I've read many of the split level posts, but since I have a Pro license and shares already setup with lots of data, I'm not sure if I should change things.  I have 8 or 9 disks in my setup, ranging from 1.5 TB to 300 GB (6+ TB total space).  When I initially set this up with 3 disks and the freebie version, I used the defaults since I didn't know any better, so I don't have any split level set (all are blank and set to high-water).  My problem comes in when something (My Movies, or if I copy in cover art to \\towermc\movies\) adds files to the movie title folder.  When it does, it doesn't put the files into the current movie directory, so I may end up with 2 or 3 \\movies\Movie Title\ folders on different disks.  How is the best way to keep this from happening, and can I do it now since my shares are already setup and populated with data?  I have over 2.5 TB of movies, which makes starting over very difficult.  I also have over 600 GB of music, so I'm guessing I want to set this to 1 or 2 specific disks.

 

Also, a few movies are splitting between multiple disks.  Is this because one disk filled up so it went to the next available disk?  Is there any way to keep that from happening and force the entire movie onto one disk?

 

Here's my current setup (copying the structure from another thread):

 

0  Disks

    |

1  Movies (User Share)

      |

2        --[Movie Title 1] (Directory)

          |  |

          |  VIDEO_TS (Directory)

          |    .VOB file

          |    .VOB file

          |

2        --[Movie Title 2] (Directory)

            |

            --VIDEO_TS (Directory)

              .VOB file

              .VOB file             

 

MUSIC:

 

Share Name:  Music

Comments:

Allocation method:    High-Water  [doesn't matter]

Split level:  0  [actually doesn't matter what you set here]

Included disks:  [set this to the disk you want the Music share to be on]

Excluded disks:

Export mode:  Export read/write

 

If I'm reading right, I should have initially set my split level to 1 for my movies share.  Is this correct?  And if so, can it be done now?

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

Jon

Yes, set the level to 1. Then, the Movie Title folder can be on any disk but anything below that will remain on the same disk.

 

Use the disk include and exclude to decide where to put data.

 

If data is in the wrong location you can share the disks (on the user share tab turn on disk read/write) and then move things between the actual disks using Windows Explorer. Unfortunately, it'll be slow.

 

You could also set-up the shares correctly and then move the contents of a disk to the cache drive. Run the mover and unRAID will put it back in the correct spots. However, you lose parity protection during this move.

 

Peter

 

can I do it now since my shares are already setup and populated with data?

 

The Split Level setting has no effect on existing data.  It only affects the decision process as to where to store new file(s) that are created within a User Share.

 

As Peter said, existing data has to be moved manually to where you would prefer it, either by external file managers such as Windows Explorer, or by internal methods such as console commands (mv) or MC, or by moving them to the Cache disk and letting the mover script move them according to your new Share settings.

can I do it now since my shares are already setup and populated with data?

As Peter said, existing data has to be moved manually to where you would prefer it, either by external file managers such as Windows Explorer, or by internal methods such as console commands (mv) or MC, or by moving them to the Cache disk and letting the mover script move them according to your new Share settings.

Thanks for the replies.  That sounds like my best option then.  I'll have to research more on the cache disk and mover script.  So far I don't have a cache disk setup, so I'd have to clear off one of the 300 GB drives and use it.

 

 

Try this, it might be the simplest;

Set the "Movies" share split level to 1 and enter the disks you want it to use in the future.

Create a new share called "New Movies". Set the spit level to 1 and the disks you want the movies to be on -this should mirror the "Movies" share settings.

Go to the "Movies" share and copy all of the "A..." movies to the "New Movies" share - you could do more such as A to F movies, it just depends on the number of movies for each letter.

Do this each night before going to bed so that they are all eventually moved into the "New Movies" share - figure out how much data you can move per night. I'd try about 200gig or so the first time and work from there so it's completed by the time you want to use the server the next day.

 

Once the above is done;

Share the disks.

Go to each disk and delete the "Movies" directory and re-name the "New Movies" directory as "Movies"

Go to the server and delete the "New Movies" share settings.

Turn off the disk shares.

