Christopher (Drashna)

aje112, Well, the manual has a lot of good information, and ... I'm good at digging into how stuff works (it's fun for me, and ... I know Drive Extender from WHSv1 like the back of my hand). And I've talked with Alex (the developer) extensively how both DrivePool and Scanner work. However, if the drive is having issues with removal, and it's causing the system to hang.... this generally indicates an issue with the disk itself. However, it's possible that a virus scanner could be interfering (it shouldn't based on how the software works, but weirder things have happened...) or it could be an issue with the controller in use. If both disks are/were connected to the same controller, it could be an issue with the controller (and this could definitely cause the system to become unstable. And you've indicated that you're not running any antivirus, and I don't see any filters that ... well, aren't Microsoft filters, so that looks good. As for the UI crashing, could you check the "Application" section of the Event Viewer (run "eventvwr.msc") and see what caused the crash? This may help identify the issue. While you're there, check the "System" section for disk or controller, or related errors. It may be throwing errors up here. As for the disks and moving files manually triggering the issues ... that definitely sounds bad. What controller are you using?

A very good call, then! And wow, that's a lot of power consumption! But then again, a bit older hardware and dual CPUs, so not too surprising. unfortunately. Maybe .... investing in solar would be a good idea, then.

If that's the case, then it sounds like VDS screwed up somewhere. If this happens again, could you do this: http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Service_Memory_Dump And could you get the error reports from the system? http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_2.x_Error_Reports But again, this is odd. I switch disks between VMs all the time, and DrivePool works fine on all of them.

That's ... odd. Was this disk part of the existing pool previously, or part of a different pool? If it was part of a different pool, then that really is odd, as it should be detected as such and create a secondary pool. Could you grab the logs from the system? http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_2.x_Log_Collection Just steps #6-8. After that, try rebooting the system. If that doesn't help, then do this: http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Q2299585B

Cancelling the removal should affect the pool at all. Rebooting... can (but that's true of EVERY disk). Specifically, when a disk is removed we "balance" files off of the drive. And when we move or copy files, we use a "copytemp" file until we're sure it moved. Once it has, we delete the old file (if necessary) and rename the new file. This way, there is very little chance of corruption if something goes wrong (data integrity is our #1 priority). As for the issues you describe, it definitely sounds like something is wrong. Do you have any antivirus installed (as sometimes they can cause issues)? And could you do this: http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Q2159701 Also, does Scanner indicate any SMART errors on one or more drives? Another thing to do is the "forced damaged drive removal" option. This will skip problem files and just try to remove the disk. This may be what you want to do. Alternatively, try using the "Disk Usage Limiter" balancer, uncheck all the options for the disk in question, and let it sit. This will try to actively balance the data off of the disk in question (depending on your balancing settings). Also, if you're able to get the files off of the disk manually, then you can then format or physically remove the disk from the system. Then you can remove the now "missing" disk from the pool, without any issues. SpinRite is a good choice. But yes, it does have issues addressing drives larger than 2TBs. This is due to a limitation in the version of FreeDOS that he's using for the boot disk. He's aware of the issue and working on a fix (for a while now). http://codeverge.com/grc.spinrite/spinrite-can-only-see-1.8-tb/1651452

Oh no! Well, I'm glad that it didn't break, right then and there! (i've done that a couple of times ). If Scanner gives it a clean bill of health, then you may be fine. However, I'd ... prepare for the worse. If it's in a pool, I'd use the "Disk Usage limiter" balancer to only allow duplicated data on the drive. At least for a couple of weeks, to make sure there wasn't any "growing" damage (such as a crack that gets bigger over time).

Windows Server 2012R2 Essentials features "Windows Server Backup" as part of the OS. In fact, it gives you warnings if you don't set up a backup (or ignore it). This is designed to create incremental system backups for restoring the system. I use this to back up the system disks (and a couple of other critical disks, such as my HyperV stuff). I've used it more than a few times to restore my system when .... I've messed things up. The nice thing is that it runs daily, by default, and you can run it a couple of times per day if you want as well. The downside, is that you'd want to use a dedicated HDD for this (and one that is 1.5x the capacity of the disks you want to backup, as recommended by Microsoft). Also, Veeam has a free backup software that will work on it, and allow you to do restores, as well.

Use this: http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_2.x_Log_Collection Specifically, towards the bottom of the page is a Box.com upload widget. You may need to disable any script or ad blockers to see it, though. This can handle large uploads (we use it for memory dumps as well). Just include a link to the thread in the comment.

