How to find the location of my files?

[mrvilla]

Hi.

 

I have a few questions regarding storing files on the server.

1. When I make a share and name it, lets say, Movies. Where are the movies actually stored on the disks? If my server crashes or my usb drive dies. Where do I find the files on my disks?
2. Can I plug the disk into an ordinary windows machine and browse them without issues or do I need to plug them into an Linux machine?

 

I have tried to find the information in the faq but could not locate the exact answers to this.

[Fireball3]

To read ReiserFS in Windows you might need something like

https://www.diskinternals.com/linux-reader/

 

If you have XFS formatted drives I fear you can't get away without a linux:

Edit:

This is a comercial solution for Windows.

http://www.runtime.org/captain-nemo.htm

Edited August 22, 2017 by Fireball3

[mrvilla]

10 minutes ago, Fireball3 said:

To read ReiserFS in Windows you might need something like

https://www.diskinternals.com/linux-reader/

 

If you have XFS formatted drives I fear you can't get away without a linux:

Edit:

This is a comercial solution for Windows.

http://www.runtime.org/captain-nemo.htm

 

Ok, Thanks. Just good to know.

 

Any thoughts regarding question 1?

[Fireball3]

If you create a share, you can select which drives shall be included.

Dependent on the allocation method (grab some info in that) the files are distributed on all of those disks that you chose.

You can browse each disk (if you have them exported in the disk settings) and see what is on.

Each included disk will have the share name as a directory and the respective files in it.

 

You should also read up on the split-level.

 

 

[mrvilla]

Hi thanks for taking your time to explain this.

 

If I understand you correctly. When I create a Share “Movies”, it will then create this folder on each disk that I decide to split this Share over. Correct?

 

I also found this

§  User Shares are implemented using proprietary code which builds a composite directory hierarchy of all the data disks. This is created on a tmpfs file system mounted on /mnt/tmp. User Shares are exported using a proprietary FUSE pseudo-file system called 'shfs' which is mounted on /mnt/users.

 

So I guess this means that all my files that I copy to a share is located under /mnt/users. Agreed?

 

Is this just a default location that can be changed? I would rather want all my movies to under /home/Movies instead but if it is not possible then I can live with it:)

 

At work now but will browse the disks when I come home to see if I can find my files:)

 

The split level I have read about and I think I understand how it works. 

Edited August 22, 2017 by mrvilla

[SSD]

User shares equate to root level folders on the data disks. I'd suggest leaving at one level not two. Otherwise "home" becomes the user share and managing one set of user share settings to meet the needs of the second levels will be overly limiting.

[Fireball3]

1 hour ago, mrvilla said:

So I guess this means that all my files that I copy to a share is located under /mnt/users. Agreed?

You will find the shares at that location (and the files).

Physically the files will be spread across the disks though!

 

I'm not sure if you would like the share to be /mnt/users/home/Movies

As bjp999 already mentioned, "home" will be your share that you can customize regarding access rights etc.

Movies will be a child/directory within the "home" share.

 

In the /mnt directory you will also find your disks

/mnt/disk1

/mnt/disk2

etc.

 

This may be of interest if you access your data via command line e.g. for rsync jobs.

Else, better stay with the shares as you can see/manage them in the GUI and don't try to manage them via command line.

 

Edited August 22, 2017 by Fireball3

[mrvilla]

Thanks for the explenation! Really appreciated!

I will use the GUI for managing this. Seems a lot easier. The CLI interface was just in case of an emergency:)

 

I'm looking forward to come home and check this out.

I will leave it as it is with /mnt/users/movies.

 

As I understand Movies will then be the top level and each movie folder below will then be level 2. Like /mnt/users/Movies/Avatar.

I can then choose to split level 1 but not two if I understand this correctly since the movies can be spread on several disks, but I would like the Avatar folder to remain intakt.

Edited August 22, 2017 by mrvilla

[Fireball3]

Correct, "movies" will be the exported share in your network.

e.g. "server_name/movies"

 

You can find exhausting examples about split level settings around here.

[mrvilla]

15 minutes ago, Fireball3 said:

Correct, "movies" will be the exported share in your network.

e.g. "server_name/movies"

 

You can find exhausting examples about split level settings around here.

 

Sounds great. Thanks for clarifying all this.