Importing Files To New FreeNAS Machine

[rivey]

I have just setup a temporary freeNAS server from old parts as a temporary situation. All seems to be working fine. I have an 8TB drive in my main windows machine that has all my ripped movies and tv shows on it. It is an NTFS drive. Is there a way to put this drive into my new freeNAS machine so I can copy my files faster than over the network? Thanks for any help you can give.

 

[danb35]

Is there a way to put this drive into my new freeNAS machine so I can copy my files faster than over the network?

http://doc.freenas.org/11/storage.html#import-disk

 

[pro lamer]

Volume ‣ Import Disk but is it truly faster than over 1Gbps Lan?

Sent from my mobile phone

 

[danb35]

is it truly faster than over 1Gbps Lan?

It certainly should be, for a direct-attached SATA disk. Unless there's just an enormous amount of overhead in the NTFS driver...

 

[rivey]

http://doc.freenas.org/11/storage.html#import-disk

Thanks for the reply dan35. I looked at this early this morning but was not sure if this was the only option. I read through the section on importing a disk and a few questions came to mind.
1 Is the import non destructive. The files on the disk are my Plex data so if they were lost I have all of the discs stored but it would take a long time to rerip them.
2 If I am understanding the process correctly, the import copies over all files to a single specified location so I would then have move the folders to the required folders on the new machine. I am assuming that this would still be much faster than transferring them over my gigabit network.
3 I did consider installing a 10gig fiber card on each machine and going that route but funds are tight right now.
4 It would be really nice if the import process would allow me to copy specific folders to specific locations but my understanding is that you can't do that.

Thanks for any further input on this. Bob Ivey

 

[danb35]

Is the import non destructive.

Yes.

If I am understanding the process correctly, the import copies over all files to a single specified location

Correct.

I am assuming that this would still be much faster than transferring them over my gigabit network.

It certainly should be.

I did consider installing a 10gig fiber card on each machine and going that route but funds are tight right now.

Used 10G gear isn't very expensive (check out used Chelsio T410/T420 cards on eBay), but still seems kind of wasteful if this is all you'd do with it.

It would be really nice if the import process would allow me to copy specific folders to specific locations but my understanding is that you can't do that.

Your understanding is correct.

 

[rivey]

Thanks for the fast reply danb35. I will give this a shot.