This is simple question and I have done some searching but I cant seem to find the answer.

The FAQ tells how to add a new disk.  OK.  Now when I stop the array, I can see the disk in the drop down menus next to the disk numbers.  Say that I decided to add it to the next free slot (in my case this is disk8) (btw, can I add to any free slot, if so why would I want to?).

 

Now what? When I restart the array, does the new disk automatically get added to an existing share?  For instance, I have a user share that is defined with disk4 excluded.  By inference, this means that all disks *except* disk4 are *included*, correct?  Ok, then what if I *don't* want the new disk to be included.  Do I have to add disk8 to the exclude list *before* I add the disk to array?  Really confusing.  And if someone could point out this answer in the user manual, I would be very grateful (and suprized, since I read it and could not find it).

 

Thanks in advance.

This is simple question and I have done some searching but I cant seem to find the answer.

The FAQ tells how to add a new disk.  OK.  Now when I stop the array, I can see the disk in the drop down menus next to the disk numbers.  Say that I decided to add it to the next free slot (in my case this is disk8) (btw, can I add to any free slot, if so why would I want to?).

 

Now what? When I restart the array, does the new disk automatically get added to an existing share?  For instance, I have a user share that is defined with disk4 excluded.  By inference, this means that all disks *except* disk4 are *included*, correct? 

yes

Ok, then what if I *don't* want the new disk to be included.  Do I have to add disk8 to the exclude list *before* I add the disk to array? 

No. Disks can be included or excluded at any time.

Really confusing.  And if someone could point out this answer in the user manual, I would be very grateful (and suprized, since I read it and could not find it).

 

Thanks in advance.

 

The includes, excludes, allocation, and split level are consulted for each new file written to the array. Other than that they have no effect.

This is simple question and I have done some searching but I cant seem to find the answer.

The FAQ tells how to add a new disk.  OK.  Now when I stop the array, I can see the disk in the drop down menus next to the disk numbers.  Say that I decided to add it to the next free slot (in my case this is disk8) (btw, can I add to any free slot, if so why would I want to?).

 

Now what? When I restart the array, does the new disk automatically get added to an existing share?  For instance, I have a user share that is defined with disk4 excluded.  By inference, this means that all disks *except* disk4 are *included*, correct? 

yes

Ok, then what if I *don't* want the new disk to be included.  Do I have to add disk8 to the exclude list *before* I add the disk to array? 

No. Disks can be included or excluded at any time.

Really confusing.  And if someone could point out this answer in the user manual, I would be very grateful (and suprized, since I read it and could not find it).

 

Thanks in advance.

 

The includes, excludes, allocation, and split level are consulted for each new file written to the array. Other than that they have no effect.

Ah.  That is useful information.  So how would one remove a disk from one share and put into another one?  If I simply add the disk to the exclude list of the old one and added it to the include list of the new one, would that work?  Where is this actually documented?

 

Ah.  That is useful information.  So how would one remove a disk from one share and put into another one?  If I simply add the disk to the exclude list of the old one and added it to the include list of the new one, would that work?  Where is this actually documented?

You should only have excluded disks OR included disks for your shares.  Then you would just delete the include from the share that currently includes it and add an include for it on the share you want it on.  If you are using excludes then just swap what I said.  I had both includes and excludes until I saw a post saying you don't need (maybe even caused problems if you do) to have both.  So I removed my excludes and only have includes now.

http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php/Un-Official_UnRAID_Manual#Included_and_Excluded_disk.28s.29

So how would one remove a disk from one share and put into another one?

 

Disks are automatically included in ALL shares unless a share has an "exclude" to exclude the disk from that share;  or unless a share has a specific list of included disks that does not include that disk.

 

As Bob noted above, you should NOT have both includes and excludes => you only need to use one or the other.    If you exclude specific disks from a share, then all other disks are included in the share;  if you have a list of included disk, then ONLY those disks are part of the share.

 

Note that in both of these cases, the lists only apply when you are actually writing to the share.    When accessing (i.e. reading) a share, then ALL disks that have a root-level folder with the share name will be included -- whether or not they are included with a set of includes or excluded with an exclude list.

 

So how would one remove a disk from one share and put into another one?

 

Disks are automatically included in ALL shares unless a share has an "exclude" to exclude the disk from that share;  or unless a share has a specific list of included disks that does not include that disk.

 

As Bob noted above, you should NOT have both includes and excludes => you only need to use one or the other.    If you exclude specific disks from a share, then all other disks are included in the share;  if you have a list of included disk, then ONLY those disks are part of the share.

 

Note that in both of these cases, the lists only apply when you are actually writing to the share.    When accessing (i.e. reading) a share, then ALL disks that have a root-level folder with the share name will be included -- whether or not they are included with a set of includes or excluded with an exclude list.

Ah, this explains a mystery that has puzzled me for some time.  When I installed the mySQL package (via unmenu), it wanted me to specify a "Disk for installation and databases, e.g. disk1, disk2, etc".  I selected disk4 which is the exclusive disk for my backup files.  So mySQL created a top level directory named mysql.  Suddenly I have "share" named mysql even though I did not set up this share.  Now if I can just figure out how to move the mysql directory to a lower directory (i.e. below the top level), then the share should "disappear", right?

 

This brings up a more general topic: what happens when you redefined a share.

For instance:  say a share, call it Share1, is defined as "exclude disk4".  This means that ALL disks except disk4 are in Share1.  You use the share for a while, writing files to it.  Say that the split level and high water force a file to be written to disk 7.  So now there are files on disk7 that belong to Share1.

Now you go to the "Shares" tab, click on "Share1" and change "Excluded disk(s)" to "disk4, disk7".

So now, disk7 is no longer in Share1.  If I understand correctly, the files are unchanged but any further writes to Share1 will not go to disk7.  What if I mount Share1 (via SMB)?  Will I still see the files on disk7 listed as part of Share1?  I suppose so, since you say

 

When accessing (i.e. reading) a share, then ALL disks that have a root-level folder with the share name will be included -- whether or not they are included with a set of includes or excluded with an exclude list.

 

Then, say, I change the name of the Share1, top level directory on disk7 to Share2.  This would create a new share, right?  But what would be its settings?  Would it be include all or what?

 

BTW, I can't find anywhere in the documentation where it says: "Dont create a top level directory or it will become a defacto share".

 

Anyway, just trying to get a mental model in my head of what will happen to this stuff.

Thanks.

 

If you changed Share1 on disk7 to Share2, you could indeed now have a "Share2" visible in your list of shares.    You can force this to not happen by changing its export properties in the Share settings.

 

Note that if your goal is to exclude the share from disk7, the way to do that in the scenario you outlined (already files on disk7) is to (a) exclude disk7; and then (b) copy all of the data from \\Tower\disk7\Share1  to one of the other Share1 folders on a different disk; then delete Share1 from disk7.    It will not be recreated since disk7 is now excluded from the share.