Hi all,

 

I've been cleaning house a bit on my server this week. Replaced an ssd which was in the array with a HDD and added a second parity. All went smoothly.

As part of this clean up one thing thats been bugging me for ages are some files seemingly stuck on the cache. I installed the cache about a year ago and was a bit enthusiastic when adding the cache to shares, I added it to appdata.

I realised later I didn't want that data on there and set the use cache option to no, then left it assuming the mover would move it all back later. I checked today and can see there are two shares data on the cache I don't want there; appdata and system. I never turned cache on for system though.

 

I assume using dolphin to move the files back may break some dockers etc so what is the proper procedure here to get these files back on the array?

 

TIA

11 minutes ago, localhost said:

use cache option to no,

To move the share from the cache to the array, you want use cache:Yes

(and then stop the docker service in Settings - docker, go to Main, array operations and run mover).  Once its done, set use cache:No and re-enable docker

12 minutes ago, localhost said:

I never turned cache on for system though.

System by default is set to use cache:Prefer which means that it'll attempt to move the files from the array to the cache drive

 

Note: As a general rule, you do want the system and appdata shares to use the cache drive for performance reasons.  IMHO they both should be set to Prefer

2 hours ago, localhost said:

I checked today and can see there are two shares data on the cache I don't want there; appdata and system. I never turned cache on for system though.

Why exactly don't you want them on cache? That is where they are usually put.

1 hour ago, Squid said:

Note: As a general rule, you do want the system and appdata shares to use the cache drive for performance reasons.  IMHO they both should be set to Prefer

 

I was under the impression the cache is not protected by the parity, which was why I didn't want important files on it. Am I wrong on this?

11 minutes ago, localhost said:

I was under the impression the cache is not protected by the parity, which was why I didn't want important files on it. Am I wrong on this?

No, you're 100% correct there.

 

The problem is that RW performance of files on the array is significantly (and noticeably slower) than RW to the cache drive.  Vast majority of users utilize the cache drive for appdata / system.  The importance of the files in the appdata share varies from user to user.  (For me it is important, but I wouldn't lose sleep if I lost it)  Because of the non-protected status of the cache drive (if you don't use a cache pool, which I don't), there exists the Appdata Backup / Restore plugin designed specifically to backup the appdata share to the array on a schedule of your choosing.

Edited January 19, 20197 yr by Squid

Oh OK I'll do that then. Thanks for the advice. I'm not too concerned about losing say 24 hours worth of the appdata share, I just didn't want to have to reconfigure everything.

 

Now if I can just get transmission to write my downloads with permissions I can access I'll be all green lights again.

 

Thank you

13 minutes ago, localhost said:

Oh OK I'll do that then. Thanks for the advice. I'm not too concerned about losing say 24 hours worth of the appdata share, I just didn't want to have to reconfigure everything.

The configuration for installing any of your dockers is on the flash drive and you can easily reinstall them using the Previous Apps feature on the Apps page. Appdata is the working data of each container, such as the plex library (database of your media), your cued torrents, whatever else a particular application might need to remember what its doing.

 

I recommend you back up your flash drive as well as your appdata. That Backup plugin already mentioned has a flash backup feature also. And you can download a zipped copy of your flash at any time from Main - Boot Device - Flash - Flash Backup.

8 minutes ago, trurl said:

That Backup plugin already mentioned has a flash backup feature also

Just an FYI, but the flash backup will soon be deprecated in favour of the Boot Device - Flash - Flashbackup and something else of which is a WIP