Another thing that may help with BlueIris is to use the "direct to disk" option, and the "BVR" format. This reduces load, as it's not transcoding. Additionally, you can "export" to AVI/MP4 later on if you need. This may help get it running better. At least, that's how I have it set up on my APU A4 CPU (runs at about 60%, but not HD cameras). And yes, running the service is a very good idea. Don't need to log in that way. And it crashes less often that way.....

Well, good luck then! And I'm sure they'll sell you the license, definitely.

Very nice buy! Depending on what you're doing, I've found that BlueIris runs better on a dedicated system... (it can be very CPU intensive, as well as disk intensive). But otherwise, it looks like a fantastic system (a couple generations old, but there is no problem with that, especially at that price!)

Well, re-adding old pool drives will do that! And glad to hear that you were able to resolve it, and get it down to a reasonable size! As for the remaining 1.39MBs, there will always be a bit of duplicated data on the 2.X version because we store some metadata on the pool (namely, info about the reparse points), and this is set to x3 duplication. So that is a very normal amount, and nothing to worry about,. now.

Then could you grab the logs from the system? http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_2.x_Log_Collection And it doesn't necessarily wait for no activity, but for specific conditions, as dictated by the balancer settings. This includes the ratio falling below the specified threshold, or a specific amount of data to be moved. This is why I recommended changes these settings, as it should help be more aggressive about balancing, in that case.

Well, the crawl space is a very interesting place to store the server.

Yes, you should absolutely be able to run both side by side. And in case it's needed: http://community.covecube.com/index.php?/topic/511-migrate-from-drive-bender-to-drive-pool/

Not a problem. Whenever you are able to get the logs.

Could you restart the system or the StableBit Scanner Service (via "services.msc")? If that's not updating the disks, could you open the SMART details for one of the disks, and check the "Submit to BitFlock" option. Wait until it generates an ID and post that here (or PM it to me). Also, what controller are these drives attached to? (a Silicon Images card, by chance?) Regards

Sorry, I missed it. Yes, you would need 3 "SSD" drives. Specifically, when realtime duplication is enabled, it writes to ALL of the disks in parallel. That means if you don't have enough disks, it will fall back onto an archive drive and reduce the speed. And by "all" drives, I mean that all of the required drives to properly duplicate the files. You can bypass this by disabling realtime duplication, but we recommend against this. The reason is, that if you have files that are open all the time, we won't be able to duplicate those files. Open files are "locked" by the app (or by windows) so that you cannot access or modify the file until it's closed. So, until the file is closed and unlocked, we won't be able to duplicate the file. This part also applies to balancing. if the files are constantly open, that could be why they're not balancing. The Realtime duplication feature bypasses the file "locking" issues, so it's never affected by this.

Yes, actually, could you get the log files from the system: http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_2.x_Log_Collection Enable that, and add some files. Try to note the time when it violates the balancing stuff. Reinstalling the plugin shouldn't make any difference here. It's basically just a dll that we load, and influences/controls the balancing engine. You can go ahead and reinstall, but it shouldn't matter.

Are you using File Placement Rules at all? ALso, what are the general balancing settings? The balancing settings are important, as this determines when the files get moved off of the drive. If possible, at least temporarily, set it to "balancing immediately", and don't enable the "Not more often than every X hours" option. Also, try adjusting the ratio slider (up to 100%), as this also determines if/when we need to move files. And make sure the "or if at least this much data needs to be moved" option is enabled, and set to a low number (like 10GBs). If that's still not helping, then please grab the log files from the system: http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_2.x_Log_Collection And yeah, there is no such thing as fast enough.

What files are you seeing errors with? And could you enable file system logging, and then try to resolve the issue? http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_2.x_Log_Collection And could you do this: http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Q2159701

You're very welcome. And to be honest, internally connected is the best solution. USB drives have some longer term connectivity issues... and eSATA can be easy to disconnected.

You are very welcome! And I'm glad to hear that you are very happy with the products and the community! Also, check out the "StableBit Scanner" balancer, in the balancer options in DrivePool. There are some fine tuning settings you may want to check out (just to customize to your preferences). And if you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask. Regards

Crucial is a good brand. My system disks and my HyperV disk are all Crucial. Great performance from them. And IIRC, Crucial is a nand manufacturer (they make RAM, as well), so the drives are much more "in house" in terms of fabrication. As for the CPU thing, as I said, it does depend on the game, but a lot of them don't really use the CPU. Also, these benchmarks were all set to 1080p or higher resolution with ALL of the bells and whistles turned on. But a Core i5 wouldn't be a bad idea either. Either way, it may save you money over the Core i7 CPU.

creating the filter? easy. Making sure it works without corrupting the files, damaging the file system, or causing unknown issues.... that's the hard part.