Clear deleted files from N102

I'm relatively new to using a NAS device. I have an N102 set up as Raid 1 with 3 TB of storage. AFter about 12 months use the UI reported only about 400 MB of space left across all volumes and i decided to delete a large number of files which i did from Windows Explorer via a mapped drive letter which points to one of the shares. I used shift-delete as i would on a local PC drive to bypass any recycle bin type activity. The files disappeared from Explorer but the UI still reported only the same 400 MB of available space. Looking at the graphical representation of volume usage (Data) more than half the used space is taken up by snapshots. Is this where the deletions have gone? If so, how do i clear down the snapshots? Can i prevent them being generated at all, or even specify which shares i would like to be snapshotted?

I've looked throughout the UI but can't find any way to clear or manage snapshots.

Any guidance gratefully received.

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protem48
Nov 10, 2015
Have now worked my way through all 10 shares and cleared all snapshots. Resulted in a dramatic increase in free space - an extra 2 TB. These snapshots had been accumulating over the past 2 years. I will have to assume that the deleted files went into the snapshots although i can't really figure out how that would have worked.

I've now been through and turned off snapshot generation from all but one of the shares - they were set to run daily, which is complete overkill for the content. I also have an external 3 TB usb drive connected and that is set to backup overnight 24/7. In effect it is a 2nd mirror to the raid array and i think it gives adequate recovery capabilities for what i want as most of the data is archival and static in content (videos etc)

As i now have plenty of capacity I will go with that solution for now.

Thanks for steering me in the right direction.

7 Replies

StephenB
Guru - Experienced User
Nov 10, 2015
Your space has likely gone to the snapshots.

You delete them from the web admin UI. Select the share, then "recover". Then select all the snapshots for that share, and right-click. You'll see a delete control.

Some browsers mignt not let you select multiple snapshots (Chrome on Windows will). If you can only select one, you'll need to delete one at a time.
- protem48
  Aspirant
  Nov 10, 2015
  THank you. That's very helpful. I've removed just two snapshots for 2012 from one share without any impact on free space. I will continue with the other 9 shares for each year 2012-2014 and see what happens to the total free space.
  - StephenB
    Guru - Experienced User
    Nov 10, 2015
    protem48 wrote:
    
    THank you. That's very helpful. I've removed just two snapshots for 2012 from one share without any impact on free space. I will continue with the other 9 shares for each year 2012-2014 and see what happens to the total free space.
    
    When you are done, you might also need to do a balance.