Christopher (Drashna)

If the problem does come back, then please try out the burst test in scanner, as well as contact us directly at http://stablebit.com/Contact

.... That would be the right build. Sorry, I was going from memory. I think I confused it with Scanner. The correct version is 1.3.5.7572 (and if you notice the scanner versions... lots of 9's.... Sorry!)

If you guys could enable tracing, and reproduce the issues? http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Log_Collection http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_2.x_Log_Collection Also, are there any errors in the SYSTEM section of the event log that indicate that there may be an issue? Also, if you have Scanner installed, you can run a "burst test" on the drive, to see if there is an issue with the drive/controller. Start the test and let it run overnight.

Glad to hear it. You have made a backup of the "good" state, right? Right?!

Psilberman, Did you use the stock fans, or did you swap them out for quieter fans? I've swapped them out and it works much better. But yeah, the Norco's aren't exactly quite. But they're not meant to be. They're server grade. But personally, I don't mind.

That is ... very odd. Could you get a dump of the dashboard when this is happening? http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Dashboard_Freeze Additionally, does this happen in the normal "UI" app (check Server Folders tab, and click on the "Advanced: Manage DrivePool" link)? Also, does upgrading the 2.1.0.447 help? http://dl.covecube.com/DrivePoolWindows/beta/download/

Well, do you know what is creating the temp files? If you do, that would be the easiest way to stop it from happening. Those files look awfully specific. As for scheduling cleanup, this may work: http://gallery.technet.microsoft.com/scriptcenter/Disk-Cleanup-Using-98ad13bc You can save this somewhere and then set Task Scheduler to run it automatically (like once a week, or even every day). And it sounds like these files are actually Windows Update related... http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsserver/en-US/e508633e-a55c-460b-ac90-d1f5d78fd1b5/cabnnnnn-files-in-folder-windowstemp?forum=winservergen

At the current time, no there isn't a way to do this with the bitflock app. However, StableBit Scanner does do this automatically.

The % indicator is of the pools size. And that can "jump around" based on the files in the pool, and how far it's through them. Each time you reboot, you start the process over. But since everythings been checked and duplicated to that point, it jumps pretty fast, till it gets to files it hasn't checked yet.

Yes. Uninstall the old version from the Dashboard. Once that's done, you can install 1.3.5.7975

If i had to guess, the issue there may be a permissions issue that is preventing the pool from duplicating (rather, de-duplicating) the file. TO be honest, I wish there was an easy way to disable the ShadowCopy service for using the DrivePool volume, as it doesn't support it. The best method to fix this is basically to "take ownership" of the file (in the security tab for the folder) and then delete the file. To do that: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309531

Well, double check the connections then (power and data). Also, are there *any* errors in the SYSTEM section for the event viewer? They may not be "disk" errors, but they may be related. As for DrivePool, it's designed to be very resilient. As long as the file system is intact, the pooled disks should be recognized when they come back online.

You should be able to just install over. It should uninstall the old components and install the new ones automatically. You DEFINITELY DO NOT need to do the manual uninstall. The only time you should do that is if you are having serious issues with DrivePool and/or it won't install/upgrade properly. Though, I would recommend uninstalling the old version from the Dashboard, and then install the new one.

That the drives have just "disappeared" isn't a good thing to start with. I'd recommend checking out the event viewer for disk related errors. As for the persistent information, we've had a similar request recently, so it's on Alex's mind. I'll mention it to him again (unless you want to head to http://stablebit.com/Contact and submit the feature request, so I can pass it onto alex directly.

You mean the remeasure option? If so, then yes, there is. If you open the "Pool Options" menu (located underneath the pool's pie chart), there is the remeasure option.

