Deactivating Duplication

[Spaatz]

I've got an array of 8 HDDs totaling 151TB in Drivepool, configured with Pool File Duplication in a single pool. 

According to my metrics, that's 117TB in duplicated format and 59.9GB of "Other" with the remaining 33.9TB of free space. 

I am filling that free space over time quite quickly and have limited space available in the case to fit any further drives.  I'm contemplating deactivating Duplication on the majority of the files to regain a considerable amount of the existing space for use. 

My question is exactly what does this look like in practice?  Is it a simple matter of deselecting Pool File Duplication and DrivePool deletes all copies, retaining the originals or does this involve something more complex and time consuming? 

The vast majority of the files on the server, while of course valuable and useful to not lose, are in fact replaceable in some form or another with adequate bandwidth and time to replace them.  Some of course, are not, and are important to retain in multiple copies across drives. 

I guess I'm looking for a solution here to maximize storage space and keep important data safe but not have to retain 58TB of data in copies of files that I can easily replace. 

Thanks for any tips you could offer on the process of removing file duplication in practice and preventing loss of files of importance at the same time.

[Shane]

If you reduce or turn off Duplication (for a folder or the pool) then DrivePool simply goes through and deletes the excess instances.

If you have some files that you wish to keep duplicated then you can manage duplication on a per-folder (or folder tree) basis, e.g. I have a bunch of files I don't care about at in folders at x1, some I care about at in folders at x2 and some that I absolutely want safe that I keep in folders at x3 (and I have a backup of everything anyway externally).

There's also SnapRAID which takes a different approach (it uses parity drives) but can be used in conjunction with DrivePool. Pros and cons.