I am submitting a problem that I have not been able to find a solution for on this site or anywhere else.
My QNAP TVS-H674 (QTS 5.2.8.3359) is equipped with two 1TB SSDs in RAID1 for the system and four 12TB HDDs in RAID5. I had configured the NAS to consider the two SSDs in RAID1 as the system volume for installing applications.
When installing Qmagie and multimedia console, a Multimedia directory was created on the system volume. However, as this directory was too small and could not be moved (3TB of photos), I created another directory, Multimedia_, on the RAID5.
I thought I was out of trouble, but when I started creating thumbnails, I realised that they were being created on the RAID1 volume. This volume became full… (I finally reduced the quality of the thumbnails, but that won’t be enough).
How can I store the thumbnails where there is space? It seems surprising to me to store data in the same place as the application.
So you can’t really have two directories named Multimedia even though they are different volumes. I have a similar set up and created a folder called Media on my RAID5 which contains all my photos, movies, etc.
Then in Multimedia Console you set that up as your photos/media directory and go from there. Then your thumbnails will be created there.
The problem is the system is getting confused by the dual multimedia folders.
Hi @ESXCARD14 this situation is a combination of two issues.
About “Multimedia” Shared Folder:
This is create by QTS, the OS system.
Before QTS 5.1.x, it will be automatically created after the System Volume is created and cannot be deleted.
At QTS 5.2.x, it will be automatically created after the Multimedia Console is installed and can be removed after the Multimedia Console uninstalled.
After QTS 5.3.x, it will not be automatically created.
I have created a “maybemedia” Shared Folder to store my multimedia data like @NA9D , and the original “Multimedia” Shared Folder will wait until QTS 5.3 or QTS 6.0 to delete it.
About thumbnail:
Before Multimedia Console 2.10.x, the thumbnail will be stored in 2 hidden folders.
The /.system/thumbnail/ under System Volume by QTS (in your case, the SSD RAID 1)
The /.@__thumbnail/ where the multimedia data stored (in your case, the HDD RAID 5)
After Multimedia Console 3.0.x, we will use link to replace the physical thumbnail file in the /.system/thumbnail/ to reduce the space usage.
How can I store the thumbnails where there is space? It seems surprising to me to store data in the same place as the application.
It seems need to wait Multimedia Console 3.0 to resolve the issue that thumbnails take up space on your SSD RAID 1.
If you don’t mind using a beta version, I can let you try it out when a stable version of Multimedia Console 3.0 is available.
Thank you all for your quick responses, I am very grateful.
I did indeed follow NA9D’s advice and created another directory on the RAID 5 analysed by the multimedia console. However, thumbnails continue to be created on the system’s RAID 1 (by software design).
Thanks to haru0, whose response offers a glimpse of a more complete solution. So we await this new version with keen interest.
Hi @haru0, for another perspective of this issue, I found those .@__thumb folders in the media folders very annoying, as I have spent quite some time organizing my photos, and setupped services to sync and backup the photos with other storage devices, these thumb folders have messed up my setup several times.
Since I don’t have as many photos, I’d prefer to only store the thumbnails in /.system/thumbnail folder, and keep my media folders clean. So if you are changing the Multimedia Console, it will be great to make the thumbnail storage location configurable.
Hi @akzap as I know store in the /.@__thumbnail/ folder directly within media directories is for speed up thumbnail loading times, especially when browsing through a massive collection of photos and videos.
I will pass your feedback to the development team and ask the verification team check how these folders are impacting backup routines.
Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.
If I have the media libraries stored in HDD, while storing the thumbnails in a SDD storage pool, the speed should be higher than storing the thumbnails within the media libraries. So I would prefer to having the following two options:
Enable/disable thumbnails in the media library directories