Christopher (Drashna)

That's a good question... Unfortunately, there isn't a good way to do this at the moment. And that is something that we should see about fixing. For now, just ignore them temporarily. One the LCC count increases, then ignore that permanently. Requested here: https://stablebit.com/Admin/IssueAnalysis/13516

On the system that has the drive having issues. So on the system with the "D:\" drive that is erroring out.

Officially, we don't support the server core editions. Unofficially, I know that StableBit Scanner will definitely work on HyperV Server 2012R2. DrivePool appears to work, but just FYI, you cannot set the disk offline to pass through. It must be used as local storage. So, both do appear to work just fine. Also, because of how much of a PITA it may be to get things going... a quick "how to" on how to download and install the products: powershell Invoke-WebRequest -uri http://dl.covecube.com/DrivePoolWindows/release/download/StableBit.DrivePool_2.1.1.561_x64_Release.exe -OutFile DrivePool_2.1.1.561.exe DrivePool_2.1.1.561.exe powershell Invoke-WebRequest -uri http://dl.covecube.com/ScannerWindows/release/download/StableBit.Scanner_2.5.1.3062_Release.exe -OutFile Scanner_2.5.1.3062.exe Scanner_2.5.1.3062.exe Also, you may want to look into HVRemote, so you can manage the server remotely, using the HyperV Manager, and Computer Management (via RSAT)

Hopefully, that should allow you to uninstall it without any more issues. If you do run into more issues, then please setup a remote support session time, as "manual uninstallation" is painful, and I'd rather that you not have to do that!

For whatever reason, it seems like your server has lost the original installer file (that second image is what indicates this). This would be why it's not letting you uninstall it. Download the matching version that you have. It should be a WSSX file. Rename it to ".cab" instead. This should allow you to open the file. You should see three (maybe more) files in it. An RTF file, an XML file, and a MSI Installer file. Grab this MSI file, and copy it to the server's desktop. Then right click on it and select "Uninstall". This should allow you to uninstall the program. If you need help with this, head to http://meetme.so/drashnacovecube and schedule a time for a remote support session, and I'll see about getting this fixed for you.

Well, copy and paste should work on the forums. It may depend on the browser though (IE has issues with IPBoard). As for robocopy, that's unusual. Could you enable logging and reproduce the issue: http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_2.x_Log_Collection

Open the Start Menu. We've moved the troubleshooting stuff out the main UI, so that it's harder to get to. Since the troubleshooting stuff isn't needed all the time, and soem of the stuff can cause issues (resetting your settings, for example). In the start menu, in the "StableBit DrivePool" group, there should be a "Troubleshooting" folder there now. Open that, and select the "DrivePool (Troubleshooting)" option

Unfortunately, some drives have this issue, and some don't. And like you have said, Seagate hasn't released an updated firmware to address this issue. If it's under warranty, I would highly recommend replacing it. As for the head parking ... if you throttle the SMART queries, this may help significantly. Please do so, and see if that helps. I'm sorry for not getting back to you on this! I believe it queries the SMART data every minute or so. Which for some drives can be aggressive and cause problems. Which is why we have the throttling option. But for a majority of drives, this shouldn't be a problem. And yes, SeaTools for windows seems to work just fine on Server 2012R2. I just think they dont' want to support it, because most large businesses are just going to replaced the drives on a schedule anyways... so why bother.

Well, I'm guessing that you manually shared the C: and D: drives... And that may not be a great idea for the remote access.... (if you need access to the drives from another computer, you can \\WHS-9-2014\c$ or \\WHS-9-2014\d$ to access these folders (these are built in "administrative shares". Otherwise, any share you create in the dashboard should show up in the remote access website. If it is not, you may need to rebuild the Windows Search index (as this is what controls the the content there). To do so: http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Q7200705B

Well, in your defense, it's better to stay on a product that is still in mainstream support for large companies. A serious issue can be very costly, and being able to get it resolved quickly with Microsoft is a HUGE deal!

