Knowledge Center

Volume

Volumes provide the basic storage space on your Synology NAS. All of your stuff—such as shared folders, documents, and package data—is stored on volumes. Therefore, before you start storing anything on your Synology NAS, you will need to create at least one volume.

Note:

If volumes are used as replicated targets of Snapshot Replication, the replication performance can be improved by adjusting the settings of Record File Access Time Frequency in the Settings window after volumes are created:

  • Daily: File access time is updated daily or when the file is modified, just like in most operating systems. Some applications' functionalities rely on the precision of file access time. Selecting Daily will impact replication performance but is recommended if you use any of the following functions or applications frequently:
    • Least Recently Access Time in Storage Analyzer
    • Any third-party applications that rely on Record File Access Time
  • Monthly: File access time is updated monthly or when the file is modified. This option results in a small improvement in replication performance while the applications that rely on Record File Access Time will be able to function, though with a lower precision.
  • Never: Recommended if you are looking for the best replication performance and do not need applications that rely on Record File Access Time in your daily usage.

Volume Formats

Depending on the file system in use, there are two volume formats. The minimum volume size must be at least 10 GB regardless of the format.

  • Btrfs is the recommended file system to use in most scenarios. It supports the following features:
    • Shared folder snapshot: The snapshot records the whole data status at the time upon being taken. If a user accidentally modifies or deletes data on a volume with snapshots, you are able to quickly restore the data back to the previous time at which the snapshot was taken.
    • Shared folder quota: You can set the maximum capacity for each folder.
    • User quota based on shared folder: You can control how much space within a shared folder can be used by every user.
    • Advanced data integrity protection: Shared folder is protected with CRC32 checksum and copy-on-write strategies.
    • 1 PB volume: You can create a large volume of up to 1 PB, which allows you to efficiently store and manage your ever-growing data. This feature is only available on certain Synology NAS models and under specific conditions.
  • ext4 is a file system used by Linux operating systems. It has fewer hardware requirements and is more readily available in older or entry-level Synology NAS models.

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