No, we don't really prioritize which drives are used. However, if you're using duplication, and have read striping enabled, it will use both disks the files are on, and increase performance. And that said, you could use the "File Placement Limiter" balancer to configure the USB drives to ONLY be used for duplicated files (and not unduplicated). That would ensure better performance overall. Additionally, there *is* the "Ordered File Placement" balancer plugin that you can download and install. This fills one disk at a time (instead of spreading out the data), and lets you specify the order in which to fill the disks. This may be closer to what you want. https://stablebit.com/DrivePool/Plugins As for the version, it doesn't matter. Both are currently maintained. However the 1.3 version is designed specifically for WHS2011 and contains a lot more integration with the dashboard than the "newer" 2.x version does. So I'd recommend sticking with the version that you have.

Well, if you're going by disk number.... yeah, controller cards can mess that up.

No worries! But I glad you sorted it out!

I moved away from it because I was having issues with it. However... I feel ridiculously embarrassed to admit this, but the issue may have been a loose screw that somehow made it into the system and was sitting right infront of the PCI express port that the card was plugged into. But it was periodically "dropping" out hard drives, where I had to physically pull the disk and reinsert it. And once in a while, i would have to reboot before it would see the disk. I'm not sure if this issue was with the drives, the card, .......... or that screw. I've had some other issues with it (inserting a bad drive caused the card to crash the web management software in such a way that cased a BSOD caused by the tcpip.sys driver). So all in all, I didn't have a good experience. But, as I've said... However, the m1115 that I have costed me $100 on ebay, while the rocketRAID was $150. But if you do get a HighPoint card, if you don't intend on using RAID, then get the Rocket 2720SGL. The reason is that it a) lacks the RAID firmware, so it should just pass the disks through, it's a bit cheaper, and it supports SATAIII spec (6gpbs)

The Pool itself is compatible with either version of DrivePool and should have no issues switching versions.

For the most part, yeah, probably not much to move. Depending. As for the removal, regardless of the version, it tries to move everything off of the disk by default. Again, unless you use the "Force removal" option. And in both versions, any files it doesn't move will be left in the PoolPart folder, and the folder will be made visible.

Okay, well let us know how it goes.

If you want the LSI card, and don't mind hacking, get an IBM ServRAID m1015 (or m1115) and "cross flash" it to the LSI firmware. You can use the "IR" mode (RAID) or "IT" mode (HBA/just controller card). That is what I did, and I'm VERY happy with it. Though, you'd want two of these cards. That or spend the cash on an official LSI card. They're good qaulity. As for the storage, just connect the backplanes in the case to the cards. I've linked the cables that you'd need. And then you can just put drives in the bays (SAS or SATA drives will work). No need for expanders. If you plan on using RAID, than an extender wouldn't be a bad idea. But if you're passing disks through, then you are better off NOT using expanders (due to disk throughput, vs PCIe throughput). Per lane (each direction) v1.x: 250 MB/s (2.5 GT/s) v2.x: 500 MB/s (5 GT/s) v3.0: 985 MB/s (8 GT/s) v4.0: 1969 MB/s (16 GT/s) So, a 16-lane slot (each direction): v1.x: 4 GB/s (40 GT/s) v2.x: 8 GB/s (80 GT/s) v3.0: 15.75 GB/s (128 GT/s) v4.0: 31.51 GB/s (256 GT/s) And by "Lanes", this is the x# for the card (x4, x8, x16) As for power, you only need to connect one set of the power connectors (I can verify that, as that's all I need with my 4220 case). However, if you have the spare molex, no reason not to connect them. Just incase. And I definitely understand the whole "excited" bit. It is. And have you checked out my server, link in signature. Surprisingly similar to what you've described.

I'd recommend making sure you use eSATA... and that you're not connecting to a Sil card. Find something that uses Marvell.

jandrews, Are these disks in RAID arrays? If so, you may have issues. If not, then you *should* be able to move them over, but that really depends on the card. As for the card, I have a m1115, which is nearly identical to the m1015 card. I've cross flashed it to the "IT" mode. In this mode, it works as just an HBA card (controller card, no RAID option). And I'm very happy with it. I did move the drives from a HighPoint RocketRAID card, but they were not in any array. But the RocketRAID card uses a Marvell chipset (similar to the supermicro card)