Christopher (Drashna)

Unfortunately, shorting the name isn't likely something that is gonna happen. This ID is actually a GUID/UUID, and is used internally for ID'ing the poolpart. For reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universally_unique_identifier As for the 260 character path limit, depending on the software, you can bypass that by using the UNC naming for the folder. Eg, instead of "D:\PoolPart.xxxx\path", use "\\?\D:\PoolPart.xxxx\path". However, in general, you shouldn't use the poolpart folders directly. Doing so can cause issues/conflicts down the line. And the UNC path trick works for the pool itself too.

Correct, it doesn't effect realtime placement, unfortunately.

Yes, it is supported.

To clarify here, the main issue is with the signing of the driver for the pool driver. Unfortunately, this is something that is outside of our control, if we want to have signed drivers. The newer signing requirements/type is not compatible with older OS's, so to continue updating the drivers, it look like compatibility is broken with older versions of Windows. There isn't a lot that we can do about this, so maintaining backwards compatilbity isn't something we have control over. It may be posssible to use newer versions if test signing mode is enabled, but we DO NOT recommend this.

Volume equalization works between volumes on the same disk. You want "Drive Space Equalizer" specifically. It should be disabled by default.

Yeah, BSOD's shouldn't happen at all. If they are, and especially with covefs.sys, that's likely a bug or bad interaction. I think you already have, but opening a ticket is always the best bet in this type of case.

There are some driver changes recently, and it sounds like that may be the cause here. Rolling back is okay, but if you haven't already, open a ticket at https://stablebit.com/Contact, as BSODs shouldn't happen.

I'm glad to hear that, but I'm sorry to hear about the bad drive. As for StableBit Scanner not finding it, unfortunately, this is one of those "weird" issues that isn't straight forward to diagnose. Eg, it's not something that it may pick up. Slowing down the drive or other drives on the same controller wouldn't cause scans to fail, nor file system scans to fail. This is the sort of issue that you'd have to look for or to set up performance profiling for. And while that would be sure cool to have.... that stuff isn't exactly lightweight, and integrating it would be ... not simple.

I'm glad to hear it! The 1600 version is the last release version that appears to work on WHS2011, per my testing. So yes, I would recommend grabbing it from the link and installing that (the 1557 version will likely prompt for newer versions after installing it)

This can happen when a drive is having issues. But that isn't the sole cause of this. More than likely, this is a networking issue. Which you appear to have stumbled upon. That said, it may be worth disabling or fine tuning the network auto-tuning, as that usually causes issues. On both server and client, run: netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled or netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel=highlyrestricted And then reboot the system. Also, in the network adapter settings, jumbo frames can cause issues. And settings with "checksum" or "offload" can also cause issues.

uninstalling doesn't remove or reset the settings, so you should be fine with just uninstalling and reinstalling. Specifically, no need to delete the ProgramData folder. The "covefs failed to start" is the crux of the issue here, and is the driver for the pool. Without this, the pool can't run. And if it's not started/installed, then the service will generate a version mismatch, and stall out. Specifically this version should work: https://dl.covecube.com/DrivePoolWindows/release/download/StableBit.DrivePool_2.3.8.1600_x64_Release.exe

Have you checked the Event Viewer, and the "System" entry? A lot of the time, disk and controller errors do show up here. In fact, it's one of the first places I look when I suspect disk/hardware related issues (and yes, that includes in tickets). "logical block address" retries, ntfs errors, "resets on raid port" errors, and the like show up here. Also, for testing the disk/controller, the burst test may be useful for that (in StableBit Scanner).

2.3.5.1557 is probably the last version that will work. If not that one, then the release reight before it. (2.3.4.1542)

Namely, that Microsoft's support for the OS's ended October 2023, and we generally keep in lockstep with that. That's primarily due to the lack of updates and fixes that may negetively impact our software. It may continue to operate without issues, but we don't guarantee that.

I'm glad to hear it!

No worries. And StableBit Scanner should be translated, as well. If it's not, make sure that you're using this version, specifically: https://dl.covecube.com/ScannerWindows/release/download/StableBit.Scanner_2.6.11.4077_Release.exe

It might help to boost the priority: https://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_2.x_Advanced_Settings Set the override value for "FileBalance_BackgroundIO" to false, and restart the service. And if that doesn't help, could you open a ticket at https://stablebit.com/Contact ?

This is for StableBit Scanner, specifically, correct?

Just a heads up, the balancing is done with a background I/O priority. This means that if the disk(s) are being used for anything else, then it will cede priority to those other tasks. So if you do have something like backblaze running too, it may run slower. Also, even if the disk that is being written to is fast and not busy, it is still limited to the read speed from the other drive(s).

Well, it's because different things are being tracked. The Volume ID is how Windows identifies which volume gets which letter. And this shouldn't change. As for identifying the disks, that depends on information about the drives, from the USB controller, which could change. It may be best to to open a ticket at https://stablebit.com/Contact for this. But, specifically, if you can run the StableBit Troubleshooter twice, once before rebooting, and once after rebooting, where the information has gotten mixed up. https://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_Troubleshooter And make sure the "Include disk details" option is enabled (it should be by default for StableBit Scanner, but just to make sure). And use either the Contact ID from that ticket, or "27507" for the contact ID, in StableBit Troubleshooter.

The command line option that shane mentioned is what I would recommend, as it's probably the simplest option if you're comfortable with command line.

lol. If it makes you feel any better, I'm definitely not immune to that. I've questioned stuff not working or working oddly, only to realise .... I am/was the problem. Too many times.

What Shane said. You can't replace the system disk. However, you can add the system disk and the E drive to the pool (which appears that you have done. And you can hide the E:\ drive by removing it's drive letter. But because of how the software works, and how booting and "boot drivers" work, we are not able to support booting for the pool drive.

If you're seeing a lot of drives coming up with errors, and suddenly, there is the "burst test" option. It may be worth running this on one or more of the drives. This reads a very small block of data, but reads it over and over and over. This way, it should not be reading it from the disk, but from the drives cache. BUt this should saturate the bus/communication. If you see errors coming back from this burst test, then there is some sort of communication error with the drive. If there is a connection error, it could be with the drive's pcb, the cables themselves, the connectors for the cables (eg, loose fit), the SATA controller, drivers, etc. If that's not the case, then could you open a ticket at https://stablebit.com/Contact

Some of the older versions have some .... issues with the update notifications. Newer versions, we've completely overhauled the code for handling updates, and should be more stable and reliable (especially when using StableBit Cloud).