I currently have XFS on my array. Just rebuilt my server and adding some more drives. My old server was crashing all the time. I ran a partial parity check, came back with a lot of errors. When searching forums I saw there is no way to figure out what files are in error? That apparently the parity drive just copies the version of the file from the disk and hopes it okay?

I saw some comments about various file systems that might be better than others when it comes to data checking.

My main focus is media server.

What file system should I run to make sure files do not corrupt? and if they do they are corrected?

Does encryption do anything in regard to size of files, or speed of reads? What benefit or penalty does encryption have?

What other programs or plug ins should I use to protect data?

Any plug ins to "test" media files to make sure they are still playable?

And... when I move my data around to my new disks and possibly new file format, should I run a full parity first? or will moving it basically accomplish the same result since when you move it recreates the parity from the new drive?

Thank you in advance!

Parity check will update parity based on the data disks.

Both btrfs and zfs have checksums, meaning they can detect data corruption, but not fix it when used with the array, since each data disk is an individual filesystem, if you care about data integrity it may be better to use one of them, note that there's currently a write performance issue with zfs when used with the array, it doesn't affect pools.

See below for the main advantages and disadvantages of array vs pools:

https://forums.unraid.net/topic/131857-soon%E2%84%A2%EF%B8%8F-612-series/?do=findComment&comment=1243850

Encryption doesn't typically have a performance penalty with relatively recent hardware, but can make things more difficult if there's a problem, I recommend only using it if you really need it.

A full parity check before moving the data may be a good idea to confirm all is OK, especially if you don't do it regularly.

Thanks Jorge,

For NTRFS and ZFS, you mentioned it has checksums that will let you know if there is a corruption issue. Can you let me know how it works? Do you have to run a check every once in a while to see if there is an issue? Is there a plug in for that?

Really appreciate the advice.

Thanks

Neal

For both you can run a scrub, it can be manual or scheduled, any data corruption errors will be detected by that, and you can then also see the affected files.