psykix

I've just tried it. SMART still not passed through :-(

And I think I can answer my other question. It seems that the B120i won't pass through SMART data when in RAID mode. Shame really, but it seems that under VMware AHCI takes a performance hit.

I can answer one of my questions myself! I just deactivated the license, presented the drives using RDM within VMware and all the data is there. However.. noob moment, I have misplaced the email with my activation key in it! I've sent a contact form request, hopefully you'll read it fairly quickly! Cheers!

And one other question.. I'm running AHCI mode on the B120i controller. If I switch to RAID 0 drives, then will ESXi still get the SMART data passed through?

Ok, I think I am gonna go the ESXi 6 route. Do I uninstall Drivepool first or just deactivate the license? (It's currently running on Server 2012 R2 Essentials and I am going to ditch that and just use Windows 10 since it is basically just a Plex Media Server) Cheers!

I've asked this question in Homeserver forums but decided there would be no harm in repeating myself here! I have 4x4Tb drives, with about 5Tb free. They are all in a DrivePool. No duplication (and I'm happy with that!) Running Server 2012 R2 Essentials atm, but would prefer to ditch that and go Windows 10 on a esxi VM. From doing some reading, it seems I could use RDM to present the drives to the VM? I know that is not ideal, but I don't have enough temporary storage to copy the data elsewhere and then use the drives to create a VMware data store. My other worry is permissions. Will I be able to read the NTFS drives in a Windows 10 VM? Or will I be locked out of them by NTFS permissions? And my final thought was to stay as I am (Server 2012 R2 Essentials) and run Hyper-V on top and run a Windows 10 and pfSense VM within that instead. Cheers!

Soo.. I have a Gen8 running ok using Server 2012 Essentials R2. I've upgraded the cpu to a Xeon 1265LV2 and the RAM to 16Gb. I have the OS on a SSD in the ODD bay, and I have the 4 drives in the bays as a big Drivepool with no redundancy (I'm happy with that, as the files are replaceable) and with scanner running. I'm thinking that 2012 R2 is overkill for what I need (I don't connect any clients to the domain) - it's basically just used as a storage server for Plex, it runs Plex Server, and some other basic apps. Sooo.. I'm thinking of switching to ESXi on a MicroSD and running my current stuff on a Windows 10 VM. This will allow me to create VM's to mess about with when I want Linux or whatever in the future with ease. So my question is, are there any considerations I need to address to move the pool to ESXi? Or do I just present the pool to the Windows 10 VM as is? Will there be any licensing issue? Cheers..

Aha.. I marked the file system as unchecked. It then checked it and says healthy. Is that normal behaviour though? I think the scheduler is working too now - not sure why it wasn't before. I set the file system scan to 1 day and it kicked off. Looks like all may be ok now :-)

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.3.9600] (c) 2013 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. C:\Windows\system32>vssadmin list shadowstorage vssadmin 1.1 - Volume Shadow Copy Service administrative command-line tool (C) Copyright 2001-2013 Microsoft Corp. Shadow Copy Storage association For volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{00debf28-14fb-11e5-80b1-806e6f6e6963}\ Shadow Copy Storage volume: (C:)\\?\Volume{00debf28-14fb-11e5-80b1-806e6f6e69 63}\ Used Shadow Copy Storage space: 0 bytes (0%) Allocated Shadow Copy Storage space: 0 bytes (0%) Maximum Shadow Copy Storage space: 5.00 GB (4%) C:\Windows\system32> I disabled shadow copy some time ago. Does it need to be enabled?

Yeah, running 3100 unfortunately. Not sure what to do next!

Hmm.. running a chkdsk in read only mode reports no errors found. I tried the command from the other thread relating to VSS and rebooted but the error remains.

It doesn't appear to be able to repair the file system on the system drive. The surface scan was ok however. Any ideas?

Yes, sure. It's currently still scanning and it's on the last disk. Just let me know what you want me to do - I can set the scan time from 30 days to 1 day and enable logging or something. It has flagged up a file system error on my OS drive, and requires a reboot to repair it. Cheers..

Hiya, As above, I determined that it wasn't an issue with the drive that wasn't scheduled to scan, as the scan wasn't actually due for a short while longer on that drive. However, other drives were due to be scanned, and with the scheduler set, (between 1am and 7am) nothing was happening. As soon as I set it to run any time, then the scans all queued and one drive started to scan. So.. although everything is currently scanning, the scheduler doesn't appear to work. Once the scan has finished, I'll put the scheduler back on and revisit the problem next month! I'll put logging on just before next months scan is due to run. Cheers :-) One other thing - is it possible to exclude a disk from the scanner? My MicroSD card is listed and I don't want it to be. Cheers :-)

Hmm.. changed the schedule setting to perform work at any time of the day, and now scans for most drives seem to be queued, and one is scanning. One drive however is sitting saying healthy. Something definitely untoward going on! EDIT: The one sitting on healthy is not due a scan just yet, that's why. So it just seems to be an issue with the scheduler.

