Jump to content

bzowk

Members
  • Posts

    23
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

Posts posted by bzowk

  1. Hey Guys - 

    Today I swapped out one of my pooled disks (the SSD I cache to) and upon reboot DrivePool doesn't list any of the individual disks under Pooled - just the pool itself and it's partition / letter (D:).  To note, the disks swapped contained no OS files.  Below is the procedure I performed:

    - Installed new SSD

    - Removed old SSD from pool and verified that all files were removed

    - Shut down

    - Removed old SSD

    On start up, it did measure the pool but since it didn't show any individual disks, it didn't show the status for any of them obviously.  It did finish in about the same amount of time and the pool is about the size it should be.

    Attached pic shows what I'm talking about.  Usually the Pooled view shows a list of all ~10 disks which make up the pool.  Same goes for 2nd screenshot.

    Any suggestions?  Thanks

    Drivepool1.jpg

    Drivepool2.jpg

    UPDATE

    I kind of found the issue.  I noticed that "I:\" was selected as the pool when the pool is "D:\".  Clicking it I was able to select D:\ from the dropdown and everything displayed normally.  Not sure why "I:\" is an option, but it is - even after a restart.  Odd.  I isn't mapped to any partition currently and believe it was the next available drive letter prior to drive swap.

    Thanks

    Drivepool3.jpg

    UPDATE #2

    Below you can see that Disk Management lists two pools even though I only have one.  I am about to perform a clean OS reinstall and am waiting to see if there's action I should take first to address this issue(?) before proceeding.  Thanks!

     

    Drivepool4.jpg

  2. Hey Guys - 

    Always been a fan of the tool Everything due to its instant results, no need to schedule scanned updates, and small footprint.  Unfortunately, you can't use it to search a pool (or at least I don't know how to.)  I've tried Locate32 which is ok but still requires lengthy scheduled scanning of the pool and with the size of mine this can take a while.  

    Just wanted to post to see what anyone else uses to search for files in pool hoping to find a better alternative similar to Everything.

    Thanks!

  3. Hey All - 

     
    Is anyone aware of potential support or workaround to add NTFS Journaling for a disk pool?  I searched the forum and couldn't find a reference to it.
     
    In the past, I used the app "Everything" as it used NTFS Journaling so that it wouldn't have to index on a schedule.  Since using a pool, I've been unable to use it which wasn't a big deal until I tried out a new app (to me) today named SpaceOBServer which catalogs a disks contents - similar to TreeSize / WinDirStat - as I am wanting it to keep a historical inventory of my pooled contents.  It also offers NTFS Journaling, yet when I enabled it and started a scan, it stopped the service with an error.  Disabling NTFS Journaling allows it to scan properly, yet it takes over 2 hours to complete for the pool (43tb) alone.
     
    I understand that I could scan all individually pooled disks instead, but that defeats the purpose of having them all in a single virtual partition.  I opened a ticket as well to get the dev's thoughts.
     
    Any suggestions appreciated - Thank You!
  4. Hey Guys - 

    Just wrote Support, but wanted to post here as well in case anyone had ideas and perhaps could reply sooner... 

    I am a long time DrivePool user who currently has a 43.7tb pool comprised of 11 disks including an SSD used with the plugin.  To note, I do not use the duplication feature - just use it for additional space & consolidation.  I'm trying to remove a bad disk and am running into issues so wanted to write and see what my best bet would be to safely get as much data as possible from the bad one given what I'm running into.

    This morning, Scanner notified me that one of the disks had a SMART error.  I looked and sure enough one of the 4tb disks had 8 uncorrectable sectors.  Fortunately, I had recently cleaned a lot of files; so had enough space to remove the disk while moving it's ~3tb of content to other disks in the pool.  I started this and it's where my issues began.  

    Issue #1
    After the disk started showing the status of "Removing", I lost keyboard & mouse.  Fortunately, I use Input Director with other PCs (network KVM) so was able to move the mouse over and stop the removal.  Once it stopped, keyboard & mouse returned.  I restarted the PC and started the removal again and got the same result.  I left it for about 15 minutes where I found I had intermittant keyboard & mouse control which improved over time.  

    Issue #2
    I let the above removal run for ~4 hours where it got to about 50%.  All of a sudden, a high, but constantly pitched beep came from my PC.  I powered it off and turned it back on and all came back seemingly ok.  When looking at the SMART for the bad disk, I noticed that it now had 72 uncorrectable sectors - more than the 8 this morning.  The pool was being measured, but started the removal again (selecting all 3 options) and again had the keyboard / mouse issue.  I stopped the removal via Input Director as I have to finish some work stuff first.

    Issue #3
    When starting or stopping the removal, it resets my pool to where it starts to re-measure it again.  Not only does this take a while, but I'm afraid it accessing the bad disk in such detail will cause more harm than good.  The 4+ hour removal was started at the beginning of a measure and the measure never finished / seemed to pause during the removal procedure.

    Questions
    1. Given the above, how do you suggest I proceed?
    2. Is there a way to cancel the measurement of the pool temporarily or at least have it skip a disk?
    3. Not sure why the 1st removal took 4+ hours.  Scanner showed it writing to other disks at 5MB/s - 50MB/s (more on slower side) but not sure why.  I'm thinking my best bet may be to remove the disk from the pool with data intact (if possible) then manually move/copy content I wish to retain from the bad disk back into the pool.  Is this possible or suggested?

