Christopher (Drashna)

Actually, we found a bug in the Ordered File Placement balancer recently that was causing some serious issues in rare cases. I would recommend updating it (1.0.3.4) and see if that fixes your issue. https://stablebit.com/DrivePool/Plugins Notes/Changelog: http://dl.covecube.com/DrivePoolBalancingPlugins/OrderedFilePlacement/Notes.txt

Yeah, the way to change the letter is through disk management. And there is no harm in doing so, aside from shared folders or install/config paths that need to be updated. http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Q6811286 (This is meant for WHS2011, but search for "Computer Management" instead, on a client version of Windows)

I'm glad to hear it! And thank you for the kind words!

I ignored the smiley, actually. I just wanted to emphasize that data integrity is one of those things that are TOP PRIORITY. And syncing is fine, as long as it's one way. If it's mirrored/2way syncing, then yes, you may have issues. That .... or just don't delete anything ever.

Wow, yeah, a bad cable can cause all sorts of issues. And it's a weird issue to troubleshoot. Glad you were able to identify it. And I know what you mean about the "string of 8 night shifts".... though, I just keep weird hours (timestamp for verification ). As for Scanner, there is absolutely a way to force a new scan. If you click on the "+" button on the left hand entry of the disk, it opens the drive map. On the left hand side, there should be a button with a green circle with a circular arrow. Click on this, and select the "mark xxxx as unchecked". The "Unchecked" state should cause StableBit Scanner to scan these sectors immediately (depending on your settings). And you can do the same for the "File system" section.

The Ordered File Placement balancer may help with this issue. It fills one disk at a time, and tries to keep the contents of a folder together on one disk. This would help minimize the "wake drive" issue. Additionally, since you're using the latest beta (2.1.0.46x?), could you click on the gear (top right corner), select "troubleshooting" and then "enable file system logging". Then try to reproduce this issue, and note the approximate time? And then upload the logs to us? Additionally, if you have plenty of RAM, there is a "hack" that tells Windows to use more memory for file system cache, which means quicker access for repeated commends (such as listing drive contents). http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc785435.aspx "fsutil behavior set memoryusage 2". And as I said, this is a "hack".

I tried it a MONTH ago. Locally, it works great (minus a hiccup every once in a while), but outside my network..... buffers every 5 minutes or so. Or just starts dropping frames like crazy. And I have decent upload (4mbps), so it shouldn't be an issue.

Yeah, we need to update the 2.x manual, but we've been VERY busy. Sorry about that!

You mean like eat your data? Definitely not. We'd rather err on the side of caution. Especially when your data is at risk. Automatic is a recipe for disaster.

Anyone else having this issue, please download the latest internal beta (as we haven't pushed it out). But it seems that not every R2 system is affected by this issue. Only a few: http://dl.covecube.com/ScannerWhs2/beta/download/

Didn't get a mSATA card for the OS? That board supports it. One less port in use! But otherwise, looks great.

Yes, it would be, But a seperate checkbox, IIRC.

You will probably need to "enable show system files" as these are "super hidden". And no, it will be in the root of the pool (or directly in each of the "PoolPart" folders)

We are actively looking into the "System Volume Information" folder issue. (It's used by VSS, exclusiviely). TO clear it up, you need to take ownership of the folder and then delete it. If that doesn't work on the pool folder, then... well do this on each drive in the pool that has the folder, in the PoolPart.xxxx folder.

That's a loaded question. The specific reason is that the built in Windows Backup relies solely/exclusiviely on the "Volume Shadowcopy Services". This feature is not documented at all by Microsoft. So adding support for it is nearly impossible by itself. Because of that, we cannot support backups or previous versions on the Pool volume, unfortunately. But don't get us wrong, we would love to, but it will be a serious investiture of time even figure out how to support it, let alone implementing it properly. http://stablebit.com/Support/DrivePool/1.X/Manual?Section=Using%20Server%20Backup%20to%20Backup%20the%20Pool

Noted and logged. Alex has a lot on his plate right now, but the request has been brought to his attention.

Then, yes, in this case. If a drive completely fails, and everything is duplicated: YOu'd just remove the disk, and let StableBit DrivePool start duplicating the files to the new disk, basically. However, this is why we also recommend using and purchasing StableBit Scanner. It grabs SMART warnings from the disks, as well as read their health status. And when doing this, it can evacuate a damaged disk, hopefully before it fails. But that is only if there are warnings about the drives health before it fails.

I've flagged this for Alex, but it definitely looks like there is something wrong going on here. Namely, I'm seeing a lot of "updating disks" in the service logs, which could cause issues. As well, as a lot of error reports. Also, what version of StableBit DrivePool are you running?

As I said, I'm sorry to hear that. But unfortunately, this is basically why I don't like USB for long term storage. Too many issues. Hopefully, the next build will be 100% stable!

I'm sorry to hear that. And yeah, I've always been partial to Lian Li. Great cases. As for a motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157470 22 Sata ports is enough? right? And two mSATA ports? Kidding aside, If you don't mind flashing firmware, then the IBM ServRAID M1015/M1115. Otherwise, I'd recommend the HighPoint cards (Rocket 2720SGL). You'll need "breakout cables" (SAS to SATA), but aside from that, each card would support 8 drives.

I assume you mean the folder mount points. If so, then you will need to recreate them once the server has been installed. DrivePool can use the drives with letters, mounted to folder paths, or with neither. So this is more of a personal preference thing than anything else.

Miles, are you using the "WHS2011" version for the installer (should have a "WSSX" extension)? If not, then please uninstall the current version, and download the "WHS2011" version. If you do have it installed, then you may want to run the dashboard in "safe mode" (aka, select "options" on the dashboard launcher, and check the "let me choose which add-is to load" option) and make sure that the "StableBit Scanner" add-in is enabled.

Yeah, it shouldn't have any issue with them. Specifically, most of what we do relies on built in features. So as long as Windows and NTFS has no issue with the drives, then neither will we.

Yeah, if it finds that the files are different, it does alert you to that fact, and wants you to resolve it.

Okay, I just wanted to make sure. And yeah, the external Seagates are very nicely priced, and do performance pretty well. And It's not that I don't like Plex. It's that I've never gotten good performance out of it. Works okay locally, but remotely? Lags or buffers frequently. Even with a good connection.