Christopher (Drashna)

Actually, Ark indicates that both support VT-x, VT-x with Extended Page Tables, and VT-d. So both support virtualization. Also, I'm certain of that, as the 1246v3 is a slight upgrade (slightly faster clock speed) than the 1245v3 which I own. And I run HyperV on (in fact, that was a HUGE consideration when I bought the CPU).

Ah, I'm sorry, Re-reading your posts, it's clear that I misinterpreted what you were saying. I apologize for that. Normally, StableBit Scanner is very good about detecting changing disk information. Specifically, we monitor "VDS" (the "Virtual Disk Service", which is what Disk Management and the DISKPART utility use to access the disks), and we look for new disks, new partitions, and the like. So we should be adding or updating the disk information right away. From what you were saying, it sounds like the disks were not even showing up until you added a disk letter to the partitions. If that's the case, then something is going wrong here. And in this case, could you install the newest version and see if the issue is fixed? http://dl.covecube.com/ScannerWindows/beta/download/StableBit.Scanner_2.5.2.3075_BETA.exe If not, let us know.

Do you still have the Poolpart folders on the drives? If so, try deleting those and then reboot. If that doesn't help, then try resetting the DrivePool settings: http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Q2299585B

It depends on how they work. VeraCrypt states that it's based on TrueCrypt, and appears to be a direct REBRAND of TrueCrypt. DiskCryptor is very much different from TrueCrypt and does seem to work with Drivepool. However, because of how the drives mount, it looks like you'll have to manually mount them EVERY boot, and restart the StableBit DrivePool service. (currrently)

The problem is the way that TrueCrypt works. Specifically, instead of using the Virtual Disk service, it creates "containers" for the OS and mounts those directly. That means that it bypasses a LARGE part of the Windows API, which we depend on. Adding support means that we have to change a significant part of our code to accommodate for how TrueCrypt works. However, because BitLocker is a Microsoft technology, it uses all of the built in API correctly. That means it is significantly easier to support BitLocker than TrueCrypt. And is why we recommend it over TrueCrypt (especially with TrueCrypts apparent demise/discontinuation).

The first images are DEFINITELY StableBit DrivePool 2.X. If you look at the bottom of the window, it displays the version number. Which is 2.1.0.558. To get all the other stuff, uninstall the current version, and use this installer: http://dl.covecube.com/DrivePool/release/download/StableBit.DrivePool_1.3.6.7585_Release.wssx

Apparently, the only difference is the "Graphics Max Dynamic Frequency" (1.2 vs 1.25 GHz). Otherwise, ALL the specs are the same. So if that's the case, then the 1246v3 is DEFINITELY the better CPU to buy! http://ark.intel.com/products/80916/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E3-1246-v3-8M-Cache-3_50-GHz?wapkw=xeon+e3-1246v3 http://ark.intel.com/products/75464/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E3-1275-v3-8M-Cache-3_50-GHz?wapkw=bx80646e31275v3

You are very welcome! As for the surface scans, 30 days should be good enough. If you're paranoid/worried, then 14-15 days may be a better setting. Any more frequently than that could cause issues, depending on how many disks you have, how they're connected and how you use the system. And from what I've seen reported, most people don't change this settings. However, I have my server set to scan every 14 days. I've tried every 7 days, but on my system, it was stuck scanning all the time.

Unfortunately, no you cannot. At least right now. We plan on doing a serious overhaul of BitFlock and the website soon, and to better integrate this.

On new disks, that's entirely normal, as they come uninitialized usually. However, if you're switching systems, or reinstalling, then that's an issue, and most likely a problem with the enclosure (or sometimes, the controller).

Well, that would be why then. The IDE mode probably isn't passing SMART data on to the system correctly. Switching to AHCI should allow you to get the SMART data (and may get better performance, in fact). As for switching, since the system disk seems to be unaffected, then you shouldn't have any issues. Otherwise, there is a hack to swtich it without reinstalling: http://www.vistax64.com/general-discussion/271218-switch-ahci-ide-tutorial-howto.html And to clarify, the IDE mode is probably what is blocking the ability to get SMART data.

