Christopher (Drashna)

Well, I'm glad that the upgrade/reinstall went fine! As for OneDrive, don't store it on the Pool. The Windows 8 version uses a special sort of file system link (new, it looks like) that isn't currently supported by DrivePool. As for Recycle Bin files, make sure that the Recycle Bin on the desktop is empty. If it already, then try deleting the recycle bin folder on the pool. You may need to enable "Show Hidden Files", as well as the option to show system files, to be able to see it. From there , you should either a "Recycle Bin" folder, or a "$RECYCLE.BIN" folder. Delete that. If you have issues deleting it, then you may need to take ownership of the folder and change the permissions. If you need help doing that, then could you open up a ticket at "https://stablebit.com/Contact" and we will help you there (and likely set up a remote support session).

Not a problem. And sometimes, if you don't know what you're looking for, it can be very easy to overlook.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by that. Though, depending on what you want, a server OS isn't necessary. Stuff such as a website can be done with the Pro versions of Windows. Same with media servers (though any version of windows should work for that). However, the nice "WHS" type package is nice, but the newer versions are expensive (Server 2012R2 Essentials is ~$400). And it does have some more advanced options. As for managing Drivepool in a VMWare environment, there shouldn't be any issues with that. Just keep in mind, that it's a Windows only OS, and if you want to use the remote management feature, you need to do that from a Windows OS.

The hyperV link does cover that. But to clarify, talk? Not really. They don't pass on information between the two instances. However, you absolutely can do a surface scan of the passed through disks. This will detect issues reading the disk, just as well if it was running on the host. But as you've indicated, you won't be able to SMART data. You can run StableBit Scanner on the host as well, and you can get SMART data there. But currently, there is no way to pass this SMART data onto the guest VM.

Glad I could show you that. It's also the go to place for diagnosing problems. As for the speeds, that ... unfortunately seems about right. There is a lot of reading here, because the backups ARE incremental. And IIRC, they're actually differentiated VHDx files. So it may not be an efficient storage solution for the SMR tech. As for benchmarks, synthetic ones like ATTO and the like are common. But they're synthetic. Copying files and actually using it are the best benchmarks, IMO. And again, yeah the SMR is going to bite for any sort of random access, which will happen for frequent access.

Could you open a ticket at https://stablebit.com/Contact then? Specifically, so you can grab the files from DrivePool: http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_2.x_Log_Collection Just do steps #6-8 and upload the files. Also, do this: http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Service_Memory_Dump After doing that, try this: http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Q2299585B

Blue Iris is definitely a processor hog. Either go high end, or a separate machine for it. Otherwise, you'll be hurting. THough a dedicated machine could get away with a Core i5, depending on your settings (direct to disk is best, whenever possible). This works great with DrivePool (is what I have set up, actually, or close to it). Again, definitely a good CPU here. If you're going to be streaming a lot, then a Core i7 or a Xeon E3 is a good choice. And if you compare the specs, they're not that different. Either would work, but if you're going to go server hardware for this, then the Xeon would be better. SabNZBd may require some CPU usage periodically, but nothing like the previous two. And CouchPotato and Sickbeard are relatively light weight. If you're going to be virtualizing, and running the server all the time (or a LOT of it), then a Server motherboard (such as from SuperMicro or ASRock RACK) may be better. It won't sleep, though. But that may not be a concern for you... if it is, a desktop board with a Core i7 may be better. But I would still recommend the server board, as it will have better support for ECC RAM, which would be better for virtualization. As for recommendations, it really depends on what exactly you want. I have a SuperMicro S10XAT motherboard, and am VERY happy with it. As for Server Essentials, yes, it does have the hyperV role... however, it's licensed only for a single VM, and of Essentials. You can use it beyond that, but you will be doing so in violation of the license agreement. Also, if you enable Remote Access in Essentials... make sure that you ONLY use dedicated NICs for HyperV. No sharing NICs, or you'll see hour shutdown/reboot times..... As for disks.... A smallish SSD is a good idea, regardless of the system configuration. As for VMs, I would recommend a RAID array or a very large SSD (and maybe data deduplication enabled on that volume).

Absolutely! Open up the balancer settings, find the "File Placement Limiter" or the "Disk Usage Limiter" (same thing, but we renamed it to avoid confusion with the File Placement Rules). Select the balancer, and you should see a list of ALL the disks in the pool. And each disk should have a checkbox next to it, one for "Duplicated" and one for "unduplicated". Uncheck the "Unduplicated" and ONLY duplicated data will be placed on the disk. Also, you may want to enable the option to "move un-duplicated data off of a disk with SMART Warnings" option in the StableBit Scanner balancer, as well.

Unfortunately, the simple answer is no. Though, this does depend on the virtualization software you're using, and if you're passing the disks through. HyperV: http://community.covecube.com/index.php?/topic/29-how-to-getting-smart-data-from-hyper-v/ VMWare ESXi: http://community.covecube.com/index.php?/topic/131-how-to-get-smart-data-passed-on-from-esxi-51-host/ However, regardless of the software, the surface scan will still work, and should absolutely pick up read issues (which will trigger the evacuation, if it's on the same VM).

Yes, exactly. As for what you need to resetup... well, the pool, the license, and the duplication information will remain intact. That's it. Balancing options will be reset, performance options will be reset, file placement rules will be reset. Any information about existing/old pools will be wiped. Duplication will be checked though (we store the settings on the pool itself, so it's always present). As for the other settings, no, we don't have an export option yet.

If this was the server backup, then run "wbadmin.msc". Open an entry, and it will tell you how much data it transferred. As for client backups... check the modified date?

