Hello all, 

 

I am new to unraid and servers in general for that matter. I just got my first rig up and running which consists of two 3 TB hard drives for storage and one 3TB parity disk. I am having a little trouble deciding how to set up user shares and what split level I should use.

 

I have 3 forms of media I would like added to the server: Movies, TV shows, and Music. Would I create a share for split level 1 for "media"  then create 3 additional folders at split level 2 for respectfully for movies music and TV?

 

I'm a little confused with this. Thanks in advance!

My media folder is set to split level 3.

1. Media folder

2. TV shows folder , Hd movies folder, ect

3. Scrubs tv folder, iron man movie folder

 

My personal folder is set to split level 2

1. Personal

2. Photos, documents folder ect

 

Thanks for the feedback! When you say you have a split level 3, does that mean that you created your media folder as level 1. Then you created another folder called TV shows and Hd movies and set that to split level 2....then another set of folders set to split level 3?

 

I want to make sure that in my scenario... I'm setting my "media" folder to level 1, my "movies"  folder to level 2 and my "music" folder to level 2 as well.

Split level is set per share.

Split level is set per share.

 

So, in other words, my "media" folder would be my only share set up through the unraid server management utility and my subfolders (i.e. movies, music, tv) would be placed inside of the "media" folder....(added to the media folder from explorer)

 

I will set the split level to 2 which means that my movies music and tv shows folders can be created on every disk, but every movie, song, or tv show inside of those subfolders must remain on the same disk. Did I get that right? Also is that the ideal setup?

OR...................... is it more common to add 3 user shares through the unraid server management utility (i.e. Movies, Music, TV shows) and just set each share respectively to split level 1?? Seems like another option....which one would be best? Sorry for the million questions, just trying to get a firm grasp on this split level concept. Thanks!!

OK so split level 2 example:

Media -> Movies (this will make anything you put in the movies folder go to one drive only, I would not recommend this)

 

Split level 3 for media:

Media -> Movies -> batman (batman could go to any drive but anything in the batman folder stays with it)

 

To answer your earlier question. Yes only make the media folder in the unRAID web GUI and add the movie folder with windows.

OK so split level 2 example:

Media -> Movies (this will make anything you put in the movies folder go to one drive only, I would not recommend this)

 

Split level 3 for media:

Media -> Movies -> batman (batman could go to any drive but anything in the batman folder stays with it)

 

To answer your earlier question. Yes only make the media folder in the unRAID web GUI and add the movie folder with windows.

I think you split levels are one out?    The level is the number of folders that can appear on EVERY disk in the share.  It is only folders below that that are constrained to a single disk.  In the example given for Media-Movie-<Batman, the batman folder would not be constrained to a single disk - you would need a split level of 2 for this to be the case.

I would highly recommend you create a user share for each type of media. Create one for TV, Picture, Movies, etc. Then, put the files how you want in each. This also gives the ability to use different disk for different media types of to keep the music on a single disk.

 

You must give the full directory structure you want to use AND tell us which directories you are OK with splitting and which ones you want to stay together. As an example, a TV share uses a different split level if you want the complete show to stay on a single disk vs if you just want each season to stay on a single disk.

 

 

I will set the split level to 2 which means that my movies music and tv shows folders can be created on every disk, but every movie, song, or tv show inside of those subfolders must remain on the same disk. Did I get that right? Also is that the ideal setup?

 

This could work. Do you have plans for any further sub-directories below the main Movie, Music and TV Show ones? For example, dividing movies up into say HD vs SD or by Genre or something like that?

 

 

OK so split level 2 example:

Media -> Movies (this will make anything you put in the movies folder go to one drive only, I would not recommend this)

 

This is the correct level for this directory structure. Both Media and Movies can go to multiple disks but any new directories stored inside Movies can not split.

 

 

Split level 3 for media:

Media -> Movies -> batman (batman could go to any drive but anything in the batman folder stays with it)

 

This is wrong. Only any new directories inside batman would stay on a single disk.

 

 

This chart helped me when I was first starting out:

http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php/Un-Official_UnRAID_Manual#Split_level

 

I would highly recommend you create a user share for each type of media. Create one for TV, Picture, Movies, etc. Then, put the files how you want in each. This also gives the ability to use different disk for different media types of to keep the music on a single disk.

 

You must give the full directory structure you want to use AND tell us which directories you are OK with splitting and which ones you want to stay together. As an example, a TV share uses a different split level if you want the complete show to stay on a single disk vs if you just want each season to stay on a single disk.

