NASLite Network Attached Storage

I was wondering if "Disc Scrubbing" could be added to the NASLITE2 function list?

DST (Disc Scrubbing Technology - another TLA) is when untouched files are relocated on the disc according to a schedule, e.g. every 3 months. The idea is that by ensuring that every file is re-written, the physical disc sectors are refreshed periodically to avoid potential data degradation due to decay of the magnetic storage over time.

This is provided by the Yellow Machine, and I thought that it would be desirable feature to be added to NASLITE2.

Any comments?

Cheers...

For DST description in detail please see:
http://www.yellowmachine.com/products/failsafe.htm#diskscrubbing

As it has been 4 months since I posted this, perhaps a response (hopefully positive) might be appropriate???

Thanks in advance,

Good question ... I'd be interested in an answer, too.

May be Paul's "scrubbing" interval requesting a reply needs to be shortened ?

Georg

The scrubbing interval should be user settable. However we normally leave files untouched for years (like OS files) without problems, so I thought moving/refreshing them 3 times a year is reasonable.

The scrubbing process should also do any surface repair/lockuot: With RAID 5 if there is an error on one of the disks, when reading the file which is being scrubbed, then not only correct the file's error via ECC, but test the offending disk/sector and if it cannot pass a reliability test, then just mark that sector unusable.

I think implementing this would give NASLITE a quantum jump in reliability for archival NAS's.

I was being facetious ... I was joking, refering to the 4 month interval (actually 5.5) of Paul not having received a reply (and having to "scrub" for it) !

( But ok ... in all seriousness the interval should be user-settable (like the current "Status Update" interval) in units of months . )

Georg

I looked into scrubbing a while back, first it's not available in the 2.4 kernel that naslite currently uses, so in the near feature it will not be available.

Scrubbing is available in the 2.6 kernel, but the problem on our end lies in the fact that NASLite's hardware detection and access routines were written totally around devfs. Devfs support was dropped from the 2.6 kernel at 2.6.18 in favor of udev. In order for us to use udev, NASLite literally has to be rewritten from the ground up.

I can say in no uncertain terms Tony and I were extremely unhappy about the death of devfs, which in our opinion was a power move on one of the kernel developers part. NASLite *will* migrate to the 2.6 kernel at some point, either at the v2.5 (big maybe) or in v3.0. Once we get into the 2.6 kernel I think disk scrubbing will get consideration and possible inclusion if it meets our expections and requirements for speed, stability and ease of use.

Thank You for the detailed reply !
Georg

Thanks for the reply. I understand the words but not the underlying meaning - as I am no Linux/Unix guru.

I have a Yellow Machine from the now defunct Anthology Solutions, which added disc scrubbing in their last s/w update. I hadn't realized that their dot increment release (from 3.03 to 3.30) had such a significant rewrite under the covers. The YM is not a bad box just a tad sloooooowww. I use a NASLITE2-USB as my file server via a gig LAN, and then back it up to the YM over night.

Anyway, it would be nice if I could biff the YM for a second NASLITE2 one day.