Christopher (Drashna)

Yes, exactly. If you plug in/enable one or more the disks from "Pool B" in, it will recognize the disk, and even list the missing disks. As well as show the current contents, in a "Read Only" mode. Once they're all attached, it will list all the contents and set it back to "normal" (no longer read only). Ouch! Well, at least it was the UPS that died, and hopefully not your hardware! And you can see why I adamantly recommend them. And I definitely understand the "off site" storage. It's actually REALLY good idea. Because, you know, what happens if the site catches on fire? Or the like. I know that's being a bit on the paranoid side, but it *is* a possibility. And yeah, cloud is ... horrible. How many cloud services also OWN your data? And better yet, how many will report that a gov't service has a warrant for your data? And best yet, have you actually READ the EULA for the service?

That I did understand. And sorry if I skipped over some facts here. Specifically, even if the Pool was under 2TBs, we don't support Volume Shadow Copies. Which means you cannot use Server Backup to backup the pool, as that feature is built on and completely dependant on the Volume Shadowcopy Service (VSS). You'd need to backup the individual pool parts. That is the only supported method to backup the pool. Sorry. You can use other file based solutions (such as Allways Sync, or Microsoft's SyncToy), to copy the files to a different drive/pool.

Absolutely. In fact, we have a Balancer Plugin that is actually designed to facilitate that too! It's called the "Archive Optimizer" Balancer. http://stablebit.com/DrivePool/Plugins http://dl.covecube.com/DrivePoolBalancingPlugins/ArchiveOptimizer/Notes.txt

Okay. And yeah, I can understand that. But yeah, it's just making sure that you want to change it.

lol, well, it's too late to wish you luck now. But I hope the day was fruitful. And yeah, I'm not surprised. Lots of good deals. Like the Surface RT 32GB for $200. And I hope you like those Nokia's. I'm not a fan of Windows Phone, but it's by no means horrible. It's actually pretty decent. And I can definitely see it being a good MP3 player.

I'm glad you figured that all out! But that's not 100% correct. It's called "other" because it may not be pooled, or it may be space "used" by bad sectors, or system space, or the difference between used sectors and actually used space. (which is probably why you have ~400MBs of "other" too). I know it's not the best name, but it's the most accurate. Agreed. We will see about adding that in the future. Actually, we've recently discussed that recently, internally. Okay, thanks for the feedback. We'll see what we can do about this one. And thank you for taking the time to post the updates!

dbailey's 100% correct. As for the drive letter thing.... try running "mountvol /n" from an elevated command prompt. It will stop windows from automatically assigning drive letters.

All the "data" about the pool is actually stored on the drives themselves. Once you remove all the disks in a Pool, DrivePool is no longer "aware" of the pool. WHich not only means that removing all the disks in the pool "removes" the pool effectively, it also means that the pool is system independent. I think that pretty much answers what you're asking. If not totally directly. As for the system, I'd HIGHLY recommend buying a UPS (Battery backup) for the system. It's meant to help with power fluctuations. Surge protectors are basically glorified fuses. A good UPS does voltage regulation and such to prevent spikes and dips from affecting the hardware. They're definitely pricier, but it's definitely worth the investment (I'm a cheapskate, and *all* of my computers have a UPS attached to them)

You can just delete the files. this just "resets" the database. Once new backups on the clients start, it will recreate the database files. No harm will be done to the clients. I mean, other than losing their backups.

If that's the case, then it *should* get the SMART data normally. Also, have you tried the "UnsafeDirectIo" setting for scanner yet? http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_Scanner_Advanced_Settings That should *definitely* get everything. But it's "unsafe" for a reason. People have had issues with some of the methods used.

Each "volume" can only belong to one Pool. That said, normally, you'd only have one partition on the disk, so only one volume. But you can have multiple partitions on a drive, and you'd end up with multiple volumes on that disk. (volumes can span disks, but that requires dynamic disks which we don't support ATM). So partitioning the drives up like that, you can definitely add the multiple partitions to the same pool, even if they're on the same disk. And DrivePool is aware when volumes are on the same disk and does not use those volumes for duplication of anything on the other volume/partition on the same disk. So you don't need to set up two pools. You can keep just the one.