Still no scan... and still the same oldest scanned block date back in June.. Start/Stop automatically is highlighted. Under throttling it is set to use background I/O Also, if I click Start Check on a disk, then nothing seems to happen? The status just still says Healthy. I seem to remember it should change to Scanning or something like that. So it appears that the scanner is not working at all any more... Checked event logs, and there is nothing untoward in there.

It's set to between 1am and 7am, so hopefully will begin overnight. I'll see what happens and report back tomorrow :-)

My drives have only been surface scanned when Scanner was installed. It's set to start/stop automatically, and the oldest scan is 18/06/2015 at 22:53. When should it scan again? I have the default settings in the scanner as far as I am aware, and Start/Stop automatically is selected.

Only just seen this reply! It's not reoccurred, and I've done several reboots since, so I'm not too worried about it :-)

Hmm.. rebooted the server and the errors didn't reoccur, so maybe something spurious!

Just noticed these errors in the event log? Log Name: Application Source: StableBit DrivePool Service Date: 04/07/2015 17:11:15 Event ID: 0 Task Category: None Level: Error Keywords: Classic User: N/A Computer: GEN8.DOMAIN.local Description: Error report file saved to: C:\ProgramData\StableBit DrivePool\Service\ErrorReports\ErrorReport_2015_07_04-05_11_15.3.saencryptedreport Exception: CoveTroubleshooting.Reporter+ReporterLogException: {reporter_exception} at CoveTroubleshooting.Reporter.ThrowLogReportN(Exception TheException, Object[] TheParams) at CoveUtil.ErrorReporting..(Exception ) Event Xml: <Event xmlns='http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event'><System><Provider Name='StableBit DrivePool Service'/><EventID Qualifiers='0'>0</EventID><Level>2</Level><Task>0</Task><Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords><TimeCreated SystemTime='2015-07-04T16:11:15.000000000Z'/><EventRecordID>8456</EventRecordID><Channel>Application</Channel><Computer>GEN8.DOMAIN.local</Computer><Security/></System><EventData><Data>Error report file saved to: C:\ProgramData\StableBit DrivePool\Service\ErrorReports\ErrorReport_2015_07_04-05_11_15.3.saencryptedreport Exception: CoveTroubleshooting.Reporter+ReporterLogException: {reporter_exception} at CoveTroubleshooting.Reporter.ThrowLogReportN(Exception TheException, Object[] TheParams) at CoveUtil.ErrorReporting..(Exception ) </Data></EventData></Event> Log Name: Application Source: StableBit DrivePool Service Date: 04/07/2015 17:11:15 Event ID: 0 Task Category: None Level: Error Keywords: Classic User: N/A Computer: GEN8.DOMAIN.local Description: Error report file saved to: C:\ProgramData\StableBit DrivePool\Service\ErrorReports\ErrorReport_2015_07_04-05_11_15.1.saencryptedreport Exception: System.Net.Sockets.SocketException (0x80004005): Only one usage of each socket address (protocol/network address/port) is normally permitted at System.Net.Sockets.Socket.DoBind(EndPoint endPointSnapshot, SocketAddress socketAddress) at System.Net.Sockets.Socket.Bind(EndPoint localEP) at #lwd.#nwd..ctor() at #lwd.#owd.#Oad() at CoveUtil.ReportingAction.Run(Action TheDangerousAction, Func`2 ErrorReportExceptionFilter) Event Xml: <Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event"> <System> <Provider Name="StableBit DrivePool Service" /> <EventID Qualifiers="0">0</EventID> <Level>2</Level> <Task>0</Task> <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords> <TimeCreated SystemTime="2015-07-04T16:11:15.000000000Z" /> <EventRecordID>8455</EventRecordID> <Channel>Application</Channel> <Computer>GEN8.DOMAIN.local</Computer> <Security /> </System> <EventData> <Data>Error report file saved to: C:\ProgramData\StableBit DrivePool\Service\ErrorReports\ErrorReport_2015_07_04-05_11_15.1.saencryptedreport Exception: System.Net.Sockets.SocketException (0x80004005): Only one usage of each socket address (protocol/network address/port) is normally permitted at System.Net.Sockets.Socket.DoBind(EndPoint endPointSnapshot, SocketAddress socketAddress) at System.Net.Sockets.Socket.Bind(EndPoint localEP) at #lwd.#nwd..ctor() at #lwd.#owd.#Oad() at CoveUtil.ReportingAction.Run(Action TheDangerousAction, Func`2 ErrorReportExceptionFilter) </Data> </EventData> </Event> Log Name: Application Source: StableBit Scanner Date: 04/07/2015 17:11:12 Event ID: 0 Task Category: None Level: Error Keywords: Classic User: N/A Computer: GEN8.DOMAIN.local Description: Exception: CoveTroubleshooting.Reporter+ReporterLogException: {reporter_exception} at CoveTroubleshooting.Reporter.ThrowLogReportN(Exception TheException, Object[] TheParams) at CoveUtil.ErrorReporting..(Exception ) Event Xml: <Event xmlns='http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event'><System><Provider Name='StableBit Scanner'/><EventID Qualifiers='0'>0</EventID><Level>2</Level><Task>0</Task><Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords><TimeCreated SystemTime='2015-07-04T16:11:12.000000000Z'/><EventRecordID>8453</EventRecordID><Channel>Application</Channel><Computer>GEN8.DOMAIN.local</Computer><Security/></System><EventData><Data>Exception: CoveTroubleshooting.Reporter+ReporterLogException: {reporter_exception} at CoveTroubleshooting.Reporter.ThrowLogReportN(Exception TheException, Object[] TheParams) at CoveUtil.ErrorReporting..(Exception ) </Data></EventData></Event> Log Name: Application Source: StableBit Scanner Date: 04/07/2015 17:11:12 Event ID: 0 Task Category: None Level: Error Keywords: Classic User: N/A Computer: GEN8.DOMAIN.local Description: Error report file saved to: C:\ProgramData\StableBit Scanner\Service\ErrorReports\ErrorReport_2015_07_04-05_11_12.1.saencryptedreport Exception: System.Net.Sockets.SocketException (0x80004005): Only one usage of each socket address (protocol/network address/port) is normally permitted at System.Net.Sockets.Socket.DoBind(EndPoint endPointSnapshot, SocketAddress socketAddress) at System.Net.Sockets.Socket.Bind(EndPoint localEP) at #J5d.#nwd..ctor() at #J5d.#owd.#Oad() at CoveUtil.ReportingAction.Run(Action TheDangerousAction, Func`2 ErrorReportExceptionFilter) Event Xml: <Event xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event"> <System> <Provider Name="StableBit Scanner" /> <EventID Qualifiers="0">0</EventID> <Level>2</Level> <Task>0</Task> <Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords> <TimeCreated SystemTime="2015-07-04T16:11:12.000000000Z" /> <EventRecordID>8452</EventRecordID> <Channel>Application</Channel> <Computer>GEN8.DOMAIN.local</Computer> <Security /> </System> <EventData> <Data>Error report file saved to: C:\ProgramData\StableBit Scanner\Service\ErrorReports\ErrorReport_2015_07_04-05_11_12.1.saencryptedreport Exception: System.Net.Sockets.SocketException (0x80004005): Only one usage of each socket address (protocol/network address/port) is normally permitted at System.Net.Sockets.Socket.DoBind(EndPoint endPointSnapshot, SocketAddress socketAddress) at System.Net.Sockets.Socket.Bind(EndPoint localEP) at #J5d.#nwd..ctor() at #J5d.#owd.#Oad() at CoveUtil.ReportingAction.Run(Action TheDangerousAction, Func`2 ErrorReportExceptionFilter) </Data> </EventData> </Event> Is it something I need to worry about?

