What is Synchronization?

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dcanham001
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What is Synchronization?

Post by dcanham001 »

Not sure if this is the right sub-forum but here goes...

I have a 5304T with 4x hard drives set up as RAID 1. The second volume is basically full and i never add new files to it. When i installed this and set up RAID it synchronized and all is good.

The first RAID volume i regularly add new files to, however i find that it is 'synchronizing' a lot. this process takes around 18-20 hours and seems to occur at least twice a week regardless of whether i have added new files.

What exactly is the synchronizing process? Is there a setting where i can just get it to sync once a month or something? Would this be a bad idea?

i do shut down the NAS completely at night. could this be what's causing it? I find that when i boot the NAS back up the sync picks up where it left off.

all drives are reported as healthy and in good order.
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Nazar78
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Re: What is Synchronization?

Post by Nazar78 »

It's a process that syncs the members of an array to check/prevent data corruption. Usually this only happens right after creation of the array unless one if the disk got reinserted or due to improper/forced shutdown. Do check your disks are inserted properly. If you often see alert about improper shutdown when you boot up the NAS, check the logs, probably some process hung causing issues during shutdown. For this case, suggest you contact Asustor Support.
AS5304T - 16GB DDR4 - ADM-OS modded on 2GB RAM
Internal:
- 4x10TB Toshiba RAID10 Ext4-Journal=Off
External 5 Bay USB3:
- 4x2TB Seagate modded RAID0 Btrfs-Compression
- 480GB Intel SSD for modded dm-cache (initramfs auto update patch) and Apps

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dcanham001
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Joined: Sat Jul 30, 2022 10:32 pm

Re: What is Synchronization?

Post by dcanham001 »

Hi Nazar, thank you for your help.

To be honest I didn't even know logs were available. I just found them under System Information. It does indeed say: The NAS did not shut down properly last time.

When shutting down I just hold the power button down for a few seconds. Should I be doing anything before i do this? Or perhaps shutting down some other way?

I believe the disks are inserted properly. they dont seem to have any issues apart from this. if all else fails I will try reinserting them.
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Nazar78
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Re: What is Synchronization?

Post by Nazar78 »

Holding the power button too long will result in forced power off via the BIOS which you shouldn't be doing. This not only will trigger the re-sync but can lead to catastrophic failure to mechanical disks such as bad blocks. It's highly advised to use the shutdown menu in the portal/app or the 1.5secs option in the screenshot.
Screenshot 2022-09-30 175139.png
Screenshot 2022-09-30 175139.png (71.38 KiB) Viewed 1880 times
AS5304T - 16GB DDR4 - ADM-OS modded on 2GB RAM
Internal:
- 4x10TB Toshiba RAID10 Ext4-Journal=Off
External 5 Bay USB3:
- 4x2TB Seagate modded RAID0 Btrfs-Compression
- 480GB Intel SSD for modded dm-cache (initramfs auto update patch) and Apps

When posting, consider checking the box "Notify me when a reply is posted" to get faster response
dcanham001
Posts: 10
Joined: Sat Jul 30, 2022 10:32 pm

Re: What is Synchronization?

Post by dcanham001 »

Thanks Nazar.

I was using that option (power down after 1.5 seconds), however if I'm holding that button for longer than that perhaps that's what's causing the resync.

I will try powering down using the app/portal from now on to see if that helps. I assume that's the option under User Name > Power Off

EDIT: Also is there a mobile app version of the portal?
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Nazar78
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Location: Singapore
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Re: What is Synchronization?

Post by Nazar78 »

Yes that's the one and yes there is mobile app: https://www.asustor.com/en/applications ... p_overview
AS5304T - 16GB DDR4 - ADM-OS modded on 2GB RAM
Internal:
- 4x10TB Toshiba RAID10 Ext4-Journal=Off
External 5 Bay USB3:
- 4x2TB Seagate modded RAID0 Btrfs-Compression
- 480GB Intel SSD for modded dm-cache (initramfs auto update patch) and Apps

When posting, consider checking the box "Notify me when a reply is posted" to get faster response
dcanham001
Posts: 10
Joined: Sat Jul 30, 2022 10:32 pm

Re: What is Synchronization?

Post by dcanham001 »

Thanks for all your help Nazar, much appreciated
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