Christopher (Drashna)
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Posts posted by Christopher (Drashna)
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If you're messing with the old "D:\shared" folder structure.... don't. Those are all the tombstones.
Also, you are doing/have done this, correct?
http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Q5463715
This makes the migration process SUPER simple, easy and quick.
(sorry that I overlooked/forgot to mention this sooner)
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Yes, you should definitely add the the other folders. Click on the "Modify" button and make sure those folders are added.
After doing that, then do the "rebuild" option.
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Yes, please run the WSS Troubleshooter, and use the "Reset NTFS permissions on the pool" option. This will take a while, but it will reset the permissions into a "blank, usable" state that should not have any issues with accessing the files.
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@otispresley
The backups should not be compatible between WHS2011 and Server 2012 Essentials. You'd want to reset the database unfortunately.
@dslabbekoorn,
I have kind of lost my train of thought.
Depending on where the backup is, there is a "quick trick" to add it to the pool. If the drive for the backups is added to the pool already... You could stop the client backup service, move the backup database into the hidden "PoolPart.xxxx" folder, and then restart the service. And then use the dashboard to "move" the folder.
As for how the server knows where... Check out the registry. "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Server\Backup", and check the "DatabaseName" string. That's the value it uses to locate the database. IIRC.
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Well, that may have been just a temporary glitch. If it comes back, then let us know.
As for the duplication, it does check periodically to make sure that everything is duplicated (or not) properly. And if you reset the settings, it will need to recheck that. So that should be okay.
If this takes an excessively long time (like a day or more), and you don't have a *lot* of files (like hundreds of thousands, of images for example), then something may definitely be "up". If this is the case, then you'll want to do this:
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Yup, the culprit here is Windows Search. Which has always been a bit on the unstable side....
Rebuild it, and make sure that the Pool is indexed, as Doug has pointed out.
Regards
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That's definitely odd.
Would you mind getting a memory dump of the dashboard, and the "DrivePool.Service.exe" process and uploading them to us?
http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Dashboard_Freeze
(there is a box.net upload link at the bottom of that page).
After that, try resetting the settings for DrivePool, and that should resolve the issue. Though, you'll need to activate one more time.
http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Q2299585
Regards
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It's apparently not up now, but Alex actually had some utilities for checking and "dumping" backs to a VHD. I'm not sure if they still work, but here is a working link for them:
http://web.archive.org/web/20110906045353/http://blog.whssafebackup.com/
And as for the error, it looks like the client recovery wizard is actually crashing. I'm not sure why that would happen, other than memory issues (it uses a "RAM disk" to load the environment). So I'd recommend running a memory test on that computer.
That, or I found another thread that may be relevant to your issue:
But basically, it looks like if you're using an UEFI system, you need to select the "UEFI USB:" option to boot from the restore disk.
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So it's still failing on the Pool? That's very odd.
If you restart the database (move the location, but not the files), does that work?
Also, maybe resetting permssions on the pool may help:
http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Utilities
Use the "Reset NTFS Permissions on the pool" option. This will reset permissions on the entire pool though.
And if it's still happening, could you enable the "tracing logging" so we can get a detailed "view" of what exactly is going on?
http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_2.x_Log_Collection
And this is highly unusual. I've been using the backups in the Pool since day one, and have had no issues.
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Saiyan,
No. The surface scan is read only. The only time we write is if we are able to recover files, after you've told it to.
The same thing goes with the file system check. We don't alter any of the data on the drives without your explicit permission.
And to clarify, we don't really identify if it's a SSD or HDD. We just identify the drive (using Windows APIs). How we handle the drive doesn't change between SSD or HDD. And in fact, because of what Scanner does, it doesn't matter what kind of drive it is because we are "hands off" with your drives. Grabbing the information about the drives and running the scans are all "read only" and doesn't modify anything on the drives. The only time we write to the drives is when you explicitly allow it (repair unreadable data, or fix the file system). And because we use built in tools/API when we do this, Windows should handle any "SSD" specific functionality/features.
I just wanted to make this clarification, because you seem to be very hesitant about Scanner and SSDs.
But basically Scanner itself doesn't care if the drive is a SSD or not, because nothing we do should ever adversely affect your SSD.
Data integrity is our top priority, and we try to go out of our way to preserve your data.
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That depends on the drive. But in most cases, yes. Sort of. We don't report if it's a HDD or SSD, but we do list the SMART attributes, and in the "Disk Details", we list the features that the drive reports that it supports.
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Glugglug,
This has actually been brought up before. It's on Alex's to-do list, but it's not an easy feature to support. But it is definitely on his mind.
http://community.covecube.com/index.php?/topic/57-symbolic-link-support/
But thank you for your feedback, we really do appreciate it!