    Below is a snippet from the Service log (if it provides any info) which starts at the reboot after the beep, starting a disk removal, then cancelling it:

    Quote

     0:00:51.8: Information: 0 : [Main] StableBit DrivePool 2.2.3.950
    0:00:51.8: Information: 0 : [Main] Microsoft Windows NT 10.0.18362.0
    0:00:51.8: Information: 0 : [Main] Loading settings...
    0:00:51.8: Information: 0 : [Main] Checking StableBit CloudDrive start status...
    0:00:52.6: Information: 0 : [Main] Not waiting for the StableBit CloudDrive system service. Service CloudDriveService was not found on computer '.'.
    0:00:52.6: Information: 0 : [Main] Loading lifetime statistics...
    0:00:52.6: Information: 0 : [Main] Starting remote control...
    0:00:52.6: Information: 0 : Comm server started on: tcp://127.0.0.1:27525/Comm1
    0:00:54.7: Information: 0 : [Main] Starting running file...
    0:00:55.7: Information: 0 : [Main] Starting user feedback...
    0:00:55.7: Information: 0 : [Main] Starting root tasks...
    0:00:55.7: Information: 0 : [Main] Enumerating disks...
    0:01:11.0: Information: 0 : [Disks] Updating disks / volumes...
    0:01:11.8: Information: 0 : [Main] Starting disk metadata...
    0:01:32.1: Information: 0 : [Main] Starting CoveFs...
    0:01:32.2: Information: 0 : [CoveFs] Waiting for pools to mount...
    0:01:32.2: Information: 0 : [CoveFs] All 1 pools mounted.
    0:01:32.2: Information: 0 : [CoveFs] Waiting for pool parts to arrive...
    0:01:32.2: Information: 0 : [CoveFs] All known pool parts have arrived. Continuing startup...
    0:01:32.2: Information: 0 : [CoveFs] Pool found on: \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolume31 (pool ID=337fd488-b54e-4d1d-9d07-83d99b3efbe5)
    0:01:32.3: Information: 0 : [Disks] Updating disks / volumes...
    0:01:32.3: Information: 0 : [Rebalance] Loading balancers (LoadBuiltIn=True)...
    0:01:32.9: Information: 0 : [FsControl] Set overall pool mode: PoolModeNoReportIncomplete (lastKey=FileDuplication, pool=337fd488-b54e-4d1d-9d07-83d99b3efbe5)
    0:01:33.6: Warning: 0 : [PoolPartUpdates] Found missing pool part DECD5540-D658-42B1-BACD-14E378EDCC0E (isCloudDrive=False, isOtherPool=False)
    0:01:33.9: Information: 0 : [Main] Updating free space...
    0:01:34.3: Information: 0 : [Main] Starting notifications...
    0:01:34.4: Information: 0 : [Main] Starting performance samplers...
    0:01:34.4: Information: 0 : [Main] Starting notification tasks...
    0:01:34.4: Information: 0 : [Main] Service started.
    0:01:34.8: Information: 0 : [PoolPartUpdates] Remeasuring pool 337fd488-b54e-4d1d-9d07-83d99b3efbe5 (changes=MissingDiskIsBack)
    0:07:20.0: Information: 0 : [FsControl] Set overall pool mode: PoolModeNoReportIncomplete, PoolModeOverrideAllowCreateDirectories (lastKey=DrivePoolService.Pool.Tasks.RemoveDriveFromPool, pool=337fd488-b54e-4d1d-9d07-83d99b3efbe5)
    0:07:20.0: Information: 0 : [FsControl] Set overall pool mode: PoolModeNoReportIncomplete, PoolModeOverrideAllowCreateDirectories, PoolModeNoMeasure (lastKey=DrivePoolService.Pool.Tasks.RemoveDriveFromPool, pool=337fd488-b54e-4d1d-9d07-83d99b3efbe5)
    0:07:20.0: Information: 0 : [FsControl] Set overall pool mode: PoolModeNoReportIncomplete, PoolModeOverrideAllowCreateDirectories, PoolModeNoMeasure, PoolModeNoReparse (lastKey=DrivePoolService.Pool.Tasks.RemoveDriveFromPool, pool=337fd488-b54e-4d1d-9d07-83d99b3efbe5)
    0:15:21.5: Warning: 0 : [RemoveDriveFromPool] Error moving file from \\?\Volume{3189d0fd-c9f8-4beb-82a5-1704f20ee1d2}\PoolPart.decd5540-d658-42b1-bacd-14e378edcc0e\- Media -\TV Shows\Episode2.mkv to \\?\GLOBALROOT\Device\HarddiskVolume31\- Media -\TV Shows\Episode1.mkv. Continuing removal. (A device which does not exist was specified)
    0:15:21.5: Warning: 0 : [RemoveDriveFromPool] Error removing \\?\Volume{3189d0fd-c9f8-4beb-82a5-1704f20ee1d2}\PoolPart.decd5540-d658-42b1-bacd-14e378edcc0e\ from the pool. Removal canceled
    0:15:21.5: Information: 0 : [FsControl] Set overall pool mode: PoolModeNoReportIncomplete, PoolModeNoMeasure, PoolModeNoReparse (lastKey=DrivePoolService.Pool.Tasks.RemoveDriveFromPool, pool=337fd488-b54e-4d1d-9d07-83d99b3efbe5)
    0:15:21.5: Information: 0 : [FsControl] Set overall pool mode: PoolModeNoReportIncomplete, PoolModeNoReparse (lastKey=DrivePoolService.Pool.Tasks.RemoveDriveFromPool, pool=337fd488-b54e-4d1d-9d07-83d99b3efbe5)
    0:15:21.5: Information: 0 : [FsControl] Set overall pool mode: PoolModeNoReportIncomplete (lastKey=DrivePoolService.Pool.Tasks.RemoveDriveFromPool, pool=337fd488-b54e-4d1d-9d07-83d99b3efbe5)

    Any suggestions would be appreciated - Thank You!

