CLOSED: Advice on moving files to Greyhole, local mounts etc

[thekiwi]

Having set up Greyhole and moved the location of its LZs, I recently started to move files across my network into my shares.

In doing so, I have been pondering a couple of things that I really need clarification on as it is not clear in the Wiki:

1. I inadvertently placed some videos in a sub-folder on my TV share. I am using Windows to move things, so I simply pulled the videos out of the sub-folder and put them in the correct folder. There was an 8-hour hiatus between these two actions [uploading and then moving], so presumably Greyhole would have moved the videos and replaced them with symlinks. Are these file moves going to cause issues?
2. In the same vain, is it possible to occasionally move things into different folders that are already in a share? An example might be that videos in a TV series in a parent folder need to be moved into a new Season 01 folder to make way for Season 02.
3. I have been trying to find documentation regarding whether you can mount only selected shares locally, or do all shares need to be mounted locally?
4. Are there any issues mounting shares locally? If local mounts allow access to work on files while still using Greyhole, why are shares not all mounted locally by default?

Just trying to get as full an appreciation for Greyhole before I start moving the majority of my data and making a mistake that might have been easily avoided.

Thanks!

[bigfoot65]

I inadvertently placed some videos in a sub-folder on my TV share. I am using Windows to move things, so I simply pulled the videos out of the sub-folder and put them in the correct folder. There was an 8-hour hiatus between these two actions [uploading and then moving], so presumably Greyhole would have moved the videos and replaced them with symlinks. Are these file moves going to cause issues?

Using Windows client to access files and move them should be fine. Just remember that if it takes a while not to start other file operations to minimize the time it takes to do the move.

In the same vain, is it possible to occasionally move things into different folders that are already in a share? An example might be that videos in a TV series in a parent folder need to be moved into a new Season 01 folder to make way for Season 02.

Yes that should not be a problem.

I have been trying to find documentation regarding whether you can mount only selected shares locally, or do all shares need to be mounted locally?

The script does not allow for selecting certain shares to be mounted. They all will be, but this is only necessary if you are moving files or modifying them on the actual HDA via command line (that is what locally means). This is not necessary if you are using Windows as operations are routed through Samba already.

Are there any issues mounting shares locally? If local mounts allow access to work on files while still using Greyhole, why are shares not all mounted locally by default?

As mentioned, this is only needed if you work with files locally on the HDA. When using a Windows client or similar that uses Samba this script is not needed.

What not to put in Greyhole shares might be helpful as well to determine your requirements.

[thekiwi]

Ah, excellent, thank you for the enlightenment bigfoot65.

I had previously read the guidance you linked; specifically, I got twisted off on this part of the second bullet point:

... you shouldn't use Greyhole to store... Microsoft Office documents that you edit directly from your shares

I thought that (e.g.) editing a Word document in Windows would cause me grief. But, if I understand your note correctly, this would only be the case if I was editing the Word document from the command line. Is that correct? So I can leave said Word document open in Windows and it should not be an issue for Greyhole?

[bigfoot65]

Not quite. Best to not edit documents frequently from a share directly if it's managed by Greyhole. As soon as the file is opened Greyhole will try to make a new copy but it will be locked. It will continue to try until the file is closed.

Best to copy the file locally for editing then copy back when done or don't use Greyhole for the share.

Does that make sense?

[thekiwi]

Yes, that makes perfect sense. Thank you.

One last question. How does Greyhole handle files being deleted from Windows? If I was to delete a file or even a whole folder of files [within a share] from Windows, would that be OK?

I note in the warning box on the Wiki that deleting files directly on the HDA is a bad idea, so how do you delete files?

[bigfoot65]

Yes that would be fine.

Using Windows or similar client is preferred.

[thekiwi]

Just returning to this with one further question bigfoot65.

If I create a share on a drive which is part of my greyhole pool, but [the share] is not included in the storage pool, would it be safe to download (e.g.) torrents to it without breaking greyhole?

My intention would then be to move files into one of my gh shares.

Thanks

[bigfoot65]

That should work fine. I follow a similar practice for my Amahi Sync share.

[thekiwi]

Thanks bigfoot65 - champion!

[bigfoot65]

No problem.