You’ve created your account and connected to your CacheDrive. Now you are excited to immediately load up the system with all your files. This on-boarding document outlines some best practice and tips that will make this as seamless as possible.
Morro Data makes it very easy to copy your data files into the MorroFS by using the CacheDrive as a local file server. You can simply drag and drop your data structure directly into the Shares on the CacheDrive.
But there are some things to be aware of that affect how your system will on-board the data. Processing the data will still take time and we've got some tips that we highly suggest you follow for a smooth transitioning experience.
Best practices for on-boarding your data:
1. Use Morro Migrate or Replicate shares to import files
Morro Data supports multiple share types and the Replicate share is designed for processes such as uploading large data sets to the cloud. Replicate shares are single master, multi-site and can be upgraded to Sync shares once the upload process is complete.
Use Morro Migrate or Replicate Shares to on-board files.
2. Work with your files in batches.
CacheDrives process files in real-time. Putting a lot of data in at once means the system has to process that data at once. Because the CacheDrive is so effective as a local file server, it’s easy to copy a large amount of data into the device at once. If you need to get data into the system faster, consider discussing with the Morro Data team on how to get a device with a larger cache.
3. Give the system time to process the data sets.
Let the data reach the cloud. We sync in real-time in order to provide the most effective replication for multiple sites. That being said, putting a lot of data into multiple CacheDrives at the same time gives us a lot to do. We want to make sure your data is all securely entered into the cloud before we start to sync all that data. We recommend that you copy data into one CacheDrive at a time and ensure that data has all sync'd to the cloud before continuing.
4. Copy your most recently accessed files last.
The CacheDrive will evict files based on the criteria of least accessed files first. This means that files that have been untouched the longest get removed from the CacheDrive to make room for new files or downloaded files. For this reason, we recommend that you copy your most recently active files to the CacheDrive last. If they are copied to the drive first, then they have a high chance of being removed to make room for the rest of your files. Users would then have to download the files again to the CacheDrive in order to work with them.
5. If using Sync software, make sure the file timestamps are not altered by the software.
Copy programs such as Robocopy use the timestamp to determine whether a file has changed. In some instances, the there is a small difference in time (+2 seconds) in the modified date/time of a file that is created when the file is copied. This date/time difference on the file change will make the sync software believe that files have changed and attempt to sync the files again. Make sure any flags related to this process such as (/FFT in Robocopy) is enabled to prevent this problem. Another way is to use Backup mode rather than Sync mode. Backup mode is a one-way Sync. Please see the following note on Robocopy, Robocopy causing the queue to increase too much.
As usual, we encourage if you have any questions or want some to learn some additional ways to help get your data into the system. Our team is here to help!