  5. Hey Guys - 

    About an hour ago, I was prompted up upgrade Corsair iCue which is software I use for my VOID Headset.  I did so, rebooted, and upon coming back up; my pool was gone.  It's not that it wasn't writable, but that the partition didn't appear and when opening DrivePool, no pie chart was displayed - just a list of disks not in the pool.  I looked in DP logs, but didn't see anything that stood out besides the fact that it looked normal.

    I tried many things to remediate including...

    • Reinstall (Repair) of DrivePool
    • System Restore (Attempted twice and both failed - shocker, I know)
    • Uninstall of iCue
    • Multiple reboots due to the above
    • "Reset all settings" within DrivePool

    What finally worked for me was uninstalling DrivePool, renaming the Stablebit DrivePool folder in ProgramFiles, restarting, then reinstalling DrivePool.  Once back up, I launched DrivePool and the pool reappeared and started to remeasure again.  To note, even though it's working, iCue (which I had reinstalled) does not when it attempts to launch at startup.  Seems like a conflicting dependency to me.  I looked through App & System Event Logs trying to find the error I saw, but to no avail.  I've got to get back to work now, but will update post with it if I run across it again.

    Just wanted to note in case any experience this in the near future.  Hopefully, there's something that can be adjusted on the DP side of things to prevent in the future.

    To note, I'm using DrivePool 2.2.2.934 in Windows 10 x64.

    Thanks

  6. Good Morning - 

    I'm a long time DrivePool & Scanner user and love the pair of apps which I use in my home lab.  Just wanted to ask a quick question, please.  I'm wrapping up designing a Grafana dashboard for my lab PCs which gets its data from InnoDB which in turn is populated by both telegraf and open hardware monitor. Unfortunately, I've been unable to find a good source for performance of individual disks - just basics for logical ones which obviously doesn't help with a pool.

    Just wanted to post and ask where exactly Scanner pulls its disk stats from - especially "Performance", "Drive Activity %,", & "Temp".  If you can't share, I understand, but assume it's specific WMI paths.

     

    Thanks 

  7. Hey Guys - 

    I've used StableBit DrivePool & Scanner for a couple of years now and it's worked great.  The thing is, the pool is in my primary workstation which I also use for work, gaming, VR (Oculus Rift), plus running a lot of hosted apps like Plex Media Server, Sonarr, Radarr, etc...  Currently, the workstation can use up to 50% of its resources at idle which is obviously crazy.  The workstation is already at the best CPU it can have for the socket and realize that to get a new one I'd have to buy all new CPU, Motherboard, & RAM.  I therefore decided to build a PC from spare parts and migrate the pool plus hosted apps to it which should offload a lot of resource usage 

    Below are a few questions I have followed by the specs for my current workstation, & the PC I plan to migrate to. Any thoughts, suggestions, or comments would be appreciated!

    My Questions

    My main reason for posting is to get suggestions and see if there are any alternate ways to go about this so if you have any thoughts, please let me know.  Below are the questions I currently have...

    1. I considered running all my hosted apps via containers on a dedicated system and offload resources that way, but many of them frequently use files in the pool like Plex therefore would have to access them over the LAN.  Although I have a gigabit network (who doesn't), I thought it would be best to have the hosted apps local to the pool which is why I decided to go the route mentioned above.  I considered installing Docker onto the new PC hosting the pool as I currently use Atomic on a spare dedicated PC and love it, but seems that would just overcomplicate things if everything's local anyways.  Would you do it differently?
    2. Would the PC I put together as specced below be suitable to host the pool alone?  I know the hosted apps will add a lot of usage, but first wanted to see if it would be good for the pool of course :)  If no, where is it lacking?  Will more RAM make any difference?
    3. Would an OS other than Server 2016 be preferred?  Last i checked DrivePool is Windows only, but wanted to ask.
    4. I know this is the StableBit forum and love the software, but is my pool perhaps getting to a size (physical) where an alternate solution would be preferred such as using UNRAID or similar since it supports containers & disk pools?  i don't know much about it, but was curious if anyone else did.

    Specs for Current Workstation

    • Case: NZXT H630 Ultra Tower
    • CPU i7-3770k (OC'd to 4.0Ghz)
    • RAM: 32gb (4 x 8gb DDR3)
    • MB: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H
    • Logical Disks: 
      • C:\ - 256gb SSD (OS & Apps)
      • D:\ - 43.5tb Disk Pool (File, Media, & Game storage) - Made up of an old 120gb SSD for caching with plugin + 10 HDDs ranging from 4gb-8gb each
      • E:\ - 1tb Hybrid (App & Game Installations)
      • G:\ - 256gb SSD (VR Game & App Installations)
    • PCI Cards
      • RocketRAID 2720 SAS Controller (Use SAS -> SATA fanout cables to add x8 SATA ports to PC)
      • Fresco Logic USB 3.0 USB Controller
      • NVIDIA GTX 970 4gb
    • Cooling (Needed with so many disks!)
      • Cooler Master: Hyper 212 EVO (CPU)
      • Grid+ V3 Fan Controller
      • x4 200mm Case Fans

    Specs for Space PC I Plan to Migrate To (Current state)

    • Case: Rosewill - Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case (Probably have to swap cases too as my newer NZXT above is much larger)
    • CPU: AMD A8-5600k
    • RAM: 4gb (2 x 2gb DDR3)
    • Motherboard: FM2A88X-ITX+ (only has a single PCI slot, but only need one for RocketRAID card - that plus the 6 ports down would be plenty)
    • Disk: 500gb plain jane HDD (Plan to upgrade to cheap SSD prior to migration)

    That's about it.  Any opinions would be appreciated.  Thanks!

