Christopher (Drashna)

another note, is that the pool will maintain the NTFS permissions from the old install, too. If you used system specific accounts in the permissions (like "MyUser", "(name)", etc), then you may need to update/replace the permissions on the pool, once it's remounted.

the archive option when removing a disk should also do this. But yeah, simply moving the files out of the poolPart folders will work. Just note that the contents of the pool may be spread out all over the pool

Have you tried running a CHKDSK pass on the disks? Sometimes when they appear "RAW" this can work and recover the file system. However, it's kind of a long shot. Aside from that, it would be data recovery, most likely.

Some external enclosures do some funky things with the file system, that make it not portable.... however, this is very rare. In most cases, you shouldn't have any issues moving from SATA to USB. As for a specific enclosure, sorry, no. I .... actively avoid usb enclosures, personally.

I haven't used windows containers specifically, but have used Docker Desktop on Windows, and use volumes on the pool for storage, without any problems (using wsl2)

Fixed sized is good. Other than needing to fit on the underlying drives, it should be fine.

If the "allow balancer plugin to trigger balancing", then it should be immediately. Otherwise, it should be the next time that a balancing pass occurs based on the balancing settings

Just a heads up, read striping doesn't guarantee that it will read from the different drives.

When recovering the drive, do you see a hidden PoolPart on the drive(s)? You may need to enable the "show hidden files" option in Windows to see it. If these files are no longer on the underlying disks, then the pool will be removed, since there is no longer a pool. If the folders are there, try restarting the "StableBit DrivePool Server" on the system, and see if that helps.

Shane is stop on, as usual. Any files that are open are usually "locked". And when measuring, duplicating and balancing, StableBit DrivePool avoids locked files, since we can't ensure the state of these files while they are locked. (which is part of why they get locked by the OS, in the first place, so nothing else can mess with them). Once they're no longer locked, they should be fine, and should be updated during use. Though resizing VHD files are ...tricky. And if you have the space, fixed sized VHDs would be better to use, if they're stored on the pool.

there are some flags that can help with the scan. Namely "/scan", but this also skips a number of important checks (like checking the MFT itself), which is why I don't like recommending it)

I agree with shane in that untested backup/redundancy is just catastrophic data loss in disguise/waiting. "trust but verify". Also, knowing how to restore/repair things rather than having to desperately figure that out ***when*** (not if) things fail is always a good idea (and not just because panicking can lead to even more data loss, but that's definitely a factor too!)

That's ... very odd. And StableBit DrivePool doesn't use nor create any special folders like this. You might need to take ownership of the folder, and then change the permissions before you can delete it. This guide is meant to be applied to the whole pool, but you can follow it for a specific folder, if needed: https://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Q5510455

When removing a drive from the pool (using the UI), it checks the files on the pool, and based on the options, moves files. All of the pooled data is in the hidden PoolPart.xxxx folders. Unduplicated data is moved during a removal. Duplicated data is moved unless the "duplicate data later" option is enabled.... and in this case, only data that is unique to that drive (eg, unduplicated data on the drive, and any duplicated data that may only be on that drive) is moved off of the drive. Once the drive is removed, a duplication pass is triggered, so that the data can be reduplicated. The process is outlined in the manual: https://stablebit.com/Support/DrivePool/2.X/Manual?Section=Removing a Drive from the Pool

If you open up disk management on the system, does the drive show up as "dynamic"? Also, have you run a CHKDSK pass on the drive? Worst case, you should be fine to remove the missing disk, and re-add the drive to the pool. You may/will need to migrate the contents from the poolpart folder (as outlined here: https://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_F1655