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How To Replace Hard Drives?


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I'm using Drivepool on my Windows 8 PC and currently have 4 2TB WD internal hard drives exclusively for data storage, and set up in 'duplicate' mode. Windows, and Stablebit Scanner are both telling me that one drive could die any moment, and another is on the way out.

 

Thankfully, they're both still under warranty, and I've got an RMA from Western Digital, but I don't know how to go about taking out the drives and sending off (before waiting about 10 days to get replacements). Obviously I don't want to lose any data!

 

All advice welcome. Thanks.

 

(I've added a picture to show my set up)

post-346-0-62430600-1374692183_thumb.jpg

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When you remove a disk from the pool, part of the removal process is to move all the files off of the disks. You can skip "duplicated" files which may be a good idea!

 

Given that you don't have the space to remove the drives *and* maintain duplication... That would be the bigger issue here.

If you have the money, opt for the "advanced replacement". It requires a credit card (or debit card), and they put a hold on the card equal to the amount they charge for the HDD. Then they send one out to you immediately and give you a window of time to return the bad drive. Once they get it back, they remove the hold from your card. Otherwise, if you take too long, the charge goes through.

I'd recommend this method to you, because you can get the two new drives, add them to the pool also, and then remove the bad drives from the pool.  

 

Otherwise, you'll want to use the "skip duplicate files" option when you remove the disks, and disable duplication temporarily.  Which isn't optimal at all.

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Many thanks for the advice. I'm not sure how I'd achieve that as I've not got any extra bays on my computer. Saying that I do have one 3TB external drive, and one 1TB one. If I added those, let it rebalance, then remove the faulty ones before taking them out, would that do it?

 

On a slightly different note, I've just been to check my PC and it's coming up with a duplications warning. See attachment. Any advice on that and how it also relates to my problem?

 

 

 

 

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Note that DrivePool must be told to "remove" the drives - which means it moves the pool content off those drives onto the remaining drives - before you actually physically remove the drives.

 

If you add your external drives to the pool (a good idea), don't worry about letting it rebalance before removing the faulty drives, let DrivePool take care of it during/afterward. The priority should be getting rid of the bad drives.

 

I can't see any attachment to your last post; I'd guess that means the pool has either run out of space to keep everything duplicated or it's detected it's lost/losing duplication integrity (i.e. files) on the faulty drives.

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Normal:  That error could have been caused by the bad drive, or a crash.  If you wanted to post log files (ideally to "http://stablebit.com/Contact"), I could look through them and see what is going on (or you could do so yourself, if you want). The directory in question is "C:\ProgramData\StableBit DrivePool\Service\Logs\Service".

 

And Shane is right, you should remove the bad drives immediately, or potentially risk data loss/corruption.  Just add the other drives to the pool, and remove the affected drive. It will migrate the data for you. There is also an option to basically ignore duplicated files which makes the removal faster, but puts your data more at risk (as there will only be one copy in the pool.

 

Once the drive is removed, definitely check to see if it's under warranty still, so you can RMA it and get a working drive.

 

Regards

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Hi

 

It's been a week and I've not heard back from support. I added another drive and removed the faulty drive as suggested and I've now turned on my computer to install the replacement WD drives and see this.....

 

Please can you help!

post-346-0-75176500-1375473905_thumb.jpg

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Normal, could send me your ticket number in a PM, and I'll double check on your ticket for you.

And I appologize that your ticket has gone unreplied. 

 

As for the image, it looks like it may be re-measuring the pool.

 

Also, there is a much newer build out (2.0.0.345 as opposed to 2.0.0.320). Try updating to that, and see if you still have the issue.

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