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File Placement rules won't save to second partition


firedomain

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(Edit: this issue has changed, please read the last posts for more relevant info. This ended up being primarily an SSD Optimizer issue)

 

1st of all, thanks for this great program & the amount of customer support it has.
I have learnt a lot about these programs (scanner & drivepool) from reading many forum posts but unfortunately with 7 days left on my trial I am unable to find an answer to this & can't seem to solve it myself.

Anyway, short story long...
I have set some file placement rules to move small regularly accessed files to the pooled C: drive since it does not spin down.
I decided to use the SSD Optimizer on a HDD (C:) to stop multiple small writes throughout the day on drives that have spun down & instead rebalance at night. But before I installed the plugin I read that it will evacuate the drive chosen as SSD unless I disable the "unless the drive is being emptied" option, but I'm concerned that if I disable that option then if Scanner detects a failing drive it won't be able to evacuate the drive to other drives (I have specific drives assigned to specific folders). So instead I repartitioned the C: drive to make an extra 50GB partition to set as the Cache, but when I tested it, it just wrote directly to one of the other HDDs (one that was not assigned to the location that I placed the test file in!?). After several attempts at trying to figure out what I was doing wrong I disabled the SSD balancer & assigned a rule to place files in a specific cache folder onto the 50GB cache partition, but when I dropped a file into that folder it just saved it to an incorrect disk again even though I checked the option to "never allow files to be placed on any other disks"!
For the record, the 50GB cache is a logical partition, I currently have no duplicated files & real-time duplication is disabled. Also the incorrect drive that is being written to is only assigned to a "backups" folder, so shouldn't be getting any other files. If anything, the file should have gone to my "other" drive as it has a placement rule of "*" at the bottom of the placement rules.

Thanks for taking the time to read my lengthy post.
Sorry that I didn't simplify it, I just wanted you to get the full story so we can hopefully get to the bottom of this.

Thanks,
Scott

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Okay, could you try the latest beta build, then?

http://dl.covecube.com/DrivePoolWindows/beta/download/StableBit.DrivePool_2.2.0.661_x64_BETA.exe

 

There are some fixes that may help.

 

And definitely make sure the "Unless drives are being emptied". 

 

 

 

As for the StableBit Scanner balancer, it should be respected, I believe.  

The balancer creates real time placement limiters for the disk in question, and these should be respected by the file placement rules. 

Also, make sure it is the topmost balancer, as the order is the order of priority, top being the highest priority. 

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I installed the latest beta & it still refuses to write to the second partition. if i change the file placement rule to any other drive then it is respected, but if i set it to the 50GB partition it writes to a different drive instead.

im not sure how i missed the tooltip for the real-time file placement option which basically states that StableBit Scanner will override placement rules if need be, like you said.

 

because of real-time file placement rules i imagine that it is unnecessary for me to use a second partition & i should be able to use the pooled C: drive as the cache with the "Unless drives are being emptied" option disabled.

is that correct? if so i might just remove the second partition & revert back to the non beta release.

Unless you were interested in testing some other theories as to why DrivePool wont write to the second partition.

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It's very odd that it won't write to the other drive.

 

To clarify, you're using the file placement rules, but could you make sure that only the SSD Optimizer balancer is enabled? 

 

 

 

because of real-time file placement rules i imagine that it is unnecessary for me to use a second partition & i should be able to use the pooled C: drive as the cache with the "Unless drives are being emptied" option disabled.

is that correct? if so i might just remove the second partition & revert back to the non beta release.

Unless you were interested in testing some other theories as to why DrivePool wont write to the second partition.

Basically "yes", here.

 

However, with the beta version, could you enable logging and reproduce the issue:

http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_2.x_Log_Collection

This may help us get a clear idea of what is going wrong, so we can fix it.

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Sorry for the delay, i have been very busy with study.

 

 

I just realized my problem appears to possibly be unrelated to the second partition.... & im having some odd issue.

I removed the second partition from the pool & Using the current beta (2.2.0.661) with all balancers disabled i am seeing 4KB access on all pooled drives every few seconds (in StableBit Scanner).

If i copy a file to the pool while all balancers are disabled then the file goes where i would expect it to. but if i enable the SSD Optimizer & copy a file then it writes it to my 8TB HDD (set as an archive drive & only assigned to a "backups" folder.)

If i disable the DrivePool service then the regular 4KB access stops.

 

I think it is picking the 8TB drive because it has the most free space. but it seems to be skipping the assigned SSD (currently C:) & ignoring the file placement rules.

 

I have submitted 2 logs related to these issues.

I am down to 4 days remaining on my trial & would love to keep using this software, especially if i am able to benefit from the SSD Optimizer plugin.

maybe i just need to start with a fresh reinstall of drivepool? :s

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Well, depends. If you want to reset the balancing and file placement settings, there should be a link in the bottom of the Balancer settings window to do that. 

 

Otherwise, try this:

http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Q2299585B


If i disable the DrivePool service then the regular 4KB access stops.

 

 

If you're using the beta build, then that may be why.

 

To fix that, do this:

http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_2.x_Advanced_Settings

Find the "BitLocker_PoolPartUnlockDetect" setting and set it to "False".  Restart the service (run "services.msc", find the "StableBit DrivePool Service" and restart it), or reboot the system. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As for the writing of files, the depends on global balancing settings, how the balancers are setup, and the file placement rules. 

 

The big part is the three file placement settings on the main/global settings.  This explicitly determine how the file placement rules interact with the the balancers and vice versa. 