Regards
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There is a Box.com upload widget at the bottom of this link:
http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_Scanner_Freeze
Submit it there, and we'll take a look at it.
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Between those logs, and Alex (the developer) inspecting the machine himself, I don't think there is any more data that we would need.
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Saiyan,
Yes, a lot of the SMART data, especially on SSDs, is very manufacturer specific.
If if the raw data is there, check the SMART data page for the drive. That should list all the identified SMART attributes. But you can check the "Submit to Bitflock" option. This sends us data, and Alex goes through it to add more detailed info about the drives. So if the RAW data is there....
For example, my SSD has a "Media Wearout Indicator". It's an OCZ Vertex 4. And very vender specific.
And no, TRIM support won't matter. It's mainly what is actually exposed via SMART data, and what we've identified.
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Okay, so the Pooling is enabled, you've checked with the DirectIO Test app which didn't get any results?
Did you get a green check by SMART Attributes at all? Either with UnsafeDirectIO or not?
If not, then they're doing something special with their drivers, I think.
Are you using the manufacturer drivers? If so, did it have the option to use the generic windows drivers? (run device manager, aka devmgmt.msc), find the adapter, check the properties and see if it lets you roll back. If it does, try doing that and see if DirectIO Test will get the data.
If not, let us know.
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Okay, I'm not surprised that the ErrorReports directory is empty. Those only tend to get created when the service crashes or experiences a critical error.
But yes, the next time the "error" comes up, grab a memory dump of scanner. Both the "Scanner.Service.exe" and the UI ("Scanner.UI.exe", if this is the windows version, which it looks like)
Those may be larger, so you'd want to use the Box.com upload widgets on the linked page above.
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Well, from the looks of the SMART data, it looks like everything is fine. It may have been an issue with the SMART data that was being reported, but cleared up.
If this happens again, or frequently, I'd definitely look into the drive's health (download the manufacturer's tools, and verify the health), and maybe check the cables (make sure they're not loose or damaged)
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the WHS2011 version of DrivePool (1.3) does not allow you to add the system disk to the pool at all. However, the "generic Windows" version (2.x) does allow you to add the system volume.
But either way, I'd recommend partitioning the system disk, to only include a "small" section for the OS and programs, (like ~100GB), and use the rest for data/pool. You could do 50GB, but that's 16GB for the OS, plus the page file (roughly 1.5x the installed RAM), plus the hibernate file (roughly 75% of the installed RAM), plus temp storage (like updates). 60GB would be better, but if you install a lot to it, you'll fill it up pretty fast.
And no, this would definitely not cause any issues, other than maybe backup issues (Windows Backup is kind of draconic, not a lot of options) and IO usage.
And speaking of which, IIRC, that model has a 1x and a 16x PCI express port. You could add an eSATA controller card and hook on more drives that way.
And there are a couple of ways to get Windows to boot off of USB. Namely, Windows To Go comes to mind. But that requires Windows 8 Enterprise, which is VLK. That, or there is a Windows 7 "USB edition" that I saw a while ago.
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Maybe it was an issue with the disk itself then... If it was the same disk.
And Syncback Pro looks like a good backup solution. I'll definitely have to take a look into it.
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Well, we keep an extensive changelist
http://dl.covecube.com/DrivePoolWindows/beta/download/changes.txt
If i had to guess, it may have been related to read striping, but I' not sure.
And Alex is still hard at work trying to improve DrivePool. And to get it to an official stable build.
But I'm very glad to hear that everything is working properly now.
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If it is disabled by default, you will definitely need to enable it first.
After that, if it's still not showing up, then you may need to enable the "UnsafeDirectIO" option to get the data.
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That is very odd.
On scanner, see the "submit to bitflock" checkbox? Could you do that and report the BitFlock ID
And could you grab the error reports from scanner?
http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_Scanner_for_Windows_Error_Reports
And a dump of the service, just incase?
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Am I correct in assuming that these drives were blank/empty disks before adding them to the pool?
If so, could you do this:
http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_2.x_Log_Collection
And try duplicating the .... duplication error.
If they are not "brand new" or newly formatted, could you try running the WSS Troubleshooter and run the "Reset NTFS permissions on the pool", as the issue could be something as "simple" as misconfigured NTFS permissions.
Duplication Errors
in General
Posted
Well, "C:\ProgramData\StableBit DrivePool\Service\Logs\Service" stores a list of all the errors like this.
And, I'm pretty certain that DrivePool does keep on duplicating other files, and just reports the erroneous ones.
(but I'll flag Alex, so he can confirm that, as well as because that's a nice suggestion, about listing the duplication errors).