When you need to move files from an AFP tertiary server to an SMB tertiary server, the method varies, depending on whether the SMB tertiary server uses AppleDouble or ADS (named forks).
Moving files from an AFP tertiary server to an SMB AppleDouble tertiary server
You will need to convert the resource forks from ADS to AppleDouble. There are two ways to do this:
- Using a Mac, mount the AFP source and the SMB destination volumes. Copy the files and folders from the AFP volume to the SMB volume. The Mac will convert the resource forks automatically. The disadvantage here is that a Mac copy can be slow. If any files are locked for exclusive use, the entire copy will fail and need to be restarted.
- If Prinergy is used as your workflow, Kodak has included a utility called ForkTranslator. This tool converts ADS to AppleDouble or vice versa. To migrate large quantities of files from AFP to SMB:
- Obtain a copy of Robocopy from a Windows resource kit. Do not use a Windows XP version. Robocopy will bypass all previously written files of the same date and will allow you to run multiple times to ensure all files are in sync.
- From a Windows client, Robocopy the files from the AFP to the SMB mount. The files in the SMB mount will still have valid streams, though they will not be recognized yet by a Mac client.
- Use ForkTranslator on the SMB volume to convert the streams to AppleDouble. This will allow Mac clients to recognize the resource forks again.
Moving files from an AFP tertiary server to an SMB ADS (named forks) tertiary server
Assuming the source and destination stream formats are compatible, you can use Windows Robocopy to directly copy files over. No conversion is required.
Archives with Prinergy converted from AFP to SMB
Any Prinergy Archiver retrieves will use ForkTranslation code to convert the backed up ADS to AppleDouble.
Any third party backup software retrieves should be sent to a volume that a Mac can reach by AFP. A Mac can then copy the files to the Prinergy's SMB volume where the ADS will be automatically converted to AppleDouble.
Other things to note under SMB mode
Macs will seamlessly work with files and resource forks just as they had under AFP. If an individual with a Windows client copies, moves, or deletes files, they must select both the main and the AppleDouble file or the resources will become out of sync and lost.
Performance with many small files (for example, writing 1000x 1KB files) will decrease by half under AppleDouble. This is because you are now writing twice as many files (i.e., 1000 small files + 1000 AppleDouble). Larger file performance (10MB or larger) does not seem to be significantly impacted by AppleDouble.
Recommendations
If at all possible, SMB with named forks (ADS) should be used. This cannot be accomplished if you have any Macs earlier than OS X 10.5. Mac OS X 10.4 and earlier are not supported with Prinergy.
If you are currently running in SMB with AppleDouble mode and have retired all non 10.5 and later Macs, then consider converting your job homes to ADS. This will help performance as well as reduce the risk of ruining resource forks if a PC were to move the file without its AppleDouble counterpart. Conversion can be done through Prinergy UADM or from the command line with ForkTranslator.