The Gen8 Microserver needs a P222 so that it's reported to the iLO properly. I wouldn't really want to fudge it :-) These 4 drives were originally in a 4 bay QNAP using RAID 5 but the QNAP is ARM based and very slow, so I migrated to the Gen8. If I duplicate everything, then I need 4 more drives - which means I also need a controller card and an external bay. Too much expense when what I have now will last me for several years since I have 6Tb free. It's just not worth all that expense to cover the loss of one drive. To be honest, if I was looking at parity then I'd have gone the hardware raid 5 route, so that I only had 25% overhead. I know that brings its own problems, and I've had RAID 5 arrays in my datacentre which lost 2 drives and required restores from backups. Sooo... you're not gonna convince me to spend out all that money on duplication! hehehe!

Well since everything on my 4x4Tb drives is media and is ultimately replaceable (albeit with some time and effort!) then I came to the conclusion that having an extra 3.6Tb of available space at the expense of a drive failure is acceptable. I'm impressed with the scanner. When I copied the data off the Storage Spaces array so that I could set up DrivePool instead, I had to use a multitude of small 1Tb and 500Gb drives that I had laying around. I knew at least one of the 1Tb drives was acting strangely (it worked but seemd a bit "odd" at times) and as soon as I plugged it in, I got an email from the Scanner reporting S.M.A.R.T. issues. Therefore it seems to be doing its job. Given the above, hopefully anything other than an instant complete drive failure should give me time to get the data off any drive which begins to show problems. Also, as you mention if I do have data I want backing up then I can just dupe those folders. All good for me, because Storage Spaces is awful - I deleted a load of stuff, and it doesn't rebalance, so you end up with uneven drives. They are not readable individually either. My other option was to add a P222 controller card to my Gen8, but that's a pretty expensive option and would cost at least twice what I paid for the Gen8 itself! I can highly recommend Drivepool and Scanner from what I've seen so far :-)

Cool beans :-) Looking like a must purchase at the end of the trial :-)

Very impressed so far - switched everything to AHCI mode so that I can get SMART reporting. I do have another question though! Since installing Drivepool, a drive letter appears to have been added to the system reserved 349Mb partition that Windows Server 2012 R2 creates on installation. Is that required? Can I remove it?