Reboot the server and ensure these settings get applied.

 

You could also use the command line on the server and enter MC to get a semi-graphical interface and do the moves there. Maybe someone could help with a mv command line to say move movies starting with A to F between directories?

 

 

Peter

 

I'm kind of lost in this.  I thought I'd be using the cache disk to move things around, but I'm definitely for whatever works.  Simplicity helps too.  (=

 

I only have 2 shares, movies and music, so I was thinking I'd put music on one disk and let Movies go to all others.  Is there a problem with just letting Movies to go all disks and not specify disks?  Is there an advantage to specifying disks?

 

Another part I'm confused on:  What's the purpose of sharing the actual disks?  I can currently see each disk through windows explorer, so I can copy to/from.  I'm sure I'm missing something, but I'm just trying to understand what it is.  I'm definitely not the expert.

 

The other part I'm fuzzy on is how is my problem getting fixed without using the cache disk?  I'm trying to figure out what's going to actually merge the files from 2 or 3 disks into 1.

 

Thanks for everything guys.  I really do appreciate the help, even if I don't seem to by asking all these questions!

Jon

Set the Movies to exclude the disk you want Music on and set the Music to only include this same disk. If you let the Movies go to all disks then there will be movies on the Music disk which might take up room you want to use for the music. It depends on how big the drive is compared to how much music you want to store on it.

 

If you create a new share with the correct settings and move everything to it then unRAID will sort the data out according to the new share settings.  This will put everything onto the server how you want it - with the data for each movie NOT split up onto multiple drives. The instructions I posted will create a new share with the movie files sorted like you want and then basically rename the new share "Movies".

 

The Disk shares are not necessary for normal use so you can turn them off. Some people do prefer to manually copy their files to each disk - for example they may keep movies "A" to "G" on disk1, "H" to "N" on disk 2, etc, etc.

 

You don't have to use a cache drive, it's just one possible way. You could go to Windows Explorer and manually go through each disk share and move individual files around and delete excess directories to get what you want. Doing as I posted might take more total time but it will require much less user time. You just do big block moves each night before bed as opposed to manually working through each disk of data.

 

Peter

 

Set the Movies to exclude the disk you want Music on and set the Music to only include this same disk. If you let the Movies go to all disks then there will be movies on the Music disk which might take up room you want to use for the music. It depends on how big the drive is compared to how much music you want to store on it.

 

If you create a new share with the correct settings and move everything to it then unRAID will sort the data out according to the new share settings.  This will put everything onto the server how you want it - with the data for each movie NOT split up onto multiple drives. The instructions I posted will create a new share with the movie files sorted like you want and then basically rename the new share "Movies".

 

You don't have to use a cache drive, it's just one possible way. You could go to Windows Explorer and manually go through each disk share and move individual files around and delete excess directories to get what you want. Doing as I posted might take more total time but it will require much less user time. You just do big block moves each night before bed as opposed to manually working through each disk of data.

Aaaah, okay.  I thought you had to use the cache disk to let the mover script work out the folder sharing problems that I had.  Gotcha.

 

I'd forgotten about the music and it's need for more space in the future.  Thanks again.  I personally don't care what movies go to what disks, only that they're all in the same folder.  Split level will fix what I'm concerned about.

 

That's why I posted here.  I started seeing all these different directories on multiple disks.  Comparing Disk 1 to 2/3/4/5/6/7/8 and Disk 2 to 3/4/5/6/7/8, etc, was ungodly time consuming and something I don't have time for (like most everyone!).

 

I don't think I have any more questions, for now at least.  I'll start your process tonight and post my results.

 

Thanks again!

Nope, if you write to the share it will use the share settings, cache disk or no cache disk.

 

I know this makes you move all 2.5T of movie data across the network in both directions. But, just moving all the movies to a whole new share is the simplest way I can think to get each movie back onto one drive and not have to involve any sorting or working with the server command line interface.

 

Peter

Nah, the moving is a very, very minor inconvenience compared to having to manually merge folders.  Time spent by the system doing this is much better than me doing it manually.