When i started my unRAID server all those years ago, i didn't think enough about the folder structure. I'm now getting to the stage where the hierarchy is becoming unwieldy and i would like to streamline it.

 

There is a lot of data, 4TB+ that i want to move around, so would like to know from more experienced users what you would do, i.e. "if it was me i would...."

 

First of all it's my media. If i had thought about it i should have created a share called media and then put the various sub-folders in it. As it is however i have /mnt/user/TV Shows, /mnt/user/Movies, mnt/user/Documentaries.... etc

 

I would simply like to move them all into a /mnt/user/media share, so that they become /mnt/user/media/TV Shows....etc.

 

I have access to the terminal screen of my server, so i can do it via command line (prob best, right?). Would i simply need to create a share called "media" via the webgui and run the command "mv -R /mnt/user/Movies /mnt/user/media" etc?

 

Seems simple enough, but being such a large amount of data i would expect it to take a long time carry out that command. Are there any additional checking parameters i should use, in case there is an issue?

 

thanks

First, before "messing" with the file structure be sure your backups are up-to-date.

 

As long you do NOT move from a user share to the SAME user share, you can do what you've outlined with no problem.

 

However, since the shares can span disks, the "moves" aren't as simple as a move on the same disk, where it's just a directory update.

 

Exactly how I'd do this depends on how many disks are involved.  With only 4TB of data, I assume it's a fairly small number ... but before suggesting how to proceed, please provide the details of your UnRAID system .

 

Hi Gary, thanks for the response.

 

I have 10 drives + 1 parity, all 3TB WD Reds. I also have a 500GB cache drive (will this be impacted by the size of the data being larger than the cache, and will mover be an issue?)

 

Having just checked my data i seem to have under-estimated quite a lot. It seems to be around 12TB, with my array being a total of 27TB. A typical examples is:

 

Disk 1:				9.30 GB	474 GB	
Disk 10:				0 B	750 GB	
Disk 2:				265 GB	749 GB	
Disk 3:				0 B	578 GB	
Disk 5:				606 KB	749 GB	
Disk 6:				40.1 GB	750 GB

 

another share:

 

Disk 1:				198 GB	474 GB	
Disk 10:				63.6 GB	750 GB	
Disk 2:				25.8 GB	749 GB	
Disk 3:				378 GB	578 GB	
Disk 4:				20.2 GB	700 GB	
Disk 5:				41.8 GB	749 GB	
Disk 6:				28.3 GB	750 GB	
Disk 9:				42.3 GB	749 GB

 

All my shares span across multiple disks. Should i look to controlling where the files are stored?

 

This leads me on to another thought as well then. Because my media is used with plex, when i access say TV Shows, does it spin up all the drives appertaining to said tv shows or just the drive that has that particular episode on? This seems like a lot of wear and tear on my drives if it does, when it's only one episode i want to watch.

 

I have looked into cache dir quickly, but never set that up. would that be a good idea?

 

Ideally i suppose, i would like to have it so that my drives spin up as little as possible, i.e., only the drive that has the particular file on it that i want to watch.

 

You CAN do as you suggested ... i.e. create a "Media" share with subfolders for each of the categories ... but I'm not sure why you see that as an advantage.    There's nothing wrong with having TV Shows, Movies, etc. as their own shares.

 

If you want to do what you suggested, I would COPY the data from each of the shares into the new share;  and THEN delete the old share after you've confirmed that the data is good.  You have plenty of space to do that.  Clearly it will take a LONG time to do this ... but it's all "computer time" -- not "your time".    Copying and then deleting is always a safer option than moving.

 

When you stream a TV show (or movie) only the disk that contains that video will be spun up for the duration of the stream.  However, multiple disks may be spun up to get the directory info to identify where it is stored.    Installing Cache Dirs will eliminate this, since the directory structure will always be current in memory and no disks will need to be spun up.  You'll be surprised at how quickly your directories pop up with this installed 

 

I'd definitely install Cache Dirs.  Whether or not you want to change your folder structure so you only have one share is up to you, but personally I don't see any advantage to doing that.  You might want to rename the server to "Media", so your shares are than \\Media\TVShows,  \\Media\Movies, etc.

 

 

 

 

I would keep the individual shares by file type myself.

 

But, you could do it rather quickly and easily from your PC. Go to a disk share and create a Media directory. Right click-hold and drag the other folders to the Media directory. Release the right button and select the Move option. In a few seconds the files will be moved. Repeat for the other disks. Shouldn't take any more than 10 or 15 minutes to complete.

The reasoning behind it is that my server is not just a media server. It is used for my business, and personal documents etc and when you first connect to the server it looks messy with many folders. It's not so bad for me, but others it can be confusing.

 

I can see the arguments for either way, so I think I'll try out cache dirs and see how it goes....thanks for your help.