Shares - Oh my - Please help

So..... the shares setup has my head spinning and I really don't think I need to, for me, make it all that involved.

First - I really liked the fact that I can take a drive out of the unRAID server, pop it in an external case, and access the data. Will using any of the three allocation methods prevent me from doing that?

Second- This is 90% for my home theater, so most of the disks will be movies. A lot of how I configure my files will be dependent on how Zappiti wants them arranged. I want a user friendly juke box style interface when browsing movies/TV shows.

Can I just create a share and select an allocation method, or do I have to select split levels too?

I might want to setup my movies as -

Movies

DVD

Blu-Ray

3-D

Or maybe I will change my mind after seeing it on my big screen, and decide to arrange them in

Movies

Comedy

Drama

Action

Romance

I guess what I'm trying to do is configure several drives into one big share (so it acts and appears like one big drive) with the ability to freely reconfigure the structure at any time.

I might decide to add music under media a few months from now. On the same share.

I might decide to only do one share period named 'smith media' and have everything under that share. Or I might add a small documents share at some point, for recipes as an example.

I'm so lost.... is it obvious? 

1. No. The allocation is file level so files remain intact.

2. I have a movies share in there reside movie title folders and in those is where the data is kept. I don't sort them for genre, that's what the jukebox system does for you but without changing folder structure. Check out XBMC. For this setup I use split level of 1 to keep each movie in its own folder on the same disk. See here: http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php/Un-Official_UnRAID_Manual

Create a user share and it will automatically use all disks.

Thanks. I have a dune player, so need for XBMC

I've been reading the un-official manual for two hours, the same section, it makes no sense to me.

I just watched a YouTube video on Zappiti and it appears based on that video and how Zappiti works that I can create one gigantic share for my media, and let Zappiti scrape it and be done. It looks like Zappiti will scrape the television shows, the movies, etc. and like you say sort them in many different ways.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Then I would like to have a share for Various. This will include a pictures folder, software folder, documents folder, etc. I don't want to waste a slot on a disk just of the Various stuff.

So - two more questions

How do I set these shares up? What allocation? And how should I setup split level? Should I just disable it and if so does entering number 99 work?

Right now I have one 4 TB disk, and will add 4 TB at a time as needed.

Alright - I'm going to TRY and follow the K.I.S.S. method.

I want my 10 drives to appear as one. And I don't want to have to worry about adding the same folders to a new drive every time I fill up one drive and move to the next.

How should I set this up?

From my point of view this split level deal is ridiculous and there should be an option to 'let unraid manage your multiple disks to act and appear as one' . Split level and allocation methods should be available too, but there should be an option for those who do not wish to get so technical.

I reading others posts from years back the ONLY thing consistent I've read is that people don't understand split levels and allocation methods and the people that do don't understand why it's so difficult that most people can't understand it.

Whewww.... sorry for the rant.  :'(

Share #1 - movies

Split level 1

Allocation method - high water

That's it. Unraid will span this share as it see's fit but no movie will get split among separate disks.

Thanks man..... I think after I vented I got it a bit more.

I ended up doing the high water, as you suggest, but I did split level two because I'd like to keep track of my BluRay, DVD, and TV shows via separate folders.

Split level two, if I understand correctly, will allow the creation of the main folder (Videos) and the sub folders (bluray, DVD, TV Shows) on every disk I allow.

I don't do many TV shows, but if I understand correctly unRAID will let me know should I run out of space on a drive vs. split level 3 where unRAID would simply add episode 3 to disk 4 because disk 2 with episodes 1 and 2 is full.

Do I get it? Feel free to say heck no.  

And... thanks much for your help.

Set Min-free-space to a value greater than the largest file that you'll write. Blu Ray images can be very large so I set mine to 50G and then manually fill some of the remaining space.

... I'm going to TRY and follow the K.I.S.S. method.

 

I want my 10 drives to appear as one. And I don't want to have to worry about adding the same folders to a new drive every time I fill up one drive and move to the next.

 

How should I set this up?

You've done okay in what you've already outlined -- but the simple fact is you could not use a split level at all and it would do exactly what you've outlined.    Your 10 drives will simply appear as one with regard to the shares ... you don't have to do anything to cause that.    The split level setting is primarily to ensure that a single media item (e.g. a DVD) doesn't "split" across physical disks so you don't have to spin up more than one disk to watch it ... this will also cause a "pause" in playback while the 2nd disk is spun up.

One potential "gotcha" with split levels, however, is that UnRAID is NOT "smart enough" to automatically ignore split level settings once it's started writing a specific entry -- that's why you need to do as dgaschk noted and set a minimum free space value larger than any one entry will ever be.    Otherwise UnRAID could  "run out of space" on a copy even though you've actually got plenty of free space on other disks.

So... with split level two, and the highwater allocation I should still set a minimum disk space as suggested?

This is mostly blu-ray and dvds almost all video.

I did decide to throw a 1 TB drive in for my various share. I will limit this share to that one drive.

Yes, you want to set a minimum free value.  Otherwise if you start a copy and it doesn't have enough space on the drive it selects, it will abort due to no space -- it will NOT "violate" the split level and use another disk once it's started the write.    With a minimum free setting, if there's not enough space, it will use choose a different disk for the write before it starts, so that problem doesn't occur.

However ... if you're share is only using a single drive, that all doesn't matter, since there's no other drive to write to.    In that case, you don't need ANY of the parameters -- allocation method; split level; minimum free space; etc.    In that case, a "share" is only a convenience for access [i.e. "MyShare" instead of "Disk1\MyShare"].

Thanks Gary- only one data disk now, but more on the way.

I'm thinking about throwing in a 1TB disk for everything BUT video. Pics, and some shared documents. But then I think why waste a space on 1 TB when I'm building a 4TB / drive box.

Decisions...

I'm thinking about throwing in a 1TB disk for everything BUT video. Pics, and some shared documents. But then I think why waste a space on 1 TB when I'm building a 4TB / drive box.

I agree ... toss in a 4TB drive for those shares.    First, you're likely to find that you use more than you think.  Second, if you end up needing the space, you can always add that drive to your video share as well (I'd exclude it for now).

Oh we've had this 1 TB NAS (WD Mybook) for years and haven't managed to fill it with movie downloads and photos/documents to date. The only reason I'm loading up on space is I'm saving full .ISO files, both blu-ray and dvd.

No way will we ever hit 1 TB of pictures and data. But your point remains the same..... toss in a 4tb and let it be for now. Can always add it later.