Share - Allocation Method: Alphabetically --OR-- Split-Level: Manual-Alphabetize


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Share - Allocation Method: Alphabetically

 

1.  For share "X", having the option to choose "alphabetical" share allocation.

2. For share "X", then being able to choose the alpha for each disk.

 

OR

 

Share - Split-Level: Manual-Alphabetize (an extension of the current "Split-Level: Manual")

 

1. For share "X", having the option to choose split-level "Manual: Alphabetize".

2. Then under "Included Disks", choose the included disks for share "X" and a drop down menu next to each included disk to set the letter for alphabetizing share content.

 

I envision this giving the ability to designate what share content goes to each disk by its alpha/numeric name.  So, if it was desirable to have some content alphabetized, such as movies, then this could be achieved across multiple disks in a user defined way.

 

Example:

 

D1: symbols/numbers

D2: A

D3: B, C

D4: E, F, G

D5: H, I, J, K, L, M

D6: N

D7: O

D8: P, Q, R, S, T, U, V

D9: W, X, Y, Z

 

 

Edited by _0m0t3ur
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You can already achieve this if you want a folder corresponding to the letter/symbol by exploiting the fact that in the event of contention Split Level wins over Allocation method.

  •  set the split level to be manual.    
  • manually create the top level folder for each symbol on the disk(s) you want to hold it.    
  • If by any chance you want a symbol split over several disks then simply create the folder for that symbol on all the disks involved in holding that symbol and Unraid starts applying the Allocation method across the disks holding a particular symbol.

A side benefit of this approach is that once the next level (e.g. the folder for a particular TV show) has been created it is constrained to the disk on which it is created even if the symbol can be split across several disks thus keeping all files for the show on the same disk.

 

i know this works as it is what I use for my TV and FILMS media shares as it simplifies backups.  Backup drives can be organised by the letters/symbols they hold.

 

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6 hours ago, itimpi said:

You can already achieve this if you want a folder corresponding to the letter/symbol by exploiting the fact that in the event of contention Split Level wins over Allocation method.

  •  set the split level to be manual.    
  • manually create the top level folder for each symbol on the disk(s) you want to hold it.    
  • If by any chance you want a symbol split over several disks then simply create the folder for that symbol on all the disks involved in holding that symbol and Unraid starts applying the Allocation method across the disks holding a particular symbol.

A side benefit of this approach is that once the next level (e.g. the folder for a particular TV show) has been created it is constrained to the disk on which it is created even if the symbol can be split across several disks thus keeping all files for the show on the same disk.

 

i know this works as it is what I use for my TV and FILMS media shares as it simplifies backups.  Backup drives can be organised by the letters/symbols they hold.

 

Thanks for sharing.  As you have stated, I also believe having alphabetized content would simplify backups, and more importantly finding the specific backups in the event a restore of "TV show X" or "movie Y" is needed.

 

So, to help me be clear about this, you're saying that if I want disk 1 to hold "letter A" TV shows, I should create a top level folder named "A" on disk 1.  Since this "A" folder is top level, does unRAID treat this folder as a share?

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Just now, DoItMyselfToo said:

Thanks for sharing.  As you have stated, I also believe having alphabetized content would simplify backups, and more importantly finding the specific backups in the event a restore of "TV show X" or "movie Y" is needed.

 

So, to help me be clear about this, you're saying that if I want disk 1 to hold "letter A" TV shows, I should create a top level folder named "A" on disk 1.  Since this "A" folder is top level, does unRAID treat this folder as a share?

Not quite!

 

first create the top level of “TV Shows” on the disk (if it does not already exist) that will create a User Share of that name.     Then within the “TV Shows” folder create the “A” folder on the disk(s) where it is meant to be located.

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On 1/30/2020 at 11:01 AM, itimpi said:

Not quite!

 

first create the top level of “TV Shows” on the disk (if it does not already exist) that will create a User Share of that name.     Then within the “TV Shows” folder create the “A” folder on the disk(s) where it is meant to be located.

Gottcha!  That makes sense.  With your method, you still need to create the folders in "A" for each specific show, such as "Arrow", so that all the episodes of Arrow, show up there?  Or is unRAID automatically putting all the "A" shows in the "A" folder on disk 1?

 

Because, by alphabetize, I'm looking for unRAID to create the "Arrow" folder for the share TV shows on disk 1.

 

Or if we're talking about movies, I would like the share settings to allow for unRAID to put all the movies that start with the letter "A" on disk 1, the movies that start with the letter "B" on disk 2, etc., without my intervention.

 

Edited by _0m0t3ur
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2 minutes ago, DoItMyselfToo said:

Gottcha!  That makes sense.  With your method, you still need to create the folders in "A" for each specific show, such as "Arrow", so that all the episodes of Arrow, show up there?  Or is unRAID automatically putting all the "A" shows in the "A" folder on disk 1?

You work at the User Share level which will show all the symbol folders you have created on the various disks and copy the files to the “A” folder within that share and Unraid will then automatically place the files on the correct disk.  

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I've basically been doing this, minus the folder named "A", etc.  So, I create the folder "Arrow" in the TV shows share on disk 1, using Krusader, then all the season folders and episodes of each season are placed in the "Arrow" folder on disk 1.  BUT this is a lot of manual work.

 

As a share setting, I envision an allocation option "Alphabetize".  Then in the "included disks" section of the share, a drop down menu next to each disk allows for choosing the desired letter of the alphabet for that particular disk.  Thus all items for that share that start with letter "A" would be placed on the disk corresponding to the choices set up in the share settings, eliminating routine user intervention.

 

Essentially, this could become an extension of the "Manual" split level, called "Manual: Alphabetize".  And since this is applied at the share level, some shares could be alphabetized by disk and others could be set to a non-manual split-level, thus not alphabetized.  And as you pointed out, this would work because split-level takes priority over allocation method.

 

Edited by _0m0t3ur
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I cannot see exactly what you want appearing any time soon as it would be a lot of work to implement :)    It might happen eventually if Limetech decide there is enough of a Use Case but I can see them taking some convincing :( 

 

I personally have some scripts that automate most of the task of copying the files into their correct location from their holding area so do not find it to be much of an issue.

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You're correct.  I'm not really sure how many other unRAID users already do what you and I do, manually alphabetizing content.  Prior to posting this feature request, I searched for "alphabetize" and derivations but didn't quite find what I was thinking about, so I posted this.

 

Setting up to manually alphabetize is fairly straight forward, BUT maintaining it is a fair amount of work.  The real value for me with alphabetizing some content is that I know what disk contains content that starts with any specific letter.  For normal day-to-day, it doesn't really matter, but when there have been problems, I just go directly the correct disk without much thought because everything is well organized.  And for backups, it's a real dream to simply replace data at very granular levels with ease.

 

So, being able to set this up at the share level would be very nice.  And as you stated, since "split-level" takes priority over allocation method, this might be achieved easier with an extension of the current "Split-Level: Manual" setting.

 

Thanks again for all your feedback. I might just, in the interim, look at following in your stead by automating some stuff with scripts.

 

Edited by _0m0t3ur
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