I figured out my own problem (see below) by changing the allocation method to most free.  Why didn't high water mark figure out the drive was full?  The explanation of shares in the manual is not clear on using this feature.

 

Mark Springer

industrial arts

 

I am using a program called "Allway Sync" (which is a great program!) to backup to my unRaid server, which I only use to store my data.  I have 2 500G drives and 1 750G parity drive. 

 

As disk 1 filled up, I wanted the backup to span to the second disk;  I thought this was accomplished by a User Share ( I was told this in another post).  However, disk 1 is full and I am getting error messages from Allway Sync that it can't copy the files.

 

I have a file called 100G that is the backup target on the unRaid Server.  That file shows up in "my network places" and is a user share on the server.  It is set at - high water mark - split level 0 - export read/write.  All other fields are blank.  User shares is enabled.

 

I can't say for sure that it will help, but try the FAQ section on User Shares and Split Level:  http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php/FAQ#User_Shares

 

You did not mention what version of unRAID you are using, as the behavior of Split Level = 0 has changed in different versions.

If "Always Sync" creates the backup file at its full size, and then fills it, unRAID would probably pick the correct share using high-water, but I'll bet it starts with a zero byte file, and then appends to it.  In that situation, the "almost-full" disk has plenty of room (initially) but runs out once the file starts to grow.

 

The various allocation methods exist because no one method works for everybody.  Glad to hear you found one that works for you. 

Still having  the same problem.  I have a drive I call 100g and I have a share called 100g - just to back up the entire drive.  I have the share set to most free with a split level of 1.  I keep getting the error message from my backup program that the drive is full, even though there is a 500G drive that is almost empty in the tower.

 

 

Any idea why the data isn't spanning the two discs?

 

 

BTW version 4.3, I'm not going to upgrade if I can't get this to work.

 

You have Split Level set to 1, which is going to force most files in the same tree structure to save only to the existing drive with that structure, not to any other drive, no matter how empty.  For general backup, a high Split Level setting is better, such as 99.

Hmmm - OK, can I just change split levels at this point or is there more to it?

 

Thanks

 

Mark Springer

industrial arts

I'm not completely positive if it will 'take' without a reboot.  You may only have to stop the array, make the change, and restart the array.