Ok I need some help here.

unRAID Server Plus. Version 4.5 Beta 6

Parity 1.5tb

Disk 1 1.5tb 500megs FREE

Disk 2 through disk 5 are 500gigs or higher and have more than 200gigs free on each drive.

 

Now, I set 1 share called "storage", split level 2, and Allocation method set to High Water.

I like to have only 1 Share, so my unRAID server can ack like it's one big giant hard drive.

 

I had no problems until now (now that one drive has very little space).

 

I'm trying to copy/move 2 avi files over to the share Storage. Each avi file is 600megs. I drag it over and I open up the web GUI and I can see it writing to the Disk 1 (with only 500megs free), so of course the copy/move fails because it runs out of space! I go to the Share and change the file allocation method to MOST FREE, selected APPLY and try to copy/move again, same thing, I notice it try to write to the Disk 1.

Do I have to take the Array offline and restart it for the share's allocation method to actually change?

 

Any other ideas on making this unRAID server act as a GIANT hard drive and not have this problem in the future when the other drives run low on space?

 

EDIT: So took the array offline, loaded 4.4.2 (non beta) just in case, and still the same thing, setting it to most free or high water, stupid thing keeps putting my 600meg file into the disk that has only 500megs free. What the heck, this is seriously annoying. I don't want to manually copy junk over to specific disks.

I have a hunch that your problem is with your split level setting.  You say you have a single share named 'storage', but do you have more folders inside of that?  Do you have, for example, storage/movies, storage/music, etc.?  If so, then a split level of two would force all your movies to be on one disk, all your music to be on one disk, etc.  Therefore unRAID is trying to add these new movies in with the rest of your movies, on the already full disk1.

 

I believe that lowering your split level to '1' should fix your problem.  This will allow all your subfolders, storage/movies, storage/music, etc., to span disks.

 

Note: changing the split level setting will not move any data already located on your server, instead it will only affect where unRAID decides to put new data you add to your server from now on.

 

Note2: you can change your allocation method back to 'high water', since you determined that it is not the problem.  In your case, it sounds like it is the most appropriate setting.

Ok I need some help here.

unRAID Server Plus. Version 4.5 Beta 6

Parity 1.5tb

Disk 1 1.5tb 500megs FREE

Disk 2 through disk 5 are 500gigs or higher and have more than 200gigs free on each drive.

 

Now, I set 1 share called "storage", split level 2, and Allocation method set to High Water.

I like to have only 1 Share, so my unRAID server can ack like it's one big giant hard drive.

 

I had no problems until now (now that one drive has very little space).

 

I'm trying to copy/move 2 avi files over to the share Storage. Each avi file is 600megs. I drag it over and I open up the web GUI and I can see it writing to the Disk 1 (with only 500megs free), so of course the copy/move fails because it runs out of space! I go to the Share and change the file allocation method to MOST FREE, selected APPLY and try to copy/move again, same thing, I notice it try to write to the Disk 1.

Do I have to take the Array offline and restart it for the share's allocation method to actually change?

 

Any other ideas on making this unRAID server act as a GIANT hard drive and not have this problem in the future when the other drives run low on space?

 

EDIT: So took the array offline, loaded 4.4.2 (non beta) just in case, and still the same thing, setting it to most free or high water, stupid thing keeps putting my 600meg file into the disk that has only 500megs free. What the heck, this is seriously annoying. I don't want to manually copy junk over to specific disks.

Some programs, when copying files, create a zero length file, then fill it incrementally.    These will ALWAYS try to use the remaining space on the first drive, since there is plenty of room for the zero length file. It is only after it has run for a while will the drive fill and the copy fail.      Other programs create the file at the full size, then fill it.  These will choose the correct drive.

 

So... it could be your split-level setting, or the program you are using to copy the file.

 

Joe L.

I have a hunch that your problem is with your split level setting.  You say you have a single share named 'storage', but do you have more folders inside of that?  Do you have, for example, storage/movies, storage/music, etc.?  If so, then a split level of two would force all your movies to be on one disk, all your music to be on one disk, etc.  Therefore unRAID is trying to add these new movies in with the rest of your movies, on the already full disk1.

 

I believe that lowering your split level to '1' should fix your problem.  This will allow all your subfolders, storage/movies, storage/music, etc., to span disks.

 

Thank you so much, that solved it. And yes I do have multiple folders under my "storage" share. e.g. \storage\videos\movies, \storage\videos\tvshows\, \storage\games\etc..

 

Thanks.

What if you'd want to keep certain files on a specific drive?

 

Doesn't split level 1 allocate your files ramdomly across the drives?

What if you'd want to keep certain files on a specific drive?

 

Doesn't split level 1 allocate your files ramdomly across the drives?

 

As I understand it, just the top level directories could be split.  Anything inside those directories would have to be on the same drive.  (That's what I understand "1" to mean.)

 

I had one drive + parity and when it was almost full I installed a another drive. But the data still went to the first drive. Even though there wasn't enough space for the file.

 

When I marked the split level as one, the file was going on to the new drive, but I also noticed that the first drive was getting more free space?? Could I not fill a drive, then install a new one, fill it, then install another and so on...?

With that directory structure it sounds like you need to use split level 3, not 2.

 

Peter