Create a Shared Folder

Shared folders are the basic directories where you can store and manage files and folders on your DiskStation. Before storing any files, you'll need to create at least one shared folder in DSM.

To create a shared folder:

  1. Go to Control Panel > Shared Folder and click Create.
  2. Specify a name and description for the shared folder.
  3. Select a storage on which to create the shared folder (skip this step if only one storage exists).
  4. Modify the following options if necessary:
  5. Enable Recycle Bin: When files in the shared folder are deleted, they will be moved to a folder named #recycle. Access to the recycle bin can be limited to users belonging to the administrators group.
  6. Enable shared folder quota: To specify the maximum capacity for each shared folder, tick Enable shared folder quota checkbox, and enter the maximum capacity (e.g., 10 GB) in the following field.

    Note:

    • Only when the storage is using Btrfs file system will the option of Enable shared folder quota be available for shared folders.
    • The combined storage usage of all users' home directories cannot exceed the quota of "homes".
  7. Enable data checksum for advanced data integrity: To protect a shared folder with CRC32 checksum and copy-on-write strategies, you can enable data checksum for advanced data integrity during the shared folder's creation. CRC32 checksum is applied to checking if the data remain identical to when they were originally written, and the system will automatically use RAID redundancy to fix corrupted data. Copy-on-write helps to improve data consistency upon abnormal system shutdown.

    Note:

    • This option is available for only the volumes using the Btrfs file system.
    • You can enable/disable this option for each shared folder during its creation. This option cannot be modified once the shared folder has been created.
    • Enabling this option allows the system to perform a full-scale data scrubbing. Learn more about data scrubbing
    • To ensure service quality, we recommend not enabling data checksum when the shared folder will be used for the following services:
      • Hosting databases or virtual machines
      • Storing video recordings of Surveillance Station
      • Running services that require a small and random write pattern
  8. Enable file compression: Data in the created shared folder will be automatically compressed by the Btrfs file system to save the storage space. When retrieved for use, the data will be automatically decompressed.

    Note:

    • This option is available only when you create a shared folder in a Btrfs volume or when Advanced data integrity protection is enabled.
    • This option cannot be enabled if shared folder encryption is enabled and cannot be modified once the shared folder is created.
    • This option reduces the performance of the shared folder and is only recommended for shared folders storing cold data.
    • The compression rate differs with data types: Text files enjoy the highest compression rate, while multimedia files (e.g., images, music or videos) may not be well compressed since they are already compressed for output.
  9. Encrypt this shared folder: If you would like to encrypt the shared folder, do the following:
    1. Specify and confirm a new encryption key. The encryption key cannot include commas (,) or equal signs (=).
    2. If necessary, tick the box Add encryption key to Key Manager to mount the encrypted folder automatically when the system starts. If this option is disabled, the encrypted shared folder will be unmounted next time the DiskStation restarts. To view or access an unmounted shared folder, you will need to mount the folder manually by importing or entering the encryption key.
  10. Click OK to finish.
  11. Note:

Shared Folder Naming Rules:

Encrypting Shared Folders:

AES 256-bit encryption protects data by blocking off all unauthorized access attempts. Once a shared folder is encrypted, those without the encryption key will not be able to access or modify the encrypted data even if they remove the hard drives from your DiskStation and mount them on another device.

Note: