Any reason to balance free space when adding new drive to array?

[jonesy8485]

I have 6 non-parity, 5 of which have < 200GB free (one under 100GB), one new one with 5TB free.

 

For performance issues, is there any reason to rebalance the free space? I run PMS via docker with many users simultaneous.

 

Thanks!

[BRiT]

I don't think so. My drives are filled then I move on to using the next drive. The only time I move files around, outside of drive replacements, is if a slight OCD takes over and I want movies from the same set to be on the same drive (such as Aliens or LOTR etc...)

[BobPhoenix]

I only move things around if a drive runs out of space and I need more for files in other directories.

[DZMM]

I've just gone through this after adding my first drive in nearly 12 months.

 

I grouped some of my shares onto certain drives to keep noise/spin ups down e.g.

1. I do my downloads to disk 3 and I've moved my kids tv shows and movies to disk 3.  This way when I'm working at the PC and the kids are watching TV, disk 3 is already spinning so there's no extra noise.  All the kids tv is on this drive as they tend to flick around a lot, so again reducing spin-ups
2. I've put my work files on disk 4 and the rest of the kids movies for the same reason
3. grown-up movies and tv are on disks 1,2,5,6 i.e. they will spin-up in the evenings when i'm not at the PC as I'm watching something or someone else is.  For TV, I've grouped my seasons using split-levels onto single disks so once a show is chosen the next episode loads immediately
4. I write new grown-up movies and tv to the cache so to reduce 'unnecessary' spin-ups during the day

My goal is to only have disk 3 and maybe 4 spinning (and parity of course), while I'm working to keep my system nice and quiet.  So far it's working

[jonesy8485]

11 hours ago, BRiT said:

I don't think so. My drives are filled then I move on to using the next drive. The only time I move files around, outside of drive replacements, is if a slight OCD takes over and I want movies from the same set to be on the same drive (such as Aliens or LOTR etc...)

 

Just now, BobPhoenix said:

I only move things around if a drive runs out of space and I need more for files in other directories.

 

 

Well thanks, both of you.

 

I thought HDD performance suffered when they were closer to max capacity. Is this not true or is it negligible for my usage type? I could just use the rebalance tool to balance. If there is literally no point, I can just leave it how it is!

[jonesy8485]

2 minutes ago, DZMM said:

I've just gone through this after adding my first drive in nearly 12 months.

 

I grouped some of my shares onto certain drives to keep noise/spin ups down e.g.

1. I do my downloads to disk 3 and I've moved my kids tv shows and movies to disk 3.  This way when I'm working at the PC and the kids are watching TV, disk 3 is already spinning so there's no extra noise.  All the kids tv is on this drive as they tend to flick around a lot, so again reducing spin-ups
2. I've put my work files on disk 4 and the rest of the kids movies for the same reason
3. grown-up movies and tv are on disks 1,2,5,6 i.e. they will spin-up in the evenings when i'm not at the PC as I'm watching something or someone else is.  For TV, I've grouped my seasons using split-levels onto single disks so once a show is chosen the next episode loads immediately
4. I write new grown-up movies and tv to the cache so to reduce 'unnecessary' spin-ups during the day

My goal is to only have disk 3 and maybe 4 spinning (and parity of course), while I'm working to keep my system nice and quiet.  So far it's working

 

Nice plan. Makes sense. However, I don't care at all about the noise and I really have no categories small enough to segregate to single drives with 29TB of data on 34TB array.

[BobPhoenix]

Just now, jonesy8485 said:

I thought HDD performance suffered when they were closer to max capacity. Is this not true or is it negligible for my usage type?

Not as much of a problem with XFS as it was with ReiserFS.  You may not even notice it.  Also that was only for WRITEs to the drives not reads.  I write to the drives once and read many.  That is until I have to rearrange to get more space anyway.