Unfortunately, we do not support hard links on the Pool. This is important because instead of using a database and storing each file that is needed once.... Plex creates the files in a folder structure for each item in the database, and then hard links the files together. So, no, we do not support the plex database on the pool. As for WHY we don't support it, let me quote Alex (the developer): Specifically, because we are a virtual file system, implementing hard links would be incredibly complex (much more so than reparse points, symbolic links and the like). For a detailed dive into reparse points and how the various types work, there is an arrow in the top, right corner of the quoted text area.

Upload the dump to us. Anytime you have a BSOD that you even suspect is related to the pool, please do so. The reasons is that only "we" have the driver symbol files for the CoveFS.sys driver. Which means that only we know what is EXACTLY happening at the time of the crash. While others can guess, it's nowhere near as good. And that's what all the "Covefs internal function" references are. It's specific actions that our driver is taking. So, please do upload the dump to us. If needed, using the following link: http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_System_Freeze There is a Box upload widget at the bottom of the page (you may need to disable the ad or script blockers to see it). ALso, if you want, utilities such as "WhoCrashed" or Blue Screen View will also tell you what it thinks caused the crashes, as well. They're great "quick check" utilities. As for the check, an extended check is always a better option. It takes much longer, but it's much more thorough. Also, what version of StableBit DrivePool are you using specifically?

As lee has stated, DrivePool will handle that for you. However, this won't be instantaneous, it make take a while depending on how much data this is. But once you've done this, the DrivePool Service will go through and check the duplication status on all of the files in the pool. It will delete files as needed, or copy them if needed. Either way, it will denote the progress in the UI, and you should notice the reclaimed free space slowing increase.

What was the ticket/contact number for this issue? Basic or extended check? And how many passes? Also, do you have any antivirus installed on the system? And if so, which? Also, it may be a good idea to physically inspect the motherboard. Look for bulged capacitors, burn marks, warping, etc.

Sophos UTM. It scans everything for me. Otherwise, I don't run any antivirus on my server. If you do run any antivirus, we recommend that you exclude the program files folders for our products, as a lot of antivirus products will occasionally have issues with them and flag our files as malicious.

For Scanner, I'm not 100% sure. Besides ... disks haven't used CHS for addressing in forever, so it's harder to tell. We start from LBA sector 0 and go up from there, IIRC. So yes, it should be in the "center" of the platter, theoretically. As for scanning speed, it should all be sequential. But if the disk is doing something else, it will affect the scan speed. And it could be the disk doing something internally, as well. And i'm not surprised that it runs warmer.... makes sense. As for the seek error rate, wikipedia says it best: (Vendor specific raw value.) Rate of seek errors of the magnetic heads. If there is a partial failure in the mechanical positioning system, then seek errors will arise. Such a failure may be due to numerous factors, such as damage to a servo, or thermal widening of the hard disk. The raw value has different structure for different vendors and is often not meaningful as a decimal number Basically, the drive isn't in our database yet, so we display raw values. Submit it to bitflock, and let me know the ID number. Then we can see about adding the correct SMART interpretation. As for the backups, if this is server backup, especially, the inital one, this doesn't surprise me at all. The Server Backup feature uses VHDs and writes block by block, meaning that you should get at least decent performance out of it. The real question is how fast it runs in a week, or month.

This issue should be fixed in the latest beta builds. Specifically, it is an issue with the metadata and it not getting cleaned up properly. http://dl.covecube.com/ScannerWhs2/beta/download/StableBit.Scanner_2.6.0.3055_BETA.wssx http://dl.covecube.com/DrivePoolWindows/beta/download/StableBit.DrivePool_2.2.0.596_x64_BETA.exe If you don't wish to install the beta versions, then you can reset the settings on them, and this will also fix the issue (though you'll have to re-setup everything). Regards

Are the disks showing up in "Disk Management"? (run "diskmgmt.msc") If they are not, then something is going on ... and preventing windows from listing them correctly. If they are showing up, then make sure they are "Basic" disks (listed in the left hand column under the disk number). If they are dynamic disks, then that is the problem (as we don't support them for a number of reasons). Otherwise, let us know. Regards

You're very welcome. It definitely makes managing the server that much easier!

Well, as long as you get the "fanout cables" (this: CBL‐SFF8643‐SATASB‐10M), then you should be fine. But let me say again, spinning HDDs are not going to need that 12gbps speed, as they're not fast enough to even come close to saturating it. But if you plan on using SSDs, then it's not a bad idea.

We absolutely support SAT for the IBM ServeRAID cards. http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_Scanner_Advanced_Settings Find the "DirectIO" section, and then check the "Unsafe" option. You'll need to restart the "StableBit Scanner Service" (run "services.msc" to do so), or reboot the system. As for the performance, it may take running for longer to really determine if/where the issue is. However, have you checked the event viewer for disk related issues at about the same time that the performance issues crop up? Also, is anything else running at the times that the performance tanks? Such as unpacking downloads, transcoding, etc? And in DrivePool, is the "Network IO Boost" option enabled?

No, at this time, there isn't a good way to do this. The "best" way, if you have a NAS that supports it is "iSCSI". It works over the network, but presents a virtual physical disk. This can be added to DrivePool, and you can use the "Disk Usage Limiter" balancer to ensure only duplicated data ends up on it, as well as the file placement rules.

Ah, well, that would be quite a difference! If you ever do have a TB of "other space", and a remeasure doesn't "clear it up", then check the disk to make sure there isn't data outside of the pool structure. If there isn't, then let us know.

Well, good to know at least, but we would still like to fix it if possible. As for issues under the hood, I wouldn't be surprised if it caused a bunch of issues with antivirus software and/or access issues (causing excessive bandwidth usage).