I used to reinstall a lot as well. Now I backup religiously. And I create custom system images. However, I wanted to avoid installing ANYTHING on my HTPC. Especially codecs, as they can cause system instability. I want it as clean as possible. And yeah, in the Home Server communities, I'm definitely semi famous. If you google a WHS related issue, chances are, I'll have posted in the forum thread. And I've been fairly active in the community since the start. It's been quite a journey!

taflemer, I was aware of X10, but I did not know that they had gone bankrupt! That is very sad news indeed! And yes, HP makes some good hardware. When I buy prebuilt systems, it's usually an HP machine. As for the security updates, if you're not using the remote access website on the WHSv1 box, then you should be okay, for the most part. But it may be a good idea to decommission it at some point. Especially, if you are going to go with Windows 8/10, as WHSv1 doesn't support those OS's and you won't be able to do a bare metal restore on those systems. And if you're looking at getting another HP server, then I would HIGHLY recommend checking out the HP MicroServers. There nice, small boxes. And I'm glad to hear that it sounds like our products are going to be used! If you have any other questions about the products, don't hesitate to ask. Like I said, Microsoft makes this stuff overly complicated. I wasn't sure about this myself, until I saw my WHSv1 VM updating still.

Media Browser has definitely come a long way. Though, the Home Theater app doesn't respond properly to my remote control half the time. Makes it unusable. Also, the web player ... has issues for me. And ... the home theater app requires that you install codecs... Or to use an external app (like VLC, which I detest).

You definitely. It just depends on how hands on you want to be. I apologize that this got ignored. Are any of the other balancers enabled (not counting the StableBit Scanner balancer)? If so, try disabling the other balancers. If not, then try adjusting the ratio on the "general" tab to a higher value (between 95-100%), as this should cause DrivePool to be more aggressive. Also try setting the balancing to occur immediately, if you haven't already.

Ah, yeah, automatic can do that. It should throttle based on usage.

Microsoft makes the support lifecycle stuff overly complicated. So don't feel bad if it makes you feel confused. https://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifepolicy Specifically, "extended support phase" means that no features are added, and that the product will ONLY receive security updates. If you get the "Extended Hotfix Support through Premier Support" (paid), you will continue to receive non-security updates. Additionally, there is no free support. What does this mean for us? Well, for WHSv1, which is based on Server 2003 (not R2): https://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=3198 That you will still receive SECURITY updates until July 14, of this year. For WHS2011, that is based on Server 2008R2: https://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=14134 And I can absolutely confirm this, as my WHSv1 VM is still receiving new updates. They're all security updates though.

Yeah, you could definitely micromanage the pool with the File Placement rules, and that would allow for effective usage of Server Backup... but it is more complicated and much more involved.

Depending on the transcoding setting for Plex, that may be usual.

We don't really have a minimum requirement. Both products are designed to be VERY light on resources, in most every circumstance. Neither product is doing anything that is very CPU or memory intensive in most cases. The driver for the pool uses only kb of memory IIRC, and we run at a lower priority when possible. The read striping feature leverages the cache for NTFS IIRC, so even that should be lightweight. In fact, the only feature that I can think of that really uses a lot of resources is the "Network IO Boost", as it prioritizes traffic, and it is off by default.

Sometimes it doesn't. Maybe the port is question is already being used? But that's why we have the manual list.

Well, if it works... And as long as it's not missing any "must have" features.

Beaker, I can't comment about the client backup database issues that he was mentioning because I am pretty sure that he never contacted us about them. However, I do know that Windows Server backup won't backup data on the pool, and that is is very picky about the drive used for the backup destination. In fact, I believe that it won't even list the Pool as a potential destination. As for the commit.dat file, this doesn't always work, but in some cases it does. I'm not sure why, as I don't really know how it works. Alex could better answer this, as he's reverse engineered the backup database actually (he has a tool that can dump a backup to VHD). But if you ever have issues, that's the first thing to try. But I would recommend renaming it, rather than deleting it. At least initially. And Paaland nails it though: If you're using StableBit DrivePool 2.X, you can use the file placement rules to limit which disks the folder ends up. In case you have questionable disks. That, and there have been a LOT of bug fixes since 2012. The software has come a long way in regards to stability.

Yup, precisely. The more the data changes, the more frequently you need to schedule the cleanup/garbage collection.

This is probably a networking issue. If needed, you can manually specify "peers" on the system. http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_2.x_Advanced_Settings#RemoteControl.xml Once you've added the peers, restart the StableBit DrivePool Service, or reboot the system.

WBADMIN is the backend of the the Windows Server Backup. And it absolutely requires VSS support, as it takes a snapshot of the disk and then reads from that snapshot. This prevents any sort of corruption that can be caused by file contents being changed during the backup. Robocopy is a good option, if you're used to command line stuff. You can use Allways Sync, Free File Sync or the like to automate this.