     

       

  8. UPDATE

    I ran chkdsk against it without "/f" and got results stating:
    The type of the file system is NTFS.
    The first NTFS boot sector is unreadable or corrupt.
    Reading second NTFS boot sector instead.
     
    I ran with a "/f" and it recovered it to NTFS.  Restarting the DrivePool service kicked it back into the pool as well.
     
    Now the big question:  Is this usually a software issue that causes this to occur or is it due to hardware failure?  I had Scanner working and it was checking during last status, but currently not reporting any SMART errors.  I'm afraid to scan it again as if hardware i don't want to make the issue worse, yet want to verify it if still good - know what I mean?
     
    Below's the result from chkdsk /f:
    C:\WINDOWS\system32>chkdsk j: /f
    The type of the file system is NTFS.
    The first NTFS boot sector is unreadable or corrupt.
    Reading second NTFS boot sector instead.
    Volume label is Disk 13.
     
    Stage 1: Examining basic file system structure ...
      751616 file records processed.
    File verification completed.
      2425 large file records processed.
      0 bad file records processed.
     
    Stage 2: Examining file name linkage ...
      1486 reparse records processed.
      927082 index entries processed.
    Index verification completed.
      0 unindexed files scanned.
      0 unindexed files recovered to lost and found.
      1486 reparse records processed.
     
    Stage 3: Examining security descriptors ...
    Security descriptor verification completed.
      87734 data files processed.
    CHKDSK is verifying Usn Journal...
      1208077872 USN bytes processed.
    Usn Journal verification completed.
     
    Windows has made corrections to the file system.
    No further action is required.
     
       3765317 MB total disk space.
       3721416 MB in 411211 files.
        325552 KB in 87735 indexes.
             0 KB in bad sectors.
       2116455 KB in use by the system.
         65536 KB occupied by the log file.
      42513400 KB available on disk.
     
          4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
     963921407 total allocation units on disk.
      10628350 allocation units available on disk.
     
    Thanks
  9. Hey Guys - 

    I have a big issue I need help with, please.

    I've used DrivePool without major issue for a couple of years now.  My pool is run in Windows 10 x64 and consists of 10 disks including an SSD.  About an hour ago, I got some malware which I had to clean off using Malwarebytes in safe mode - nothing larger than quarantining files and restarting.  Once done, I got alerts that a disk was missing from my pool.  I've run into this issue previously if a cable is loose but after reseating everything and powering back on, I noticed that the disk is present.

    This specific disk is one I had two NTFS partitions on.  One was used for the pool and the other for backups.  The backups partition still shows as NTFS in Windows and works fine so I know the hardware seems ok.  The other partition used for the pool is now labeled RAW in Disk Management, though. (see screenshot)

    Any suggestions you have for how to resolve this and retain data would be invaluable.  Thanks!

    disks.jpg

  10. Hey Guys - 

    For the past couple of months, I've had an issue which I found out today only occurs with network file shares that are on my drive pool.  I am able to connect to these file shares just fine as well as read from them, however; if i try to write to them or edit a file within one, the workstation (system that hosts the share) immediately bluescreens, bugchecks, dumps, then restarts. 

    I run both DrivePool 2.2.0.906 as well as Scanner which scans as needed at night.  I have all performance options enabled except for "Bypass file system filters" plus use the SSD plugin.  Balancing is not occurring when the issue happens.  Other than that, everything is pretty much default as I don't even duplicate anything.  The pool is 43.5tb comprised of 12 platters and a single SSD.  It works great other than this issue.

    I'm happy to submit and logs or whatnot from the app, but wanted to post first to see if this was a known issue with workaround.  DrivePool aside, below is the evidence that I've collected from the OS which is Windows 10 1803 x64.

    Event Logs

    The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck.  The bugcheck was: 0x00000019 (0x0000000000000020, 0xffffe6871f9fd310

    XML View

    - <Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
    - <System>
      <Provider Name="Microsoft-Windows-WER-SystemErrorReporting" Guid="{ABCE23E7-DE45-4366-8631-84FA6C525952}" EventSourceName="BugCheck" /> 
      <EventID Qualifiers="16384">1001</EventID> 
      <Version>0</Version> 
      <Level>2</Level> 
      <Task>0</Task> 
      <Opcode>0</Opcode> 
      <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords> 
      <TimeCreated SystemTime="2018-10-16T14:00:03.312566800Z" /> 
      <EventRecordID>2223702</EventRecordID> 
      <Correlation /> 
      <Execution ProcessID="0" ThreadID="0" /> 
      <Channel>System</Channel> 
      <Computer>KelNetSVR</Computer> 
      <Security /> 
      </System>
    - <EventData>
      <Data Name="param1">0x00000019 (0x0000000000000020, 0xffffe6871f9fd310, 0xffffe6871f9fd380, 0x000000000407000c)</Data> 
      <Data Name="param2">C:\WINDOWS\MEMORY.DMP</Data> 
      <Data Name="param3">df4e3200-9e5b-48ca-a497-62ed9c91ce3e</Data> 
      </EventData>
      </Event>

    Dump Files

    I loaded the dumps it created in WinDbg.  It contains lots of data, but below is a summary - the 5th line from the bottom is what caught my eye.

