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Forum Discussion
Wow, Snapshots seem Confusing!
Not sure how to understand the actual impact of using Snapshots on a NAS share. I just recently enabled snapshots on a single share to see how they would work. The share is currently using 15.2 GB for data, and the Admin Volumes page reports that 1.11 GB are being used by Snapshots (2 daily snapshots have been taken of this share so far).
Now here is the really odd thing - when I use W10 to look at the folder properties for the \snapshot folder in this share, it reports that the size of the data in that folder is 30.8 GB, which is slightly more than twice the total size of the share.
Why the huge discrepency between what W10 reports for snapshot space used, and what the ReadyNAS Admin page reports?
3 Replies
Mauser69 wrote:
Not sure how to understand the actual impact of using Snapshots on a NAS share.
Here's a post from some years back that might help: https://community.netgear.com/t5/Using-your-ReadyNAS-in-Business/ReadyNAS-312-Need-Help-Understanding-Snapshots/m-p/936586#M3041
Mauser69 wrote:
Why the huge discrepency between what W10 reports for snapshot space used, and what the ReadyNAS Admin page reports?
One difference is that the NAS knows the actual on-disk size, but Windows doesn't. I've seen mismatches before (even w/o snapshots).
Thanx - those old threads are very helpful. I guess I did not notice them because I tend to look mostly for more current posts; I always fear that older discussions may no longer be accurate due to changes in the product or software.
And yes, some differences between two displays from different products is normal and to be expected - heck, even two different windows displays will show different numbers! But when the total size on one is over twice as big as the other, that seems egregious. I guess it is because the snapshots do a lot of "pointing" to the original data source instead of having their own copy of the data, and Windows cannot tell that the referenced data blocks are actually in a totally different file location?
I understand that it may not be possible to rely on Windows file information for data stored on the NAS, but my real complaint is that the ReadyNAS has limited and rudimentary information available on space used by data stored there. This makes it rather important to understand what information one can trust from within Windows. I know that a ReadyNAS backup does not include the snapshot folder, but I wonder what I will see if I copy the entire share folder with Windows? I guess I have a lot more testing to do...
If you don't have quota enabled on the volume settings wheel, then enable it. That will give you a bit more information.
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