[Simple Questions?]

If you add new files to the pool they will be placed on the new drive (the drive with the most free space). Adding new files to the drive with the most free space is how Drivepool by default does it's disc space balancing and it's a slow process but it will balance itself out over time...

 

Regarding disc temperature it depends on your enclosure  If the discs are sitting right next to each other then having two moderately used discs will output more heat then one very active disc. So unless you have good cooling the temperature will become higher the more active discs you have (theoretically). And if you have good cooling then you need not worry...

 

Also if you're concerned about disc wear then you should also consider that constant aggressive balancing will incur a lot of read/writes from moving files back and forth between discs just to get that "perfect" distribution so it might actually do the opposite of what you were aiming for.

[Server Backup and duplication question]

Thanks for responding. So if I understand right you are saying that I can use the "File Placement Limiter" to keep the duplicate files out of the poolparts directory, or organize them so they are not included in a server backup?

 

"As for changing the folder structure..."

I did not mean to drastically change the folder structure, only put the duplicates in their own dir so they are separate from the rest of the files so they won't be backed up with a server backup.

 

 

Thanks

 

 

Nope, but you can use the file placement limiter to control which drives are storing duplicated and unduplicated files. And if a drive is only storing duplicated files then you can exclude it and only backup the other drive(s).

 

 

 

The problem with changing the folder structure is that there is no master version of the duplicated files so placing them in a separate folder would mean that both copies of a file would be placed in that separate dir and thus by your idea (as I interpret it) both version of the duplicated files would be excluded from backup = no backup at all.

 

I would suggest you look at third party backup solutions. Either those that include de-duplication in which case it doesn't matter that you backup duplicate files or file level backup tools that you can use and backup the Pool drive (and not volume level like the built in server backup tool)

 

I personally use Crashplan which fits my needs but your's are probably not the same as mine

[Pool not balance, but cannot trigger ballancing]

I at least don't have any extra plugins installed. Pretty much everything is on default.

 

I however do get this in the log file from the 1AM (CEST) rebalance job:

 

DrivePool.Service.exe Warning 0 [Rebalance] Cannot balance. Requested critical only. 2013-06-15 23:00:00Z 145777053461

[Pool not balance, but cannot trigger ballancing]

Ahh, I see

 

Then I don't have a good answer.

 

But I found another sneaky thing on my server. I have a similar situation as you but on my server the option to manually re-balance the pool does appear. But when running it manually it just chugs along and then finished without actually moving any of 67GB that are not "optimally placed" (leading to 134GB unusable for duplication on the pie chart)

 

Could this be a bug in one of the later betas because I know it used to work (like prior to the performance monitoring being added)

[Pool not balance, but cannot trigger ballancing]

What's your settings under Pool options -> Settings... -> Automatic balancing - Triggers?

Could it be that you haven't met the threshold defined there?

 

Drivepool is by default quite restrictive when it comes to moving around existing files. Normally it just balances over time by directing new files to most suitable drive(s).

 

You can also look at the Drive Space Equalizer plugin here: http://stablebit.com/DrivePool/Plugins

[Duplication count greater than expected]

It's only the directory entries that occur in many duplicates and not the files within them.

 

Example setup:

 

+Pool of 3 drives.

+Folder X has a duplication count of 2x and contains 5 files. (10 files in total across 3 drives)

 

If the folder is then balanced across the 3 drives Folder X will exist in three copies because there will be files belonging to that folder stored on all drives

(For example drive A with 3 files, Drive B with 4 files and Drive C with 3 files)

 

So getting the duplication count on folders is a bit misleading. You should look at individual files instead.

 

Hope this clears it out