No, we don't usually have any sales/deals like that. Same price all year around. However, we do have occasional giveaways: http://community.covecube.com/index.php?/topic/243-the-stablebit-tweet-to-win-giveaway/

Yes, you absolutely can change the names. And through the "normal" method to do so: Open "Computer", right click on the DrivePool drive, and select "Properties". Then type the name you want, and hit "OK". It will most likely come up with a UAC prompt. But aside from that, it's just that simple.

Depending on how Quota's work on the file system level (and I suspect I have a good idea how now)... It's because of how the DrivePool volume works. It doesn't fully emulate all of the file system properties (such as reparse points, for example). Could you submit a ticket, that way it ends up on alex's to do list? right now, he's busy trying to add Reparse Point support, which isn't simple. But it may make it every easy to add quota support, but don't .... quote me. I'm soo sorry for really bad, unintentional pun. Also, by default, DrivePool should report as NTFS anymore (for compatibility reasons).

Has it been tested by alex or I? No, I don't think so. But IIRC, there are a number of people that have. But I'll see about testing... this weekend or early next week (thanksgiving and all, so I definitely understand the wanting to wait to mess with it)

That's.... upsetting. It may be just coincidental. But I wouldn't be surprised if there was some underlying problem that DrivePool brought out. Check that system's disks for other errors (such as SMART errors)? And it may be a good idea to run a memory check too. Just in case.

lol. I should try Windows Phone 8. It may be better. But I had an HTC HD2 (loved that phone), and I was able to try Windows Mobile, Android and Windows Phone 7 on that thing. I just didn't like Windows Phone's UI. Maybe because I was bitter with what was happening to Zune at the time. (Still am, in fact). But each Android phone manufacturer puts their own "skin" on the device. Meaning that it has anywhere between extremely light customization over "android source" (such as what Samsung does), up to and including a complete overhaul of the UI (HTC's Sense UI). Considering Google keeps on borrowing code and idea's from HTC.... and I love Sense, that's my choice. But honestly, it's best to go in and figure out what you like. Find a store that has "live" phones, and not the dumby ones (I hate how that's becoming more and more common.... so you can't tell which you like, you just have to take a $600 gamble....)

PJShots, Thanks for the feedback! And that's good to know.

Well, that indicates taht you have Malware Bits and Avast installed, right? It *could* be an interaction between the three. Try disabling them temporarily, and see if that fixes the issue. If it does, try starting one, and see if the issue comes back. And if you can verify which is causing the issue, let us know.

There shouldn't be, no. But anything that creates a virtual disk *may*. Or it may be remotely possible if it installs a file system filter (http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Q2159701) But aside from those.... there shouldn't be anything that adversely affects it, especially like this.

No, you don't need a drive letter for DrivePool to recognize the drive. DrivePool supports drive letters, drives mounted to folders, or not mounted at all. So you can use the drive however you want. Personally, I'd recommend mounting them to a drive letter (http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Q4822624) As for disk information, have you tried StableBit Scanner? There are a bunch of additional columns you can enable, to get more information about the disks.

Yeah, I would rather not have you do that as well. But it's best way to figure out *why* it's hanging the system like that.

Okay, I just wanted to make sure that was how everything was set up (on all accounts). And yeah, the best way for us to see what is going wrong... is that crash dump. Though, it may be a good idea to run a memory test also. But that's also very time consuming.

VPN may work. And there are mobile apps that could access "SMB" shares after you've connected the VPN. Though I can't speak for the iTunes stuff. I've avoided the Apple eco-sphere completely. And I'm using an HTC One S (though I really want/need to updated to the HTC One). I'm an HTC fanboy. They're all I've used since the HTC Dash 3G (aka HTC Maple). So... yeah. And I like Android. A lot more options, I think. I liked Windows Phone, when it was still the Zune OS. But it doesn't feel as smooth now. And yeah, ebay is a good method to make back the money. Especially during this time of year!

Well, there used to be an upload widget, I swear.... Feel free to upload to dropbox, or the like and send us a link.