    Microsoft (R) Windows Debugger Version 10.0.18239.1000 AMD64
    Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
    
    
    Loading Dump File [D:\101618-45984-01.dmp]
    Mini Kernel Dump File: Only registers and stack trace are available
    
    
    ************* Path validation summary **************
    Response                         Time (ms)     Location
    Deferred                                       srv*
    Symbol search path is: srv*
    Executable search path is: 
    Windows 10 Kernel Version 17134 MP (8 procs) Free x64
    Product: WinNt, suite: TerminalServer SingleUserTS
    Built by: 17134.1.amd64fre.rs4_release.180410-1804
    Machine Name:
    Kernel base = 0xfffff800`f6293000 PsLoadedModuleList = 0xfffff800`f6641170
    Debug session time: Tue Oct 16 08:55:13.232 2018 (UTC - 5:00)
    System Uptime: 0 days 20:22:06.699
    Loading Kernel Symbols
    ...............................................................
    ................................................................
    ................................................................
    ................................................................
    ................
    Loading User Symbols
    Loading unloaded module list
    ................
    ERROR: FindPlugIns 8007007b
    ERROR: Some plugins may not be available [8007007b]
    *******************************************************************************
    *                                                                             *
    *                        Bugcheck Analysis                                    *
    *                                                                             *
    *******************************************************************************
    
    Use !analyze -v to get detailed debugging information.
    
    BugCheck 19, {20, ffffe6871f9fd310, ffffe6871f9fd380, 407000c}
    
    *** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for covefs.sys
    *** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for covefs.sys
    *** WARNING: Unable to verify checksum for win32k.sys
    Probably caused by : covefs.sys ( covefs+2eae1 )
    Followup:     MachineOwner
    ---------
    nt!KeBugCheckEx:
    fffff800`f643bca0 48894c2408      mov     qword ptr [rsp+8],rcx ss:ffff850c`0c184b00=0000000000000019
    

    Any thoughts or suggestions?  Thanks!

  11. Hey Guys - 

    I've been using DrivePool & Scanner for a few years now and overall it's been great.  My home pool currently consists of 12 disks (11 SATA + 1 SSD for caching) totalling over 43.7tb which is assigned to my D: drive.  Being a big fan of monitoring resources, I'd love to be able to monitor the overall disk performance in some sort of desktop gadget or widget.  This is easy to do for the pool's individual disks if drive letters are assigned or within Scanner, but not the pool as a whole.  Since the pool isn't a standard disk, most applications that do this simply show the D:\ as having no activity ever unfortunately. One of the many examples of what I'd like is an older Windows Gadget "Drive Activity."

    Does anyone know of an application or workaround where I could get the pool's activity to be shown for typical monitoring applications?  All I really would want is something simple which would show (or trick applications into showing) either the combined read / write totals or the highest value of the disks comprising the pool.

    Thanks!

  12. Hey Guys - 

    I've used DrivePool + Scanner for a few years now after switching to it from a similar product and it's worked great overall.  Just wanted to ask three quick questions, please.

    Question #1

    When posting this, I found out that I'm actually a few releases behind on DrivePool.  Given my setup (below) and current version (2.2.0.881 Beta), is an uninstall then install of 2.2.0.906 (latest) still the suggested route?  Would I need to reinstall the plugin afterwards and/or reconfigure any balancing settings or will they remain intact?  I see that Scanner is still at the same version so any need to reinstall it afterwards?

    Question #2

    The PC I currently have my pool in is my primary workstation at home which I use for everything including hosting web services, gaming, Oculus VR, office apps, file server, Plex host. and much more.  As you can see in the below specs, it has a good amount of hardware therefore gives off a ton of heat - enough to where I must keep a fan in the room constantly or it almost gets unbearable.  It seems obvious to me that all of the physical disks generate the majority of the heat, so am looking to separate them from the server and put into another case in a separate room which is less frequently used.

    My question is, what would everyone suggest be the best way to go to do this?  What software and/or hardware would yield the best result with the smallest cost?  Anything else it could host besides being a file share like Plex would be icing on the cake.  Examples of what I'm looking for include:

    • Move pooled disks + SAS Controller to new case with Windows Server/Workstation & DiskPool + Scanner installed
    • Move pooled disks + SAS Controller to new case & run a specific linux distro
    • Move pool to a NAS (Doubt will do this as a NAS for the # of disks I have is too expensive for me
    • ...

    Question #3

    Given my pool's specs, what would be the recommended resources needed / suggested for a system which would only run DrivePool + Scanner (and an OS of course)?  I'd just request minimum specs, but still want it to perform well and be stable.  I've got enough spare parts to throw something together, but want to make sure it's worth it.

