Christopher (Drashna)

The drive letter being bumped shouldn't have caused this to occur, in the first place.  We use the Volume ID, not the drive letter to determine where the files go (as this doesn't change).
 
As for CloudDrive. you can set the upload threads to "0", and this will pause the upload (located in "Drive Options -> IO Performance".  You can then delete or move the content back into the pool, delete it, and then it should be okay.  Set the threads back to the previous number, and you should be good to go.

I'm not sure.
 
Run a burst test just in case. 
Otherwise, the "nuclear solution" is to reset the settings.
 
But see below:
 
 
Try the latest internal beta build:
http://dl.covecube.com/DrivePoolWindows/beta/download/StableBit.DrivePool_2.2.0.649_x64_BETA.exe
There have been some serious changes to the read striping and related code. It may fix the issue you're seeing.
 
Unfriend, you should try this out as well, as it may fix the issue for you as well. 

That's definitely odd.
 
Upgrading to the latest beta build may help with this:
http://dl.covecube.com/DrivePoolWindows/beta/download/StableBit.DrivePool_2.2.0.639_x64_BETA.exe
 
Otherwise, resetting the settings will most likely fix it:
http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Q2299585B
(the pooled data, and the duplication settings will remain intact, but the balancing settings will be reset).
 
However, if upgrading didn't help, would you mind grabbing a few things before you reset the data?
http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_2.x_Error_Reports
http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Service_Memory_Dump

Some files are initially created, but I believe that only the used space is what is stored on the provider. 

I'm guessing you're using version 2.5.1.3062 or before.
 
The beta version fixes this issue, specifically:
Windows Home Server 2011: http://dl.covecube.com/ScannerWhs2/beta/download/StableBit.Scanner_2.5.2.3102_BETA.wssx
Windows/Standalone: http://dl.covecube.com/ScannerWindows/beta/download/StableBit.Scanner_2.5.2.3102_BETA.exe
 
 
Specifically, this is a UI bug with rendering under Remote Desktop.

Alex has updated the BitFlock rules, so this should get SMART data now.
 
If you open the SMART data for one of the disks in the system, you should be able to manually update the BitFlock rules. Otherwise, you should see an update in the next seven days.

Nope.
 
The only files it creates is a ".covefs" folder in the root of the drive (which is "super hidden"), and ".copytemp" files for when it's balancing and duplicating data. 

For the most part, the File Placement rules should be what you want. 
 
For instance, create a rule for "\Videos\Movies\*" and enable it for just the drives you want. Make sure you set the "allow files to be placed on other drives..." setting, so that once the drive is full, it will place the files on other disks.
 
 
However, are you frequently deleting files (such as the music and TV shows)? If not, then this really shouldn't matter. The reason is that the SMR tech has issues more with rewriting files than fragmentation. 
If you're constantly adding files to the pool/drive and not actually deleting them, then there shouldn't be an issue here.
 
 
 
 
 
As for the rules, what do you mean specifically?
And you can can go to the "rules" tab and manually type them in.  This may be closer to what you want, anyways.

Was this a clean installation or an upgrade?
And if was an upgrade, to what version and from which version?
 
Okay. Could you uninstall the current version, and make sure that "C:\Program Files\StableBit\CloudDrive" is empty. 
If it's not, make sure you manually stop the services for it in "services.msc", use task manager to "end" the notification app, delete the directory, reboot and then reinstall?

Duplication is the priority. The code regarding it tries to respect the balancing setttings (including file placement rules), but will disregard them if it's not able to find a valid drive to place the files.
This is intential, as duplication is literally the most important feature here. As it should be.
 
 
 
As for the drives, Yes, StableBit DrivePool is "aware" of the physical disks.  It will ACTIVELY avoid placing duplicated data on the same physical disk, if you have two partitions on the same drive added to the pool.  This way, you don't lose data because we "did something stupid" basically (what's the point of duplicating the data if both copies are on the same disk!!). 
This is also why we don't support Dynamic Disks. It makes the detection significantly more complex, and would adversely affect performance.  That's coupled with the wierd and random issues that Dynamic disks have, especially when moving to other systems (the "import foreign disks" thing can fail, and I've had it happen to me .... it's not fun, as you've basically just lost your data because of this). 
 
 
 
And hopefully, everything stays stable and sane! And it definitely sounds like the failing drives were the issue.

Honestly, it depends on how you want to do it.
 
If you have the space available, you can remove the drive you want to replace first. 
 
But you could absolutely add the new drive, and then remove the smaller drive from the pool afterwards.
 
 
 
However, what I recommend here:
Remove the drive from the pool. Use the "Duplicate files later" option. This will remove the drive quickly, as it's leaving the duplicates on the drive. After the disk is removed, it will recheck the duplication status of the pool, and reduplicate files as needed.
Before it starts doing that, physically remove the "old" drive, and connect the larger drive.
This way, when it starts duplicating the data, it will use the new drive most likely. This will minimize the reshuffling of the files on the pool.

Well, it is definitely by design, but it definitely feels like magic.
 
Assuming you're reinstalling on the same box:
 Deactivate the license on the "old" box (and note the activation key before that I would think) Turn off the system and take the pooled HDDs out (to make sure you can only install to the correct disk) Reinstall the OS Install and activate DrivePool on the new installation Reconnect the HDDs in the system (turn off and do so, if needed) As soon as the system sees the pooled drives, StableBit DrivePool will detect the drives and recreate the pool automatically.

Good catch. Submitting official feature request to Alex:
https://stablebit.com/Admin/IssueAnalysis/2175
 
 
Preliminary support for ReFS has been added to the software. It is present in the beta versions, but may change. 
 
We need to investigate exactly how to implement ReFS, and what we can do with it specifically. There are some serious opportunities for advanced handling of the file system, and we want to make sure that this is done right.  For instance: 
Checking the integrity streams when accessing files or running a duplication pass Replacing a file that has failed the integrity check with a known good copy on another disk, when duplication is enabled Showing the pool as ReFS instead of NTFS (more for Scanner, but) run regular integrity checks on the disks. Other, unforeseen complications or features that could be added.   
Needless to say, this isn't as simple as just turning on the ability to use ReFS and will definitely take some time to investigate. 
 
Unfortunately, we are a small company, and our resources are limited. That means that this won't happen until we have an RC or release version of StableBit CloudDrive (which we hope is soon).