Defrag

Once 6TB drives are available and once any compatibility issues (if there are any) are addressed, yes.

kturcotte wrote:

readysecure1985 wrote: Please be aware of the current limitations of RAIDiator and not allowing expansion past 16 TB. When you do plan on upgrading your unit to the 6TB disks, please backup data and factory default with all new sized drives in the chassis. When you say that "the current limitations of RAIDiator and not allowing expansion past 16 TB" does this mean TOTAL, from all 6 drives? Or of the 3 drives, if I'm running it in RAID 1? The way I'm planning on doing it (If I can wait for 6 TB drives to become available) is to throw 2 6 TB drives in there, let the NAS format them and set them up in RAID 1, and then cut and paste almost everything (Probably 5 TBs worth) over from the other drives. Then remove the empty drives, throw 2 more 6 TB drives in, again let the NAS format them and set them up in RAID 1, and then cut and paste the remaining 1 TB of data onto the second set of 6 TBs. Then remove the empty drives. Would that be fine?

In an XRAID volume. It's also just a little note for those who are thinking of doing the same thing but with the bigger drives on expandable volumes.

I WANT to defrag my NAS. Saying "linux doesn't need to defrag" is all very well (even if you use invalid words like "unneeded" to prove your point). When files and directories are moved or deleted, Linux - like every other operating system - simply blanks out their "root" directory entry. This confuses most Sony equipment (which also purportedly uses a linux derivative) that wants to read or stream data from it. Like, my TV and my PS3...

If you move or delete enough you end up with scores of (null) entries that Sony thinks sill contain valid data - because they do. The directory entry has been blanked - but the data it points to is still there - often in part or eventually corrupted.

So, Linux = no defrag = bollocks. What utility or OS patch can I use please.

Thanks,
~AS.

Your Sony equipment can't access the NAS using ext, it either has to use a network file protocol like NFS, or a streaming protocol like DLNA.

Either way it is not reading the raw file directory entries. So your analysis is incorrect.

TeknoJnky wrote:
the long answer is in most cases linux does not need defrag, and in the cases where fragmentation is a problem typically on very full filesystems, the best way is to reformat/factory default (backup first, then restore). linux defrag is still in development and not supported or recommended.

This is correct for ext4. There is a tool, but last time I checked it didn't work with LVM (which is used by ReadyNAS) so it wouldn't help you.

Not all ReadyNAS use ext4. The new OS6 products use btfrs, which can be defragmented (the new product GUI includes a defrag control).

Yeah, I was going to say that ROS6's Btrfs *will* experience degradation over time, as compared with the ext4 of the 4.x releases. I've been running Btrfs for a while now in Fedora land and I basically degrag about about a monthly basis. I *do* see improvement every single time. I think that ZFS (which you'll find in ReadyDATA OS) has better block placement algorithms than Btrfs, and thus suffers less from COW fragging over time.