What are Volumes?

Laserfiche volumes are an important component of a Laserfiche repository. They store images, text, and electronic files, as well as thumbnail images and word location data. Volumes provide the structure through which the contents of each document or electronic document are organized by the Laserfiche Server. You can configure the location in which this information is stored on a volume-by-volume basis and by type of file.

Important: Laserfiche volumes are not the same as disk volumes.

Each image or text page in a volume is assigned a unique file name (based on an internal ID), which determines its location in the volume folder structure. Images are stored in TIFF Group IV and TIFF JPEG format. Text pages are stored as ASCII text files. Electronic files are stored in the same format in which they were imported. All of these files can be viewed by any application that supports the corresponding file format. The volume folders also contain .LOC files, which contain word location data, and .LFT files, which contain page thumbnail data.

Tip: You can move both physical and logical volumes to new locations if you want to spread performance over multiple machines or if you are running out of space on a particular hard disk. You will need to physically move the entire volume file in Windows and change the Volume's path string. Learn more about volume management.

There are two types of volumes: physical and logical. A physical volume stores information on the hard drive, while a logical volume consists of a set of physical volumes.

The folder structure for a physical volume consists of two folder trees that branch off the volume's root folder. The volume's root folder is the folder designated as the fixed or removable path. If you have designated both a fixed and removable path, each path will only store the type of files that have been assigned to it.

Physical volumes can exist without logical volumes. However, logical volumes are a useful tool for identifying and organizing related volumes, and allowing for quick administration. Additionally, the physical volumes that make up the logical volume will be hidden from Laserfiche users to simplify the user experience. As far as users are concerned, they only deal with a single volume.

Logical volumes allow a set of physical volumes to be recognized by a common name. When importing, users will only be allowed to select the logical volume and not the physical volumes associated with it. When the physical volume currently in use by the logical volume reaches the maximum size, the current physical volume will be closed and a new physical volume will be created. All new documents will now be created in the new physical volume. Administrators can distribute the volumes across multiple hard drives or computers to balance the load or get around size limitations on a particular drive.

When a Laserfiche repository is created, the system manager determines the name of the first volume and where it will be located. This volume does not have special properties. It can be modified or deleted at any time. However, you should always make sure that there is a volume in your repository. Otherwise, you will not be allowed to import new content into the repository.