Sonicmojo

All, After a instant drive failure on a secondary server last week - I am now being proactive with my primary server and replacing old disk in biweekly stages. This server has 4x4TB lineup and I have identified disk 3 as being the first one to be removed. The new disk arrived yesterday but - I do not have all folders in this pool duplicated. What are the correct steps to get this drive out of the pool, out of the box and then swap in it's replacement without jeopardizing any files that could be on drive 3 as single files? Assuming the Remove function in the UI should empty the drive (?) but I want to be sure before I start making any moves. And I assume Balancing would be my next step after the new drive is in place? Appreciate any tips from the field. Cheers Sonic.

Update - I was able to get the new drives in place and DP did exactly as described - it moved everything over to the new drives without a hitch. I pulled all the old drives and will move forward with the two new 2TB. Duplicates are now turned on for everything. Taking no chances. However - we really need the ability to at least create a text file or something of the files on each drive. I never really gave it much thought until this situation happened - but a guy is truly flailing in the dark here without any ability to see what's on each drive. I know I lost some files and have replaced most everything that I believe was there - but it would be nice to have some basic ability to create a file list. Would also like to shout out that Scanner did not recognize or alert me to anything regarding my drive failure either. While I was not expecting a 24 hour countdown to the death of a drive - I was hoping Scanner would at least tell me that a drive that was there a minute ago - is now not there. I believe I have everything set that I can for alerts? What am I missing or does Scanner not offer this most basic of alerts? Sonic.

Update: I pulled the faulty drive and I believe it is completely screwed. I messed with everything I could think last night including opening the drive case - the heads are in the "park" position and while the drive will power up and the platters spin - the heads simply rock back and forth to the disc edge exactly 11 times (beeping each time) and then the drive powers down. I do not think there is anything else I can do outside of sending it to the pros - but given what is on this server - that is not really cost effective. Next question - given the locked pool state - is there anyway to get a file listing of what is on this missing drive - before I start adding new discs etc? It would be ideal to know what I am chasing here before I get too far into it. The pool on this server was primarily just housing WSUS, WDS and a few other minor things that I should be able to repopulate without too much trouble. Cheers! Sonic.

I awoke today to a weird beeping sound coming from one of my servers. Also heard a disk thrashing away in the case so I immediately remoted into the box and checked Drivepool. Sure enough - a disk is reported missing. Disk Management confirms some is up as well. This server has 3x2TB using Drivepool. I have identified the disk with the problem and judging by the sound the disk it's making - it's not long for this world so I have to move fast. I have new disk on hand but want to make sure I deal with the data in the most efficient manner and hopefully get it back. First thing I did was power down the server. My plan is to remove the troubled drive and plug it into my workstation and see if I can at least work with it and hopefully copy data off it. Assuming I can get the data off - what are the steps to get this data back into the pool AND reduce the pool to just 2x2TB? If I can do that successfully - I want to move all data off the two remaining drives, delete the pool, ditch these old drives and start a new pool with the new 2x2TB disc. But I want to proceed carefully and not compromise any data if possible. I know that Drivepool has locked the pool as soon as it see the disc missing What are my next steps to handle this properly and hopefully be up and running with new disc? Sonic.

My upgrade worked perfectly - with the disclaimer that "upgrade" in this case meant a complete clean install of Server 2016 to a new system drive. I did however have a critical need to maintain my existing data drives. Both Drivepool and Scanner installed flawlessly - and especially for Drivepool - it picked up the pool (once I reattached my existing drives) like nothing had happened - saving me days of time backing up and restoring up to 10TB of data. Regarding Essentials 2016 - I would assume you should be good as well. Sonic.

For the past few days I have been dealing with some frustrating SMBv1 issues with one of my key apps (Desktop Central) which is a critical part of the existing server (and the new one). I had to get some very odd issues straightened around first as I am planning on moving this DS install from this old box to the new one (which is really the same box). Now that I have solved the issue - I can get back to the hardware fun. But as noted - I am treading very slowly here to ensure I do not compromise my existing pool or render this box "unstartable" but switching the SATA modes etc. I need to bench this box first, remove the existing pool drives and then pop in a spare to get this SAS controller going. That will most likely happen on Saturday. I will report back with either success or failure! Sonic.

