What is Synology Data Scrubbing and How to Perform It?
September 15, 2023 / James Taylor

What is Synology Data Scrubbing and How to Perform It?

There can be flaws in the data stored in the storage pools of Synology DiskStation Manager. To amend all of them, Synology devices support a maintenance feature named Synology Data Scrubbing. Therefore, this feature performs the task of making corrections to incomplete or incorrect data in storage pools. If you want to avoid data loss in case the Synology drive fails, then it is recommended to perform data scrubbing on a regular basis.

Prerequisites to Perform Synology Data Scrubbing

Now that you are familiar with what data scrubbing means with respect to a Synology NAS device, it is time to learn a few things before you start the process. This section all the prerequisites that must be fulfilled to complete the data scrubbing process. Here we go:

  • You can perform data scrubbing only on Btrfs volumes or storage pools of RAID 5, RAID 6, or RAID F1. Apart from this, data scrubbing is supported on SHR which contains three or more drives. Thus, if you have any of the aforementioned devices, you can proceed with data scrubbing.
  • The option labeled DATA CHECKSUM FOR ADVANCED DATA INTEGRITY should be enabled for a shared folder. If you’ve not done that, then the Synology data scrubbing feature will fail to check and repair the data. The reason is that there will be a lack of checksums related to the data in the folder.
  • You must note that data scrubbing will get paused if you shut down your Synology NAS during data writing. But, you need not worry as the process will get resumed again if you power up your Synology NAS device.

Gained enough knowledge about the prerequisites of data scrubbing? Then, walk through the next section to learn how to go about the process in a few simple steps.

How to Perform Synology Data Scrubbing?

This is for your information that data scrubbing on your storage device can be performed after completing the Synology NAS login process. Apart from this, you are free to perform data scrubbing instantly or on a schedule. The choice is all yours! The sections given below will help you learn the steps to complete the process using both ways.

Steps to Run Data Scrubbing Immediately

Here’s how you can run data scrubbing instantly on your Synology NAS device:

  • Firstly, go to STORAGE.
  • After that, you need to select the STORAGE POOL on which you intend to scrub the data.
  • Locate DATA SCRUBBING.
  • Click RUN NOW.
  • Synology Data Scrubbing will get started.

The steps to run data scrubbing instantly on the NAS drive ends here. We hope that you will be able to complete the process easily. But, you must know that the Data Scrubbing option won’t be available if the storage pool chosen by you does not support data scrubbing.

Steps to Perform Data Scrubbing on Schedule

The pointers given below will help you learn how to run data scrubbing on schedule:

  • Access the STORAGE page.
  • Find the SCHEDULE DATA SCRUBBING button and click it.
  • Look for the ENABLE DATA SCRUBBING option and tick the checkbox that corresponds to it.
  • Now, select the storage pools for which you want to run data scrubbing.
  • Prioritize the storage pools as data scrubbing can be run on one storage pool at a time.
  • You need to set the schedule for data scrubbing now.
  • The schedule can be set according to three parameters: Frequency, time grid, and run time.
  • Save changes.
Data scrubbing schedule FREQUENCY will help you decide how often you want to run data scrubbing. It can be selected from the drop-down menu. You can set the frequency as repeat monthly or repeat every 6 months. The TIME GRID parameter will allow you to set a time limit for running data scrubbing. It will help you prevent the system performance from getting affected.

The moment you save the changes, you will enable data scrubbing on a schedule. When the process starts, the status of the storage pool will be changed to RUNNING DATA SCRUBBING. This status will change back to HEALTHY as soon as the Data Scrubbing process is completed.

Why You Can’t Perform Synology Data Scrubbing?

It is not necessary that you will be successful while attempting to run data scrubbing on your Synology NAS device. The storage pools on which data scrubbing failed can be seen at the bottom of the Data Scrubbing window. The possible reasons behind failure are:

  • Incompatible file system or RAID configurations
  • Abnormal storage pools

The Final Thoughts

Our guide to running Synology data scrubbing ends here. Know that degraded storage pools will be removed from scrubbing schedules and will be added again after getting repaired. On the other hand, the crashed pool will be permanently removed.

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