    Current System / Pool Specs

    • Quad Core Intel Core i7-3770K (Slightly overclocked to 4000 MHz)
    • 32gb RAM (x4 - 8gb DDR3-1333 SDRAM)
    • Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H Motherboard
    • HighPoint RocketRAID 2720 SAS Controller (With x2 SAS -> SATA break-out cables connecting 7 of the pooled disks below)
    • GeForce GTX 970 (4 GB)
    • NZXT H630 Ultra Tower Case (CA-H630F-W1) /w x3 200mm fans & x2 120mm fans
    • Oculus Rift CV1 (Plus Touch Controllers & 3rd Sensor)
    • Windows 10 Professional x64 (1709)
    • Logical Drives
      • C:\ - 256mb SSD - Samsung 850 Pro SSD (OS + Apps)
      • D:\ - 43.7tb Disk Pool (details below)
      • E:\ - 1tb Hybrid Disk (Game installs + Plex Media Server Cache)
      • G:\ - 256gb SSD - Samsung 850 EVO (Oculus Installations)
    • Specs for the 43.7tb Disk Pool
      • 327gb of 43.7tb currently free(almost time to add or upgrade a disk!)
      • Total: x10 Platter disks + x1 SSD
        • x4 - 4tb Seagate ST4000DM000-1F21
        • x1 - 4tb ST4000VN000-1H4168
        • x2 - 4tb HGST HDN724040ALE640
        • x1 - 4tb WDC WD40EFRX-68WT0N0
        • x1 - 8tb ST8000AS0002-1NA17Z
        • x1 - 8tb Seagate ST8000AS0002-1NA
        • x1 - 120gb OCZ-VERTEX4
      • DrivePool 2.2.0.881 Beta / Scanner 2.5.2.3103 Beta
      • SSD Optimizer Plug-in (1.0.5.12) used with SSD to cache and balance files
      • All drives are connected to a SATA III interface

    I think that's about it (as if it wasn't enough).  Thanks!!

  13. Hey Guys - 

    Quick question which I couldn't find the answer to when searching.  Should Windows 10's (Current Branch) built in "Scheduled Optimization" be turned On or Off for pooled disks / SSD cache?  I have used DrivePool for years now and am currently running 2.2.0.651 which maintains a 43.9tb pool comprised of 10 platter disks and a single 250GB SSD for caching.  Been having intermittant File System Damaged errors in Scanner recently and trying to see if I can improve how things are configured.  Applying feature updates for Win10 unfortunately resets many settings system wide (at least for me) and currently has all disks scanned / defragged if needed weekly and since my pool only has 650gb free, am sure it's taking tons of resources when having to perform this.  

    Thanks!

  14. Thanks for the replies!

     

    OK, I'll check out that part of the forum.  As for the 4U 36 bay server, I'd love to have that.  If I weren't married, it would be a no brainer but I'm lucky to get the limited budget I have now :)

     

    Was considering upgrading my motherboard & CPU then using my existing ones in a dedicated tower for this.  Unfortunately, I'll have to replace the RAM too as newer motherboards don't support what I've got and have sunk a good chunk into my 32gb.  

     

    In fact, while at it I thought I'd ask for opinions.  My primary PC has a Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H, QuadCore Intel Core i7-3770K, 4000 MHz (overclocked from 3.5Ghz), and 32723 MB  (DDR3-1333 DDR3 SDRAM).  I'd barely be able to afford getting a new MB / CPU combo currently so would probably have to start with 8gb of compatible RAM and upgrade later.  

     

    Now a good time to buy this hardware or are there new things on the horizon that I should wait on - if not to even make upgrading to currently released hardware cheaper?  

     

    Thanks!

  15. Hey Guys - 

     

    To answer you questions...

     

    is the user that runs the script the same as the one that you used to install dp and/or it runs under?

    Yes - it uses the same local Windows user account to execute the script which is my primary account and a local administrator

     

    Does the missing folder issue occur over the network, or on the local pool?

    If asking if the disappearing folder appears when viewing a list of folders over the network, I don't think it does appear when accessing the path via SMB.  

     

    Again, it's a really strange issue; but one I've got to get resolved soon.  Thanks!

  16. Hey Guys - 

     

    Over the past few years, the size of my pool has grown dramatically in size where I'm getting to the point where upgrading requires going from 4tb disks to 8tb ones instead of adding a new disk.  The pool is in my primary PC (specs below) which I use for everything you can imagine including work, gaming, VMs, personal web hosting, scripting, and more.  

     

     

    I'd really like to have the pool offloaded from this PC to another device.  Unfortunately, I'd probably have to sell my truck to afford an 11 disk NAS or similar enterprise-level device. As I still have another case, I'm instead considering purchasing an inexpensive motherboard, CPU, etc then migrating the pool (disks + RocketRAID card) over to it to build my own dedicated pool device.  Given that, I have 2 questions, please:

     

     

    1. If you had to build a dedicated system like this, what hardware / OS would you use that you would consider the most stable yet still offer same features?

     

     

    2. Given my pool, what are the minimum specs I would need to do this?  I'm not trying to be cheap, but have some slightly older workstations around here and would be great if I could use their guts and possibly do this all for free!

     

     

    Thanks!!!

     

    Disk Pool PC Stats

     

    - Windows 10 x64 Creator's Update

     

    - Intel 3770k CPU OC'd to 4.0Ghz

     

    - 32 GB RAM

     

    - 44tb Drive Pool

     

    - Samsung 850 Pro SSD for OS & primary apps (not in pool)

     

    - 1tb Hybrid drive for App Caches & VMs (not in pool)

     

    - 256gb SSD for VR Gaming Installations (not in pool)

     

    - RocketRAID 2720 SAS Controller

     

    - Nvidia GeForce 970 GTX

     

    - Oculus Rift (3 sensors + 2 touch controllers)

     

    - x3 monitors

     

    - Huge tower with much cooling

     

    - Many other devices & accessories

     

     

    Disk Pool Stats

     

    - StableBit DrivePool 2.2.0.651 Beta + SSD Optimizer Plugin

     

    - 43.9TB Total / 42.9 unduplicated / 69kb duplicated / 50.7gb other

     

    - RocketRAID 2720 SAS Controller connects 7 of the disks with remaining connected to motherboard / 6Gbps used where possible but 1-2 have 3Gbps

     

    - 11 disks (10 Standard / 1 SSD)

     

    - Balances immediately every 2 hours unless 25gb+ needs moving

     

    - All 4 options for performance enabled (Lots of network I/O)

     

  17. Hey Guys - 

     

    I've used Stablebit DrivePool and Scanner for at least a couple of years now and love it - thanks for the great work.  I do, however, have one issue that I haven't ever gotten resolved...