Thanks for this - I am certain I would have been right back here asking about this! Cheers Sonic.

I read that post - but since I cannot see the actual controller before trying the update (CTRL-C does nothing) I cannot get the last 9 digits of the SAS address. I may have to open the box and see if there is a sticker somewhere with the address. Sonic

Jaga, Much appreciated! Sounds like it should be relatively painless. And thanks for the "configuration" tip - I knew I forgot something. I tried to take a look at the SAS controller about an hour ago - and now I have a different problem. I cannot even get into the SAS ROM/utility since it does not display when I boot the box. I found out I need to switch the SATA config in the BIOS to "RAID" instead of ACPI - which now makes me super nervous that I will not be able to get back into the server with the drives connected via normal SATA. Is it even possible to somehow switch into "RAID" mode just long enough to examine/flash the firmware and then switch back to ACPI so I can complete a few tasks on the existing server before I ditch it? Thoughts? Sonic.

All, This week I am finally considering activating the LSI 2308 SAS controller that I have on both of my file servers and wanted to understand how to get this working with Drivepool (and scanner). Ever since I have owned my two Supermicro X10SL7-F server boards - I have only used the standard SATA ports for drive usage. Seems to have worked just fine but I would like to move to the SAS controller on these boards for (hopefully) more stability and (hopefully) even a performance boost if possible. My understanding is that this controller should ideally be in "IT Mode" in order for it to allow the connected disks to act like JBOD - so I plan to flash the firmware on it later today. Assuming that works fine - I would then install the latest LSI driver during my server install and then move to reconnecting my three drives for Drivepool. Can anyone walk me through the basics of getting Drivepool to play nice with the LSI? My big concern lies with my existing pool. In a perfect world - I want to simply disconnect the drives - get the LSI up and running - reconnect the drives to the LSI, install Drivepool on the server and have it "see" the old pool and have it work as if nothing had changed. As opposed to backing up all the data to another server, building a whole new pool, transferring the data back in etc and wait who know how long for the pool to be back to normal. Appreciate any info from the field on how to do this right. Cheers Sonic

Chris, Bumping up this old thread as I have finally reached the point of upgrading my server OS. However - this week I am also considering activating the LSI 2308 SAS controller that I have on both of my file servers and wanted to understand how to get this working with Drivepool (and scanner). Ever since I have owned my two Supermicro X10SL7-F server boards - I have only used the standard SATA ports for drive usage. Seems to have worked just fine but I would like to move to the SAS controller on these boards for (hopefully) more stability and (hopefully) even a performance boost if possible. My understanding is that this controller should ideally be in "IT Mode" in order for it to allow the connected disks to act like JBOD - so I plan to flash the firmware on it later today. Assuming that works fine - I would then install the latest LSI driver during my server install and then move to reconnecting my three drives for Drivepool. Before I tackle anything however - I need to understand the risks of any possible data loss etc with respect to my existing "pool". As you mention above - Drivepool should "recreate" the pool automatically once I reconnect the drives but what if it does not work? My fear is that any monkeying around with the drives may suddenly corrupt the pool and leave me hanging with major problems. Are there any real dangers I need to be aware of when switching from the standard ports over to the LSI SAS? I see my new order of things going something like this: Deactivate the StableBit DrivePool license on existing server build Shut down the system Disconnect data drives (but leave them in the box) Upgrade firmware on LSI and confirm it is in IT mode Power up Install Server 2016 (wiping C during install) Ensure that LSI controller driver is working in Server 2016 Do basic config of new server install and shut down Reconnect existing data drives Power up and ensure data drives show in Disk Manager Create new mountpoints for data drives Install/Activate the StableBit DrivePool (And Scanner) software for new build Let it to "automagically" (automatically) recreate the pool on this new build Continue with rest of server config. Thoughts? Cheers! Sonic

I am getting this as well on assorted folders but VERY infrequently. Like I will go to a location that has not been accessed a very long time - say 6 months - go to create a folder and Windows complains that the folder cannot be created - then I check the parent folder properties and get various messages about permissions being in the wrong order etc etc. But this is happening on Windows 10 as well. I did run Windows 7 on this machine about a year ago and pool was created well before that. Would a "reset permissions" session be in order here? And would I apply it to the entire pool? My concern is that I am running my pool using drive points - so on my Windows 2012R2 server - it's one giant 14.5TB D drive. I am sensing this could take a long time to reset? Appreciate any comments or tips before I attempt this. Sonic.

