Christopher (Drashna)

Another thing to may do is to run a disk check on all of the drives, to make sure there aren't any errors.

That's definitely not supposed to happen. I hate to say this, but I'd recommend rebooting the server. If it's just measuring, then there shouldn't be any risk to the files. if you can, do this afterwards: http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Error_Reports This may indicate some of the issues that are occurring. But if this problem comes back, please do this then: http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_System_Freeze

Oh, the FTP may definitely be the issue then.... One utility that I use personally when trying to track down issues like this is "Unlocker". It only works on the local drives, but it's good for trying to figure out what's locking files. Though I am not sure how well it will work on the DrivePool drive though. Also, what FTP server are you using, by the way?

Ah, I think I know what the issue may have been here. The old settings files may have caused an issue here. But I'm not entirely sure. If you want to migrate back to the 1.3 branch, try doing this: http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Q8964978 As for backporting the UI, that is up to Alex (the developer). Personally, I would like to see the dashboard integration in 2.x (even if it's a separate installer). But since this is a beta... it is still possible.

We are waiting till the 2.x version is much closer to release (or at least RC) before writing the manual. There have been a lot of changes recently, and we'd rather wait til everything is "feature set" before writing it (otherwise we'd have to change it once a month or more often). Though if you want to contribute right now... if you are using any controller cards in your server, there is a "Compatibility" section for StableBit Scanner, so we can gather information about what chipsets work well with it.

Thanks for following up. I've responded to the ticket already, but most of that is info I've posted here as well. There is a link in the post I made a couple of days ago with the blog post about what exactly has changed. it's the "locking and caching" code that is most likely the issue here.

Glad to hear that you've heard great things about our product! We don't have a PDF of the manual, but there is a web link for it. However it's only for the 1.3 version (the WHS2011 version). http://stablebit.com/Support/DrivePool/Manual If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

.... Ah, technology.... a fickle mistress... Well, glad it suddenly decided it wanted to work... but still looks like you're having other issues. Maybe you should consider doing a fresh install of WHS2011. It sounds like the system has issues (or maybe run "sfc /scan"). But what's happening specifically with the connector software? And have you tried disabling IPv6 yet?

That is very odd. It should have recognized them right away. Have you made sure that DrivePool is activated (or at least in it's Trial Activation). If it still isn't registering, check that the drives are actually recognized properly, and as NTFS volumes (you can do this in "Disk Management", to access that, run "diskmgmt.msc", or open up "Computer Management" located in Administrative Tools under "System and Settings" in the control Panel). If they are recognized, double check the drives for the hidden "PoolPart" folders. And if those are there, do this: http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Error_Reports

@danfer: Is it happening before, or is it only now happening in 2.0.0.312? Either way, if you want to follow this link: http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_2.x_Log_Collection That may help us isolate the issue.

It really depends on which folder. If it was one of the actual shared folders... that may be why. Also, if the media streamer is making an index pass, that could do it... or a number of other background services... Worst case, you could probably just try again in a bit. (there are also a number of tools to look at "locked files") Oh, and are you doing this over the network, or "locally". And as for the backups... there is no such thing as too many backups. Seriously. It just make get expensive...

Oh, that definitely sounds like a fun experience. And it sounds like the NIC drive basically crashed when it went to sleep, or resumed...

I'm glad that you got all of this sorted out. And that's very weird that the power saving option was causing issues. But noted anyways. Windows sure can be weird some times....

rmf, have you checked out the "disk space equalizer" balancing plugin, I think that may be more of what you want, as it should automatically keep each drive similarly filled. http://stablebit.com/DrivePool/Plugins

If you use the "Show Hidden Files" option, you'll noticied a hidden "PoolPart.xxxx" folder (where the xxxx's are a bunch of letters and numbers, formatted in a "GUID" string). Anything that is in this folder is in the pool. Anything not in this folder is NOT in the pool. Simple as that. And as for when you remove a drive from the pool, it depends on the options you select. But it moves them to other drives in the pool, if possible. So, ideally here, you should add the 2x 4TB drives, and *then* remove the 2TB drives. That way, the contents get moved onto those 4TB drives. I think I covered all of your questions here. If I didn't, or if you need clarification, or you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask. Regards

Well, glad you got it sorted out then. Also, if I may make a suggestion here... don't use Z:\ on the clients. If you need to use the Client Computer restore feature, it will throw a fit, because it expects to be able to use the Z: drive (or at least, WHSv1, and WHS2011 have this issue, and I suspect it wasn't changed in 2012E).

Then the next thing I would recommend is running a full disk check on the drives. If the file system is damaged, it could cause this sort of issue as well. Also, could you try changing the letter for the pool to something other than Z:\ and see if it works?

Check DrivePool, to make sure it's not reporting any missing disks. After that, use the WSS Troubleshooter to "Reset NTFS Permissions on the Pool", and then the "Rebuild DrivePool Shares". But make sure you run the tool as Admin, to make sure it has full privileges.

Awesome, thanks for taking the time to reply with all the information! And looks like an awesome setup.

@otispresley: nice setup, looks similar to mine (at least in services). For the "fault management, MRTG, and Unified Communications", what software are you using?

If the error is happening during boot, then it may be that not all the drives are loaded into the pool.... But as for the Essentials stuff, all that stuff is logged in "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\WindowsServer\Logs" (or something very close to that). I can take a look at that if you want (best would be to upload it to dropbox or another cloud sync site, as the logs can be large. Otherwise, I'm not sure why it would be triggering that "randomly".

Alex significantly changed the "Lock" system used by DrivePool, in part to greatly improve the functionality, performance and reliability. However, any significant change means that there is always going to be issues that crop up. http://blog.covecube.com/2013/07/stablebit-drivepool-2-0-0-310-beta-file-system-improvements/ If you guys would be willing to grab some logging data and send it to http://stablebit.com/Contact, we'll see about getting the issue sorted. To enable the logging: http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_2.x_Log_Collection

There is a new update for DrivePool 2.x out today. There are a lot of changes, and it may fix a lot of these backup issues. I'm not sure, though. If you want to head to http://stablebit.com/DrivePool/Download and update the system and see if it fixes the issue. If not, let us know. As for Storage Spaces.... I can dig up a few more horror stories if you really want. But the lesson is that it's super new, and not well tested out yet. I'd recommend staying away from it till it's been well tested. And even then...

That would be a very good reason to stop using them! And you have checked to see if the drives are still under warranty, right? I suspect they're not, but free/cheap RMA would be a great idea, once they're cleared out.

Check the "Balancers" on the DrivePool UI. I believe the "File Placement Limiter" balancer may be what you want. As for changing the folder structure... There isn't a "master version" of the file. So changing it like you suggest would at best add a lot more overhead to DrivePool for a relatively small gain. I'm sure Alex can explain this better than I, though.