     

    Issue: Disappearing / Reappearing Folders

    I've had this issue for well over a year now and have been using a workaround which will no longer work due to new scripting I'm putting in soon.  I have a fairly large pool (stats below) which mostly contains media files.  The issue I'm experiencing is only in one folder / path and it happens to be one which has the most folders within its root coming out to about ~3,500.  Sometimes (cannot reproduce at will) when I or a script copies a new folder into this path, it does not appear in Windows Explorer or when I list directories within the command prompt.  I've found that if I know the name of the folder, I can change directory (cd foldername) from the command prompt and successfully enter it and list files within - but even after doing so it still doesn't appear in Explorer or a directory listing of it's root.  The folder will eventually appear as normal, but usually only after 1 sometimes 2 reboots and waiting a bit (waiting for a balance job perhaps?)

     

    Before posting, I reviewed the logs, but they make no mention of the folder whatsoever nor any error.  Since this started, I've had my scripts put the new folders in a temporary dedicated folder while they are being accessed somewhat frequently, then have a Windows task nightly move all folders older than 7 days to the primary folder (one with the issue) as if they disappear for a while at that point, it's not as big of a deal.

     

    I'm on the latest version of DrivePool with a pretty much default configuration except that I use the SSD plugin for new writes.  Since this has occurred, I also have performed an OS reinstall which obviously included reinstalling DrivePool then importing the pool, but found the issue remained.  Has anyone seen this behavior before and / or have suggestions?

     

    Thanks!

     

    Disk Pool PC Stats

    - Windows 10 x64 Creator's Update

    - Intel 3770k CPU OC'd to 4.0Ghz

    - 32 GB RAM

    - 44tb Drive Pool

    - Samsung 850 Pro SSD for OS & primary apps (not in pool)

    - 1tb Hybrid drive for App Caches & VMs (not in pool)

    - 256gb SSD for VR Gaming Installations (not in pool)

    - RocketRAID 2720 SAS Controller

    - Nvidia GeForce 970 GTX

    - Oculus Rift (3 sensors + 2 touch controllers)

    - x3 monitors

    - Huge tower with much cooling

    - Many other devices & accessories

     

    Disk Pool Stats

    - StableBit DrivePool 2.2.0.651 Beta + SSD Optimizer Plugin

    - 43.9TB Total / 42.9 unduplicated / 69kb duplicated / 50.7gb other

    - RocketRAID 2720 SAS Controller connects 7 of the disks with remaining connected to motherboard / 6Gbps used where possible but 1-2 have 3Gbps

    - 11 disks (10 Standard / 1 SSD)

    - Balances immediately every 2 hours unless 25gb+ needs moving

    - All 4 options for performance enabled (Lots of network I/O)

     

  18. Good Morning - 

     

    Wasn't sure if this was to go in the Scanner or Drivepool forum, so please adjust if needed... :)

     

    I've got a 40.3tb drive pool comprised of 11 disks which I've used for the past couple of years.  It's worked great, but do have a small issue.  Alongside using Stablebit DrivePool to manage the pool, all drives are monitored via StableBit Scanner.  Recently, one of the pooled drives (4tb standard disk) started showing a "File System Damage" error.  I think I know what is causing this as recent scans using Treesize indicated 4 folders which couldn't be located and if I try to delete them from Explorer, I get an error.

     

    I tried running the repair via Scanner and it plus the forced repair did not succeed.  I also tried using Windows' native toolset including chkdsk, but they reported no errors or gave the message that chkdsk couldn't be used on a RAW partition.

     

    It seems the next best attempt would be to remove the drive from the pool, scan it as a standard volume with Windows, then rejoin it to the pool.  Unfortunately, I don't have the available space to cleanly migrate all 4tb of data (it's full) when disjoining, so if that would be what you suggest attempting next; please verify the steps to do so to best insure there is no data loss.

     

    Thank You!

  19. Hey Guys -

     

    A couple of years ago, I started building my pool and have only added to it since.  Currently, it's 32tb in total size which is comprised of 11 disks (one of which is an SSD for caching.)  DrivePool has worked well for me and even though experiencing an issue, is much better than what I started with - DriveBender.

     

    My partition setup is like this:

    - C:\ - SSD - 256gb - OS & App Installs

    - D:\ - Drive Pool - 32tb - Storage (Mostly media)

    - E:\ - Hybrid - 1tb - Game Installations & VMs

     

    It seems as the pool has grown, it's performance has decreased.  Initially, I thought it may be the OS so have tried complete OS reinstalls (not just restoring from backup) which didn't help.  At the time, I had all of my disks plugged into the motherboard or one of two SATA expansion cards.  After research and posting, I purchased a RocketRAID 2720 SAS card which had the ability to add 8 new SATA ports via 2 SAS->SATA fan out cables to bear some of the load.  This seems to improve reliability and a bit of performance, but still not close to what the pool would be like compared to a single HDD.  I do plan on reinstalling the OS again soon - but only because I do this 2-3 times a year anyways to keep things running at top notch.

