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Forum Discussion
Volume Maintenance and Bit-rot
My NAS and usage may help with this question?
NAS: RN626
Apps: Plex/Anti-Virus and Photo Hosting
Weekly Backkups of two PCs's Files and images.
Month adds of a few hundred photos/videos.
Hosting of a small Website
Weekly backups from NAS to NAS coming shortly.
So I'm curious to what if any recommendation exists for setting up Volume Maintenance? The only timeline given by the software manual was for scrubbing: Scrubbing cleans and validates all data on a volume and checks the volume for errors. No data is deleted. Folders, LUNs, and snapshots on the volume remain intact. Scrubbing every six to eight weeks is common.
The options are as follows below and the manual doesn't really talk about Disk Test other than it's an option when setting a schedule.
Defrag
Balance
Scrub
Disk Test
Are others using Bit-rot? From the manual: Bit rot protection is available for any folder stored on your ReadyNAS system. On higher-end models it is on by default. Bit rot protection can slow the performance of a system and increase fragmentation, and so is not on by default on lower-end models.
I presume if Bit-Rot isn't used than routine defragmentation wouldnt' be required? I'm guessing the 626 is a lower end NAS since it wasn't on by default but even so I'm uncertain how much I would really need it.
I did manage to find this post but wasn't sure how model and usage dependent those recommendations are: https://community.netgear.com/t5/Using-your-ReadyNAS/Readynas-3220-What-is-recommended-volume-maintenance-schedule/m-p/1022420#M100585
Any advice is appreciated, thanks!
8 Replies
Replies have been turned off for this discussion
NASguru wrote:
I presume if Bit-Rot isn't used than routine defragmentation wouldnt' be required?
Well, with any file system the need for defrag does depend on usage.
As far as BTRFS goes, updating a file in a share that has a snapshot will fragment that file. That happens even if bit-rot protection is off.
NASguru wrote:
I'm guessing the 626 is a lower end NAS since it wasn't on by default but even so I'm uncertain how much I would really need it.
The 626X is at the top of the line of course. Perhaps the manual needs a bit of updating.
Bit-Rot protection is a proprietary netgear feature. "Bit-Rot" occurs when files somehow get corrupted on the disk. The bit-rot protection uses the parity info plus the BTRFS file checksum to recover the file data. The odds of bit-rot on an RN626X are lower than most consumer-NAS because it uses error-correcting RAM.
Enabling Bit-Rot protection also enables CoW all the time.
NASguru wrote:
So I'm curious to what if any recommendation exists for setting up Volume Maintenance?
I did manage to find this post but wasn't sure how model and usage dependent those recommendations are: https://community.netgear.com/t5/Using-your-ReadyNAS/Readynas-3220-What-is-recommended-volume-maintenance-schedule/m-p/1022420#M100585
Personally I run each of the 4 tests once a quarter, spacing them out through the quarter.
That's good feedback as usual. I believe you have a 526 so do you use Bit-rot and if so was there a significant performance hit? I didn't have it turned on when I moved all my data to the new NAS and from what I read it would only help with new files written to the NAS. So I guess the protection would be limited? As for the other tests, I was going to run the defrag/balance twice a month and the scrub (which takes forever) 3 times a year. I dont' really know what the disk test does or if it's necessary as their is no explaination given in the manual.
NASguru wrote:
That's good feedback as usual. I believe you have a 526 so do you use Bit-rot and if so was there a significant performance hit?
It's not turned on in my RN102 and RN202 (both are jbod, so it doesn't really apply). The RN526 isn't really set up yet - I'm still kicking the tires on it. It's on at the moment, and I'm planning to leave it on.
NASguru wrote:
I didn't have it turned on when I moved all my data to the new NAS and from what I read it would only help with new files written to the NAS. So I guess the protection would be limited?
It should work on all the files in the shares where it's turned on (even if it is turned on after files are written to the share).
NASguru wrote:
I dont' really know what the disk test does or if it's necessary as their is no explaination given in the manual.
I believe its the long non-destructive SMART test (built into the drive).
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