Question about moving files from pre existing disk into a new disk?

[klepp0906]

So ive used snapraid + drivepool to great effect.  However i just attempted to upgrade a drive by removing a disk from the pool (after disconnecting it) adding in the new one, and beginning a rebuild with snapraid.   Would have worked but it was at 111 hours for the rebuild (for an 12TB > 18TB).  Now a rebuild might be necessary if I had a failed disk.  However I did not.  I thought there must be a better way.

Is it possible to 

1) disconnect the current 12TB disk with data

2) remove it from drivepool

3) add the new 18TB disk so a poolpart folder is created

4) stop the service so it doesnt pick up the old disk and put it in an external dock

5) move all the data from the 12TB poolpart to the 18TB poolpart

6) restart drivepool and profit?

[Shane]

The service handles things like balancing and statistics; detecting pooled disks happens at the kernel/driver level.

Note that in DrivePool 2.x each hidden PoolPart folder has a unique extension and associated metadata identifier (even removing and immediately re-adding the same disk will result in a different one); because SnapRAID's parity calculations rely on paths remaining the same you should use the PoolPart folders (e.g. "d:\PoolPart.6cbd4f77-9511-4356-a6b3-2ce26ba79d10") as SnapRAID's data disk mount points rather than the root folders (e.g. "d:\") so that you can update the appropriate data disk mount point in the snapraid config file when you replace a drive to avoid needing a rebuild.

Presuming the above use of poolparts as data disk mount points is being done:

1. Pause SnapRAID scheduling (if you've set anything up).
    
2. Add the new drive to the pool.
    
3. Stop the DrivePool service.
    
4. Rename the "PoolPart" section of the old disk's hidden poolpart folder so it stops being an active poolpart folder (e.g. to "oldpart") but optionally leave its extension unchanged to make it easier in case you need to revert.
    
5. Copy the content (except protected system folders, e.g. "System Volume Information", which you should have set as excluded in SnapRAID) of the old disk's hidden poolpart into the new disk's hidden poolpart, then update the data disk mount point, then verify. See https://www.snapraid.it/faq#repdatadisk
6. If step 5 worked out, then you can delete the old disk's hidden poolpart and continue.
    
7. Start the DrivePool service. The old drive should be detected as "missing" and then you should remove it from the pool.
    
8. In the DrivePool GUI, choose Manage Pool -> Re-measure... to ensure it is accounting for your manual movement of content.
    
9. Resume SnapRAID scheduling (if you've set anything up).

P.S. Regarding multiple content list files in your SnapRAID config, keep in mind that due to DrivePool this means that - for example - "d:\poolpart.1\snapraid.content" and "e:\poolpart.2\snapraid.content", where "d:" and "e:" are disks in the same pool, are effectively the same file on the same disk; either keep content list files outside of the pool (e.g. "d:\snapraid.content" and "e:\snapraid.content") or use different filenames (e.g. "d:\poolpart.1\snapraid.content1" and "e:\poolpart.2\snapraid.content2").

[klepp0906]

thank you very much for the thorough answer.  So it sounds like the gist of what I was hoping was gonna work is correct.  Hopefully this will speed it up substantially.  gonna find out today!

I do point my snapraid conf to mount points, far too many disks at this point not to.   (i have a problem)

also do keep my .content files outside of the pools.  though this whole "time" thing on the rebuild has me considering how i can alleviate any overhead I have.  gonna exclude as much as i can with super small files for one, and the other bit is reducing the number of content files.  I have one on each data disk (but i have 30 data disks lol).   

[klepp0906]

so began to put this to task and even with the service stopped i cant rename the poolpart folder, any ideas?  says its in use.  so i stopped the scanner/clouddrive services as well to no avail.

EDIT: nm found my way around it, dpcmd list-open-files showed me what was hanging it up.  a folder therein being autopinned to windows explorer recents/navigation pane.  never woulda found it otherwise lol i closed everything under the sun and then some.