Multiple Storage Drives

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TimG
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Joined: Tue Jun 18, 2019 10:45 am
Location: Nottinghamshire, UK.

Re: Multiple Storage Drives

Post by TimG »

Hi, yes, if you set up all of the drives to move the files to the next drive when full, then it would indeed move the oldest files to the next drive in a cascade manner - not a good idea.

Many people only use one drive. In that case, you only need one folder, as there is no point in moving the files between folders (i.e New to Storage) on the same drive. It is your decision on how to set it up, but I presently have the BI database and all cameras recording to a separate SSD drive (the fast drive), and then move them to a slower storage drive as it gets full. Since my storage drive is a 4TB WD Purple, I could probably get away without the SSD. Quite simply, the SSD was in my spares box, so it went in to the PC !

How many cameras are you going to use ? That will determine whether you need to split the cameras between the drives or not.
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Thixotropic
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Re: Multiple Storage Drives

Post by Thixotropic »

matgyver85 wrote: Sun Feb 16, 2020 1:20 am If this configuration would transfer the files from previous drive to next drive, then I would probably set it up to split my cameras up between the drives, so that I would have an even amount of cameras per drive.
This is just my opinion, but I think in most cases using multiple drive arrays and moving data around is usually more trouble than it's worth. That's just my take on it.

I looked at doing cascade archiving, cloud uploads, etc and decided that for me it didn't make a lot of sense. I ended up just getting a small NS and dropping a couple of 4TB drives in it in a RAID configuration. It's well-protected but nothing super fancy.

My needs are fairly ordinary, so if you have lots of cameras or need bulletproof, no-fail storage with an accountability trail (like CoC stuff) then you may need to use something more elaborate.

Just my 2 cents, your mileage may vary, lol.
Blue Iris 5.x x64 | Windows 10 Pro x64 | 16GB RAM | i7-7700 3.6 GHz | 1TB HDD | 2TB RAID NAS | 9 Cameras | Almost Dual NIC | 2KVA UPS
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TimG
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Re: Multiple Storage Drives

Post by TimG »

Hi,
Will this bypass the NEW folder and cause slow retrieval of new files which are no longer stored in the NEW folder on the fast drive?
Yes, it would bypass the "New" folder, and I think it must impact retrieval of new files, since they will now be on four separate slower drives. Does that matter ? Experimentation time, and let us know ! We are all learning here :D
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quest100
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Re: Multiple Storage Drives

Post by quest100 »

My system is set up with 15 cameras constantly feeding three separate hard drives. I divided the cameras up such that each disk would start deleting video at about the same time - around 30 days. Two disks are external and connected via USB-C. Disks sizes are 10TB, 14TB, and 14TB. Each disk was set to reserve around 30 GB of free space. The reserve was picked to be greater than the sum of two video files from each camera on that disk. Nothing else is on these three drives.

My first iteration of this had the database and operating system on a (fourth) hard disk. Rebuilding the database for 10,000+ video files seemed to take forever so I moved them to a SSD. This has been running for 9 months with no problems.
mjcril
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Joined: Wed Dec 16, 2020 4:20 am

Re: Multiple Storage Drives

Post by mjcril »

quest100 wrote: Tue Oct 20, 2020 10:33 pm My system is set up with 15 cameras constantly feeding three separate hard drives. I divided the cameras up such that each disk would start deleting video at about the same time - around 30 days. Two disks are external and connected via USB-C. Disks sizes are 10TB, 14TB, and 14TB. Each disk was set to reserve around 30 GB of free space. The reserve was picked to be greater than the sum of two video files from each camera on that disk. Nothing else is on these three drives.

My first iteration of this had the database and operating system on a (fourth) hard disk. Rebuilding the database for 10,000+ video files seemed to take forever so I moved them to a SSD. This has been running for 9 months with no problems.
Would you be willing to post pictures/config files? I am also learning about cascading data among several drives. It seems like the more logical way to do this if running this on a PC without extra hardware like a Qnap/Synology device. Why is cascading not the best option? Maybe its due to goals? I dont know, but Id like to be able to keep the oldest/longest video history I can given my system set up.
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