     

    Issue Details

    Besides just slugish speed overall much of the time, most issues seem to be when I am reading files from a large folder, it takes a while - much longer than when I copied the folder to a similar single drive a while back.  Also, when browsing through it in Explorer, sometimes it takes a while to display contents or if I delete files / folders, I must manually refresh to see the changes.  The pool doesn't not contain the OS, paging, or any application installations.  It's mostly used for storage of media, other various files, and is the download destination for many scripts.  

     

    Individual Drive Benchmark

    To determine if the performance may be due to hardware or software, I set out today to run some tests.  Using HD Tune Pro (5.60), I ran benchmarks on each disk in the system plus an external USB 3.0 for comparison.  I only performed the "Read" benchmark as the "Write" one required wiping the disk.  If there's a different type of test you suggest I run, please let me know.  I had planned on using a different app, but was only able to select by partition - not disk - which obviously was an issue.  I then recorded the results plus data gathered from StableBit Scanner + AIDA64 into a spreadsheet.  The spreadsheet also includes a summary of my system specs as well as a couple of notes.

     

    Below is a screenshot of the report created today.  If interested or easier to view, attached are copies in XLSX & PDF formats.  I had to zip up the XLSX because the forum wouldn't allow me to attach it otherwise.

    post-1973-0-29377300-1456690640_thumb.png

     

    Any ideas or suggestions?  Thanks!!!

    Generalized Disk Benchmark Report.zip

    Generalized Disk Benchmark Report.pdf

  20. Hey Guys - 

     

    I've been using DrivePool for over a year now after migrating from DriveBender and really enjoy it.  A few weeks ago, I had some issues with my workstation where I ended up having to perform an OS reinstall.  When the issues weren't resolved, I performed yet another OS reinstall and also went from Windows 8.1 x64 Ent to Windows 10 x64 Ent.

     

    As my OS has always been on a dedicated, non-pooled SSD; I have removed the D: drive letter Windows assigns to a disk, installed DrivePool, and restored (automatically) the pool after both OS installations.  This seemed to work fine and everything seemed intact.  Even though it may be more of a Windows issue, I'm having an issue with permissions on many of the files on my pool, however.

     

    I've found that when trying to delete / rename / edit some files, I am unable to as old NTFS permissions are stil tied to them.  When viewing NTFS permissions, there is an "Account Unknown" with a SID in one of the User spots as shown below.  Mostly, they are inherited from parent folders, it seems.

    post-1973-0-04735400-1441406034_thumb.png

     

    The Question

    What's the best method / command to resolve these unknown accounts and somewhat "reset" security for all of the pool's files/folders after an OS reinstall?

     

    System Specifications

    Drive Pool (D:\)

       - Total Size: 28.4tb / Free Space: 2.07tb

       - x8 Standard SATA Drives (3tb-4tb each)

       - x1 Samsung 840 Pro 256gb SSD (used with SSD Optimizer plugin)

       - Stablebit Drivepool 2.1.1.561 / SSD Optimizer Plugin 1.0.2.3

         Screenshot of entire pool at end of post

    Non Pooled Disks

       - (C:\) x1 Samsung 850 Pro SSD 256gb / OS & App Installs

       - (D:\) x1 Hybrid SSD/SATA Drive / App & Game Installs

       - (Y:\) x1 24gb partition dedicated to paging file (Partitioned off of non-pooled 850 Pro)  Needed?  Probably not  :)

    Primary Specs

    - Intel i7-3770k CPU / 16gb RAM

    - Nvidia GeForce 660

    - Windows 10 x64 Enterprise

     

    Bonus Questions

    I'm purchasing a new system soon and will be migrating the pool over.  As much as I'd prefer to have all the hardware in a NAS, they are just too expensive for one with as many bays as I require to hold everything.  Two questions:

     - Since I'm not only introducing the pool to a new OS, but also new hardware, is there anything beyond what i must do after an OS reinstall which needs to be done?

     - I'd like to split my pool and only have a small one in my workstation instead of it housing so many disks.  Does anyone have a suggestion (other than a NAS) for the best way I can mount and access 6-7 disks other than all in my current workstation?  Almost all data needs to be available 24/7

     

    Well, I think that's it - Thanks for taking the time to read!

     

    post-1973-0-75550800-1441406385_thumb.png

  21. Hey Guys - 

     

    I've been using DrivePool for almost a year after having issues with a similar product by a different manufacturer.  I've got a couple of questions about DrivePool, but first; here's my setup:

     

    - Intel i7 3770 CPU / 16gb RAM

    - Windows 8.1 x64 (Fully Patched)

    - Latest version of DrivePool installed with SSD Optimizer plugin

    - Storage

       - C:\ - 256gb 840 Pro SSD (OS & Application Installs)

       - D:\ - 26tb DrivePool (Media and File Storage)

                 x10 drives total (x1 120gb SSD + x9 standard SATA drives ranging from 1tb - 4tb in size)

                 120gb SSD used with SSD Optimizer Plugin and does majority of writes which are later balanced to other drives

       - E:\ - 500gb Hybrid Drive (Game Installs & VM disks)

     

    Question #1 - Performance Tweaks

    Each time I add a disk / add more data, the pool gets a bit slower.  Recently, I found a few registry tweaks for an app I use which greatly sped up how it performed.  Just wanted to post and see if there were any known registry tweaks which may help me out

     

    Question #2 - Upgrade Suggestion

    I'm running out of room again which prompted the question: would performance be better by adding a new, separate drive, purchasing a larger drive and migrating an exiting one over, or does it even matter?  Basically, I guess I'm asking if the number of disks (generally - not based on their specs) has a performance impact on the pool.

     

    Thanks Guys!

×
×
  • Create New...