB per second back in 2010 http://wdtvforum.com/main/index.php?topic=5393.0 

I wish I could help you set it up but i am just swamped right now doing a bunch of stuff with all this between my own unRAID server, ensuring the apple tv that's runnning XBMC talks to my mythtv (DVR system) backend and a lot of other stuff I just can't spend the time i'd need to explain it all BUT if you follow the WIKI and post back Q's I'll respond when I have time.  http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php?title=FAQ#How_do_I_configure_NFS_mounts.3F

I can tell u that using scp would be unneccisary as that's encrypted data copying. Would only slow it down horrendously. Only use scp when transferring over Internet or to from unsecured connections.

 

Your doing it right as far as how I would handle it except if you can, I would use NFS. I personally on my home network get better transfer rates over my 100mbit Nic's with cat6e using NFS versus SMB.

 

PS working on home stuff from work and getting paid for it is classic!!!!! Just pray your boss isnt a member as well on the forums. I never tell people who I really am or where I work just because I frequently ssh into home server and do TONS of work. Lol

 

 

Tapatalk is tha shizzle

 

This is your boss.  You're fired!

 

Your doing it right as far as how I would handle it except if you can, I would use NFS. I personally on my home network get better transfer rates over my 100mbit Nic's with cat6e using NFS versus SMB.

 

 

How would I go about using NFS? I have now tried inside Midnight commander using from the QNAP SMB shares > Unraid and also FTP > Unraid. SMB gives me only speeds of around 3 MB/s and FTP up to 9.6 MB/s I was hoping for way better speeds, at this rate it will be weeks before I have migrated all my data.

I literally just found out about unRAID recently and have not setup my own server yet. I have read that real life tested throughput using tweaked NFS settings was getting this guy approx 73 MB per second back in 2010 http://wdtvforum.com/main/index.php?topic=5393.0  

I wish I could help you set it up but i am just swamped right now doing a bunch of stuff with all this between my own unRAID server, ensuring the apple tv that's runnning XBMC talks to my mythtv (DVR system) backend and a lot of other stuff I just can't spend the time i'd need to explain it all BUT if you follow the WIKI and post back Q's I'll respond when I have time.  http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php?title=FAQ#How_do_I_configure_NFS_mounts.3F

 

Thanks for the tips, I'll see where that gets me. Actually I just looked at the the transfer speeds that guy from your link is getting with the different protocols. I am now getting constant 11 MB/s, so that is 88 Mb/s , so not too bad after all, I guess it will just take the time it takes to transfer my data.

 

Your doing it right as far as how I would handle it except if you can, I would use NFS. I personally on my home network get better transfer rates over my 100mbit Nic's with cat6e using NFS versus SMB.

 

 

How would I go about using NFS? I have now tried inside Midnight commander using from the QNAP SMB shares > Unraid and also FTP > Unraid. SMB gives me only speeds of around 3 MB/s and FTP up to 9.6 MB/s I was hoping for way better speeds, at this rate it will be weeks before I have migrated all my data.

I literally just found out about unRAID recently and have not setup my own server yet. I have read that real life tested throughput using tweaked NFS settings was getting this guy approx 73 MB per second back in 2010 http://wdtvforum.com/main/index.php?topic=5393.0  

I wish I could help you set it up but i am just swamped right now doing a bunch of stuff with all this between my own unRAID server, ensuring the apple tv that's runnning XBMC talks to my mythtv (DVR system) backend and a lot of other stuff I just can't spend the time i'd need to explain it all BUT if you follow the WIKI and post back Q's I'll respond when I have time.  http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php?title=FAQ#How_do_I_configure_NFS_mounts.3F

 

Thanks for the tips, I'll see where that gets me. Actually I just looked at the the transfer speeds that guy from your link is getting with the different protocols. I am now getting constant 11 MB/s, so that is 88 Mb/s , so not too bad after all, I guess it will just take the time it takes to transfer my data.

yeah, unless you can somehow connect both arrays physically to the same MB or whatever, i doubt you'll ever transfer that sort of data fast EVER over consumer level products and or using consumer grade protocols. Good luck.

So based on my trial and error and after looking into a few threads and tips I got here I must say that for me the easiest way to copy the data from my old QNAP NAS to the new Unraid server was via Midnight Commander and FTP.

 

1- telnet into your Unraid server

2- launch Midnight Commander: # mc

3- make FTP connection to your other NAS in one pane of MC

4- select directory on your Unraid server where you want to copy to in other MC pane

5- type F5 and confirm to start copying

 

Here some pretty good instructions on how to use Midnight Commander: http://www.trembath.co.za/mctutorial.html

I get a constant throughput of 10-11 MB/s when copying my data this way.

There might be even better ways such as mounting NFS shares such as ubuntuaddicted suggested but I don't have enough time right now to try these alternatives. Thanks for those who helped!

So based on my trial and error and after looking into a few threads and tips I got here I must say that for me the easiest way to copy the data from my old QNAP NAS to the new Unraid server was via Midnight Commander and FTP.

 

1- telnet into your Unraid server

2- launch Midnight Commander: # mc

3- make FTP connection to your other NAS in one pane of MC

4- select directory on your Unraid server where you want to copy to in other MC pane

5- type F5 and confirm to start copying

 

Here some pretty good instructions on how to use Midnight Commander: http://www.trembath.co.za/mctutorial.html

I get a constant throughput of 10-11 MB/s when copying my data this way.

There might be even better ways such as mounting NFS shares such as ubuntuaddicted suggested but I don't have enough time right now to try these alternatives. Thanks for those who helped!

you said you tried mounting via NFS and I thought testing some throughput. So you're saying FTP and NFS transfer rates are the same?

you said you tried mounting via NFS and I thought testing some throughput. So you're saying FTP and NFS transfer rates are the same?

No, I didn't get to try NFS yet but based on the link you provided and the results that guy got it looks like FTP throughput on my system is better than what he gets with NFS. From what I can see in the first screenshot on  http://wdtvforum.com/main/index.php?topic=5393.0 he gets a bit over 9 MB/s (megabytes /s) which equals 73 Mb/s (megabits /s), over FTP I get a constant 11 MB/s or 88 Mb/s. Still feels slow to me but that's probably because I never had to transfer several TB of data at once.

I have tried SMB but it was considerably slower (~3 MB/s).

SMB is not a speedy transfer by an means unless you fiddle and tweak it. IF u r getting those speeds with FTP of its easiest for ya and you don't think NFS would be faster

 

 

Tapatalk is tha shizzle