Storage folder requirements

The storage folder is where VisualDrive Server keeps the database with all user data created or synced to the server. Selecting an appropriate storage location is important for future scalability and performance.

This document outlines the mandatory requirements and recommendations related to choosing the storage location for VisualDrive Server.

Requirements

The storage folder needs to meet the following requirements:

Requirement	Description
Disk type	The storage folder must be a local fixed disk of the computer with VisualDrive Server. Removable or network drives are not supported. iSCSI volumes are supported only if mounted as local fixed disks.
Folder state	The selected path must point to a non-existing or empty directory, or to a directory that was previously used for VisualDrive Server storage.
Free space	The storage folder location should have enough free disk space to store the data. See the Storage scalability recommendations.

Storage scalability recommendations

These recommendations can be skipped in a test environment.

VisualDrive Server stores all data on one logical volume. It is recommended to ensure that the location has sufficient initial capacity and the ability to expand the volume size in the future.

Consider using a RAID storage solution that support volume spanning across multiple physical disks. This should allow you to scale storage capacity by adding additional physical disks as needed.

Estimating the storage size

To estimate the required storage size, consider the following factors:

• Default ratio
  By default, expect a 1:1 ratio between the sizes of the original and stored files.

• Known Folder Move
  If you are using the Known Folder Move, VisualDrive Server will store existing data from Desktop, Documents and Pictures folders of your users.

• Retention period
  Deleted items and previous file versions consume storage for the duration of the configured Retention period.

• Quotas
  You can configure Quotas to limit the maximum storage that can be consumed by users.

• Data deduplication
  VisualDrive Server does not consume additional storage when storing duplicates of existing files.