 

 

 

 

And yes, the normal strategy for new files is to write to the  disk with the most available free space. 

However, the "Real Time Placement Limiters" (the red or orange arrows above each disk in the list) limit where these new files can be placed.  If you're not seeing these, then that is a problem, as this is how the SSD Optimizer works. 

 

Also, if the disk is filled up to the Real Time Placement Limiters, it will default to adding content to the other drives in the system.

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If you want to reset the balancing and file placement settings, there should be a link in the bottom of the Balancer settings window to do that. 

Otherwise, try this:

http://wiki.covecube...ePool_Q2299585B

 

 

Ok, i reset all settings using the Q2299585B method & i did a whole bunch of messing about & have discovered that if i copy a file to a location that has no file placement rules then it is written to the assigned SSD, but if i have a file placement rule for that folder then the SSD Optimizer will write files to my 8TB instead of the SSD. since i had a rule for * at the bottom of the file placement rules, it was never writing to the SSD... also most file placement rules are not assigned to the 8TB...

I presume that this is not the expected behavior of this plugin with file placement rules...

 

Find the "BitLocker_PoolPartUnlockDetect" setting and set it to "False".

 

This fixed the 4KB access.

 

 

As for the writing of files, the depends on global balancing settings, how the balancers are setup, and the file placement rules. 

The big part is the three file placement settings on the main/global settings.  This explicitly determine how the file placement rules interact with the the balancers and vice versa.

 

I have this set to:

 

  Automatic Balancing:

Balance every day at 1:00 AM

  Automatic Balancing - Triggers:

if the balance falls below 90% or 10GB (unless im mistaken, this value is irrelevant when balancing at a set time)

  Plug-in settings:

ENABLED Allow balancing plug-ins to force immediate balancing.

  File placement settings:

ENABLED File placement rules respect real-time file placement limits set by the balancing plug-ins (i presume i need this enabled for when i re-enable the StableBit Scanner plugin for drive evacuation)

ENABLED Balancing plug-ins respect file placement rules

DISABLED Unless the drive is being emptied

 

Balancers:

ENABLED SSD Optimizer:

all drives set to "Archive" except for C: drive set to "SSD"

Options:

Fill SSD drive up to: 95%

Fill archive drives up to: 100%

Ordered Placement DISABLED

All other balancers DISABLED (for troubleshooting until i sort this out. then i will enable the StableBit Scanner balancer)

 

File Placement Rules:

* is set to write to my "Other" HDD (this rule is at the bottom)

\Games\* is set to write to my "Games" HDD

\Backups\* is set to write to my 8TB "Backups" HDD

& a few other rules that follow that basic style.

most rules are set to allow files to be placed on other disks if the selected disks are 99% full (the fullest drive is about 80% full)

the Backups rule is set to never allow files to be placed on other disks.

with SSD Optimizer disabled they work as i would expect.

 

 

 

However, the "Real Time Placement Limiters" (the red or orange arrows above each disk in the list) limit where these new files can be placed.  If you're not seeing these, then that is a problem, as this is how the SSD Optimizer works.

 

All "Archive" disks are showing the orange new file placement limit arrow at 0%,

the "SSD" disk shows it at 95%

But when testing by copying a file to any location on the DrivePool i can see via StableBit Scanner that its writing to the Backups HDD & not the assigned SSD.

 

 

Am i missing something here?

(sorry for the long reply, i was writing this as i was doing multiple troubleshooting attempts...)

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I just uninstalled DrivePool & deleted the "C:\ProgramData\StableBit DrivePool" & "%AppData%\StableBit DrivePool" folders, then rebooted & reinstalled v2.1.1.561.

After installing the SSD Optimizer again & reconfiguring to similar settings as above (except with only a single file placement rule for 1 folder for testing) it has the same behavior.

 

Copying to any part of the pool writes to the assigned SSD

Copying to a folder with a file placement rule writes to an Archive HDD with the most free space (not the HDD assigned to the file placement rule).

 

is there a way to correct this & still have settings suitable for the StableBit Scanner to be able to evacuate drives?

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Wait, are you using duplication here? Especially pool file duplicating (duplicating the entire pool )?

 

If so, and you only have the one SSD drive, then it should be writing to the SSD and to an archive drive as long as the Real Time Duplication feature is enabled. 

 

And if this is the case, there is a known bug in the performance UI that reports only one of the SSD drives when using the SSD optimizer. Double check with "resmon" in the disk section, to see if it's actually writing to both disks. (it may be harder to tell as it may not list the drive letter). 

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I am not using any pool or file duplication. i have also disabled real-time duplication just to be sure.

when copying to any folder it correctly only writes to the SSD, but when copying to a folder with a file placement rule it only writes to the archive drive with the most free space.

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Re-read this, and sorry... 

I just uninstalled DrivePool & deleted the "C:\ProgramData\StableBit DrivePool" & "%AppData%\StableBit DrivePool" folders, then rebooted & reinstalled v2.1.1.561.

After installing the SSD Optimizer again & reconfiguring to similar settings as above (except with only a single file placement rule for 1 folder for testing) it has the same behavior.

 

Copying to any part of the pool writes to the assigned SSD

Copying to a folder with a file placement rule writes to an Archive HDD with the most free space (not the HDD assigned to the file placement rule).

 

is there a way to correct this & still have settings suitable for the StableBit Scanner to be able to evacuate drives?

 

 

Try disabling the "File placement rules respect real-time file placement limits set by the balancing plug-ins."  option and see if that fixes the issue.

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