 

 

I will set the split level to 2 which means that my movies music and tv shows folders can be created on every disk, but every movie, song, or tv show inside of those subfolders must remain on the same disk. Did I get that right? Also is that the ideal setup?

 

This could work. Do you have plans for any further sub-directories below the main Movie, Music and TV Show ones? For example, dividing movies up into say HD vs SD or by Genre or something like that?

 

 

OK so split level 2 example:

Media -> Movies (this will make anything you put in the movies folder go to one drive only, I would not recommend this)

 

This is the correct level for this directory structure. Both Media and Movies can go to multiple disks but any new directories stored inside Movies can not split.

 

 

Split level 3 for media:

Media -> Movies -> batman (batman could go to any drive but anything in the batman folder stays with it)

 

This is wrong. Only any new directories inside batman would stay on a single disk.

 

Thanks for the reply!

 

Folder---Movies

Directory 1---(movie) Batman.MKV

Directory 2---(info) Batman NFO file, pictures, trailer etc...

 

Folder---Music

Directory 1---(artist) Alicia Keys

Directory 2---(album) As I Am

 

Folder---TV Shows

Directory 1---(show) Breaking Bad

Directory 2---(season) Season 1

Directory 3---(episode) Episode 1

 

This is an example of my current file structure before migrating my data to Unraid. For TV shows, I would prefer if each season stayed on a single disk. Movies can be spread across the array but I want the individual movie folders (Batman), to be on the same disk...I believe this is split level 2 correct? As for Music, I don't have a preference but I would like a distribution system that would fill my HDDs as evenly as possible. I do not have intentions to make sub categories for Movies, such as HD vs. SD movies or by genre.

 

Current  Unraid specs:

3TB Parity

(2) 3TB HDD

 

 

 

Are these folders going into a common "Media" user share or are they going to be the user shares?

 

If they are the share names then I would use;

Movies=1 - keeps each movie on a disk

Music - 1 - keeps each artist on a disk

TV Shows - 2 - keeps each season on a disk

 

Which seems to be what you are describing.

 

If you are  creating these folders inside a common Media user share then you have to use a split level of 2. Level 3 would be required to allow different TV show seasons to reside on different disks but that would break the movie storage. See why a share for each media type is better now?

 

 

You know, I wrote the shares descriptions in the wiki and use the Media shares as examples so people could see what effect the different split levels have on a directory structure. I'm not a big fan of storing everything in a single share though.

 

Are these folders going into a common "Media" user share or are they going to be the user shares?

 

If they are the share names then I would use;

Movies=1 - keeps each movie on a disk

Music - 1 - keeps each artist on a disk

TV Shows - 2 - keeps each season on a disk

 

Which seems to be what you are describing.

 

If you are  creating these folders inside a common Media user share then you have to use a split level of 2. Level 3 would be required to allow different TV show seasons to reside on different disks but that would break the movie storage. See why a share for each media type is better now?

 

 

You know, I wrote the shares descriptions in the wiki and use the Media shares as examples so people could see what effect the different split levels have on a directory structure. I'm not a big fan of storing everything in a single share though.

 

Thanks for your feedback Lionel! My main issue was the very same question you asked me....however you answered it as well. I will create 3 separate shares (Movies, Music, TV) and set the appropriate split levels that you suggested. Only one small problem, I already copied all my media to the unraid server (only the movies so far) with only 1 "media" share set to split level 2. Would it be possible to change my share options even though that data is already on unraid? Or do I have to remove the movies and start from scratch? Thanks!

 

 

edit:

I created another user share called "Movies" and set it to split level 1. Now I'm trying to figure out how to get all my data from my "Media" share to my "Movies" share.

Been doing some research through the forums and found out about midnight commander to move files around in Unraid. However, I haven't found anything for copying files from one share to another. I started copying files through explorer but it is paaaainfully slow (11mb average). I have about 1.5tb worth of movies to migrate so that looks like it would take about a month, LOL. Is there a specific command to copy the files from one share to another?

If the files are staying on the same disk, you can use share access to move the files. It will link the file to the new directory; this should only take seconds.

If the files are staying on the same disk, you can use share access to move the files. It will link the file to the new directory; this should only take seconds.

 

How exactly do I use share access?

Use disk shares and MOVE the files to the new directory on the same disk. For example, in Windows Explorer go to the existing directory and select the items then use right click and pick cut. Then go to the new directory and right click and pick paste.

A user share will work also. unRAID will keep the file on the same disk regardless of share settings.