You're very welcome. :-)

Well, that's more than plenty of pci express lanes, either way. ANd MSI is a very good brand. As for the the Socket 1150, for a server, that's more than plenty of lanes. If you're using it to game as well, then maybe not.

Yes. Wikipedia has a nice article, actually. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express But to summarize, your board is likely using PCI Express 2.0. So I'm going to assume that. If it uses 3.0, then ... well DOUBLE everything! A PCI Express 2.0 8 lane (8x) card is capable of supporting 4GB/s of transfer speed. What does that mean? That means you can max out the throughput of roughly 35 HDDs (spinners) (assuming about 120MB/s per drive) This is a SUSTAINED 120MB/s on the disk. However, in real usage, you'll see maybe 20-30MB/s read from a disk or three when streaming content. Maybe more when you're ripping (which in case, the SSD Optimizer may be a good way to go!). Also, 120MB/s is an over estimate. Depending on the drive, you may not see close to that, which means you can run more drives without risking bottlenecking. However, this is MORE than enough bandwidth to support 24 drives in your system with an expander card. In fact, you could have one card, and two expanders and still be fine. And if it makes you feel any better, I need to get an expander card and sell off two of my M1015's because I didn't know about this nor realize this until later.

Or you can open up a command prompt and run "defrag /c /o" Or get a list of the commands by running "defrag /?" from a command prompt. However, I like the PerfectDisk defragger, because it support multiple different profiles, which can boost performance. As well as better support for things like prepping to shrink a drive. As well as the real-time optimization.

Well, ideally, you want to use AHCI mode, whenever possible (especially for SSDs). But barring that, you should be able to use the "Unsafe DirectIO" setting to get SMART data. To do so, use this link: http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_Scanner_Advanced_Settings Find the "Direct IO" section, and check the "Unsafe" option. Additionally, you can use the DirectIO Test tool to verify if it gets SMART data or not: http://community.covecube.com/index.php?/topic/36-how-to-contribute-test-data/ Download the tool to the system and run it. Select one of the disks in question, and it should attempt to get SMART data. If the "SMART Attributes" section is not lit up in one of the locations (or both), then it's not getting SMART data. Check the "Unsafe Direct IO" option, to see if that works. If it doesn't... then the driver isn't passing on SMART data at all.

Not a problem. If you're not worried about this, then it's fine. Personally, I don't care (solar power FTW), so it's not a big deal. But we did have a ticket about this a while ago. And it does seem that Windows has hard coded behavior for this. However, that said, IIRC, Windows 10 is supposed to drop floppy drive support, which means it should not have this issue.

Just a heads up, setting the pool to A:\ or B:\ may cause the system to keep the disks in the pool awake, as Windows constantly "pings" these drive letters (hard coded behavior).

To be honest, I'm not a fan of cloud anything. I like having everything hosted locally, and accessible. As for a cloud solution, you're referring to "StableBit CloudDrive". As for more details, unfortunately, you'll have to wait on details for that. However, we will have a nice long blog post about what it is and how it works.

You are very welcome. Hopefully, there is nothing wrong with the disks at all!

That's really odd. In theory, you shouldn't have needed to assign the drive a letter. Specifically, that it didn't show up in Device Manager indicates that there was an issue with detection. Adding the drive letters may have triggered something that forced the system to update the hardware information.

Any issues with data is always scary! Hopefully no more issues, but it definitely sounds like a good idea to replace them. And yes, backups are always a good thing!

You are very welcome. if you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask.

There is ABSOLUTELY NO ISSUE using either the built in defragmentation software, or using 3rd party software. Specifically, StableBit DrivePool stores the files on normal NTFS volumes. We don't do anything "weird" that would break defragmentation. At all. In fact, I personally use PerfectDisk on my server (which has 12 HDDs), and have never had an issue with it.

Yes and no. It really depends on what you mean here. But specifically, this is the default strategy. The SSD Optimizer and the Ordered File Placement Balancer plugins both change this default strategy. The SSD Optimizer places the files on a "landing zone" and them move them off of the disks. The Ordered File Placement balancer fills up one (or two, with duplication) disks at a time. However, you can use the "Disk usage limiter" to block files from being placed on a disk at all. And you can use the file placement rules (only in StableBit DrivePool 2.X) to place specific files or folders on specific hard drives.