So something like this? Deactivate the StableBit DrivePool license on existing server build Shut down the system Disconnect data drives (but leave them in the box) Power up Install Server 2016 (wiping C during install) Do basic config of new server install and shut down Reconnect existing data drives Power up and ensure data drives show in Disk Manager Create new mountpoints for data drives Install/Activate the StableBit DrivePool (And Scanner) software for new build Let it to "automagically" (automatically) recreate the pool on this new build Continue with rest of server config. Anything else I should be aware of? Sonic.

Drashna, I found this older thread where I asked you for some specifics on migrating disks from one server to another. I am back for more confirmation on what to do with existing disk sets (16TB in Server A and 6TB in Server B) if I plan to install a new OS. Within Q1 2018 - I want to upgrade both of these servers from Windows Server 2012 R2 to Server 2016. I have read a bit about "in-place" server upgrades - but I think I will start from scratch and install the OS clean on each - meaning I will need to power down the storage disks - disconnect them and then power them back up when Server 2016 is installed and ready to go. On both of my systems - I am using drive mountpoints to ensure each Pool - is displayed via a single Drive letter (D:\ in this case). Using your suggested procedure: Deactivate the StableBit DrivePool license, if needed. Shut down the system physically remove the drives Put the disks into the new system power on the new system install and activate the StableBit DrivePool software on the new system Wait for it to "automagically" (automatically) recreate the pool on this new system What other steps do I need to do (and when) within this list with regards to mountpoints etc on the drives without upsetting any data on them - and hopefully being able to recreate the pool and get them back on the network with minimal downtime? Appreciate your insight as always. Cheers! Sonic.

Getting the drive out of the pool was the only way to get DP to reorganize and to remove the "read only" state it placed on the pool as soon as my drive went "missing" My assumption all day yesterday was that the drive was suspect and I was going to remove it anyway, copy the files somewhere safe and either replace the drive or leave the pool usuable but smaller. If you read all about Drivepool here: https://stablebit.com/Support/DrivePool/2.X/Manual?Section=Removing a Drive from the Pool It apparently does a bunch of nice things for the user - if the drive is healthy: When a drive is removed from the pool, StableBit DrivePool will move all of the unprotected pooled files stored on it onto a different drive that's part of the pool. StableBit DrivePool will also regenerate every protected file part that is on the disk being removed (unless Duplicate files later was selected). Then, the virtual pool drive shrinks in capacity by the size of the drive that was removed. But if a drive is unhealthy (or supposedly missing like mine was) - DP does a lock down on the pool. So the only way to get the pool usable (Read/write) again was to remove the drive. Regarding Windows Server Backup - there is so much bad press on this - it's not worth my time. As soon as I turned this thing on a few weeks back - the event log started filling with bizarre errors. I do not trust anything that is that difficult to get working. A clue prior to yesterday's problem was the sudden appearance of Event ID 157 ("Disk 1 has been surprise removed.") one minute before Scanner notified about a missing disk. If I cross-reference that message ID - with messages like this from various forums - starts to form an interesting picture on where the problem most likely lies... "On a recently deployed 2012 R2 system it looks like these warnings were generated during (or immediately after) a "Windows Server Backup". "Ever since my upgrade to Server 2012 R2 I too am logging this error. It is always in the 04:30AM time frame daily since the upgrade" "My server throws these messages every day while finishing its backup job (using Windows Server Backup)" Another thread is here: https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/463141-windows-server-backup-causing-eventid-157-disk-n-has-been-surprised-removed Could it be a bad cable - remotely possible - but this server is racked and cannot be opened - so it's not loose. I will continue to monitor and act if necessary. Cheers! Sonic.