Time Machine shared folder and file compression

[SantucciOhio]

When I first set up my DS918+ I used the setup wizard that recommended a single storage pool and a single volume. I have 4 x 4TB drives and chose SHR1 so I have a single ~10.5TB volume. So far so good. I then created a shared folder for Time Machine backups with a quota of 6TB. That was about 2 years ago. Now I've just watched a video from Synology where they walked through creating a Time Machine shared folder and they said to select File compression. I did not, and it looks like I can't select that option except at folder creation time. However, the shared folder is near its quota and there isn't enough space to create another shared folder and copy everything into it.

My goal is to have the Time Machine shared folder configured correctly without having to start from scratch and losing my existing backups in the process. So I have several questions:

1. Does file compression make that much of a difference and if so how much?
2. Is file compression really recommended for Time Machine backups? (I thought Apple frowned on that, but I could be wrong.)
3. Is it possible to replicate one shared folder to another if one has file compression and the other doesn't?
4. What other options do I have to fix this, if indeed it needs fixing?

And probably more once I get these answered.

Thanks in advance!
Patrick

 

[Rusty]

Well, you will not have an option to activate it or migrate it without losing your history backups, so you are left with one option, go as it is atm. Considering you have set the quota limit, it will continue to do backups but it will also rotate them and maintain that 6 TB of space.

If you want to go with a smaller quota, then I'm afraid you will have to start fresh given your current state. Also, compression will probably not be great but that will depend on the data being backed up. Lots of images and media will not benefit from it greatly.

 

[SantucciOhio]

Well, you will not have an option to activate it or migrate it without losing your history backups, so you are left with one option, go as it is atm. Considering you have set the quota limit, it will continue to do backups but it will also rotate them and maintain that 6 TB of space.

Yeah, that's what I was afraid of.

If you want to go with a smaller quota, then I'm afraid you will have to start fresh given your current state. Also, compression will probably not be great but that will depend on the data being backed up. Lots of images and media will not benefit from it greatly.

Well in that case I'll probably leave it as is.

Thanks.