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Library "missing" - spun down drives


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techywarrior
Posted

So, I recently changed my storage solution and now have a system where the drives spin down when not in use (for a period of time).

 

I've noticed that in the web client (haven't looked at the rest) when the drive(s) are spun down the library shows up as empty. The only way I seem to be able to get it to show up again is but doing a quick library scan. This isn't the end of the world for me but my GF isn't going to know or understand that.

 

Can we get a new setting added into the server so we can configure the timeout or maybe tell it if you can't find the library then wait X amount of time and try again (max tries would be nice too in case it really is down).

 

Or is it perhaps that the server isn't really hitting the file server and just sees that the share is not available (not actually sure if that's possible to do without the server waking up the drives anyway)

 

I would have thought lots of people have file servers that spin down and I don't remember seeing a lot/any posts about the matter. I don't want to configure my file server to not spin down the drives (maybe that's what other people do?).

 

Anyway, would love to see the option(s) come to the server and if I'm missing something or people have a solution... I'm all ears.

Logos302
Posted

I use red drives, and don't have them spin down on my file server, except what the drives natively do on their own.  But I also don't worry about power usage, or ware and tare of the drives.  Most drives I've owned stop working  when they are stopped not spinning :).  

Chillout
Posted

Coincidentally I had just posted the same problem with entire folders of media emptied.

 

 thought it could have something to do with the drives sleeping but this has never happened in the past with MB using the same hardware setup (before, it would take a few seconds for the media to start playing as the drive spooled up)...

 

http://mediabrowser.tv/community/index.php?/topic/7746-media-in-folders-not-showing-up/

techywarrior
Posted

Yea, sounds like the same thing. Maybe @@Luke will chime in either with a reason it changed lately or with a fix (or some sort of option) in an upcoming server release.

Chillout
Posted (edited)

I just turned off real time monitoring to see if it will help... I'll report back if it makes any difference.

 

UPDATE:  Turning off real time monitoring doesn't seem to help... It probably makes it worse because once the drive wakes up it doesn't auto scan the folders.

Edited by Chillout
Beardyname
Posted

If the library is offline why not set to scan during certain tasks or hours ?

 

In every other case when you are trying to access some of the media the disks should start spinning again.

techywarrior
Posted

If the library is offline why not set to scan during certain tasks or hours ?

 

In every other case when you are trying to access some of the media the disks should start spinning again.

That would defeat the purpose of spinning the drives down.

 

There doesn't seem to be any reason that MB3 shouldn't be able to handle a basic feature that most NAS do. It stores the library in a database so it should display it to us while it waits for the drives to spin back up.

Posted

My drives spin down but I don't have this issue.  I just experience a pause of about 20 seconds as the drive(s) spin back up.

techywarrior
Posted

My drives spin down but I don't have this issue.  I just experience a pause of about 20 seconds as the drive(s) spin back up.

You are right. I tried it again and didn't leave the page or do anything and after 20-30 sec the movies appeared.

 

Maybe there should be a "loading" message like how the new Channels section works? Only downside would be if there really is a problem and nothing happens but the loading message stays forever... but is that even that bad a thing?

Chillout
Posted (edited)

 I will restart the MB server software and sometimes it will find the media without forcing the hard drive out of sleep mode. But I must restart the server for it to show up.. it doesn't appear automatically.

Edited by Chillout
Posted

I don't know what is different about you guys.  All my drives spin down and I never re-start my server and this never happens to me.  I just get the delay while the drives spin back up.  Maybe it is because I am using FlexRaid.

techywarrior
Posted

When I did it today it worked after a delay. I am going to try again tonight and see what it does. It may have something to do with me being inpatient and clicking around but since the info is all in the db and the images aren't on the raid it really should at least display with no delay. Even if it doesn't play till the drives spin up.

  • 2 weeks later...
Chillout
Posted

If you are having this problem, try UNchecking "Save artwork and Metadata into media folders" under the Metadata tab in server settings.

 

Since I have done this, I've never had another problem with empty folders that have media in them.

techywarrior
Posted

If you are having this problem, try UNchecking "Save artwork and Metadata into media folders" under the Metadata tab in server settings.

 

Since I have done this, I've never had another problem with empty folders that have media in them.

That's not really a solution because it creates so many other potential problems (like if I change my MBS machine or a lot of other things).

 

What I am really looking for is either better handling of the situation by MBS or better UX so the user knows why it's just sitting there in the client.

Posted

If you are having this problem, try UNchecking "Save artwork and Metadata into media folders" under the Metadata tab in server settings.

 

Since I have done this, I've never had another problem with empty folders that have media in them.

 

Yeah that is a correlation and not a good solution to a rare problem because it removes other good functionality.  Obviously, if we are never trying to save to your media folders, we won't be accidentally creating folders but we need to figure out what the exact situation is that causes this to happen so we can really solve it.

 

I haven't seen this happen in the last couple of server releases though so we may have already nabbed it.

aspdend
Posted

I don't know what is different about you guys.  All my drives spin down and I never re-start my server and this never happens to me.  I just get the delay while the drives spin back up.  Maybe it is because I am using FlexRaid.

Same for me - I use UnRAID - my drives spin down and I just get a slight delay...

techywarrior
Posted

Do any of you try and click around during the delay or do you just wait? The problem arose when I tried to click around during the delay. Although I haven't noticed the problem in the last server beta so it may have been fixed.

Posted

I'm usually in MBC so there is no clicking.  I just know when it hits a pause like that it is waiting for a drive to spin up.

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