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Balancing in version 1.3


pjakesson

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Yes, they are configurable. 

 

To do so, open the dashboard, go to the StableBit DrivePool tab, click on the "Disks" text (next to "Folders"), and then click on the "Balancing" option.

 

This opens up the settings. You can configure the overall settings on the main tab, and configure the balancer order (and specific balancer settings) on the "Balancers" tab. 

 

 

As for the default settings, there are a lot, so it may not be practical to list all of them here. However, there should be a link to reset the balancing settings to default, if you're not sure what they are. 

 

 

That said, the default order is:

StableBit Scanner, Volume Equalization, File Placement Limiter, Prevent Drive Overfill, Duplication Space Optimizer. 

 

Stablebit Scanner moves data off of damaged drives, but not drives with SMART errors. 

Volume Equalization has no options.

File Placement Limiter has all the options enabled, basically. 

Prevent drive Overfill is set to not fill above 90% and to empty the drive till it's to 85% (or 100GB to 200GB).

And the Duplication Space Optimizer has no options. 

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Thank you, I found the balancing options with your help.

 

In order to minimize disk writing when adding a new (empty) disk, should I disable the Volume Equalization balancer?

 

Will the effect be that the drives are filled in order, one by one?

 

Per

 

EDIT: I'm asking because I think I remember last time I added disks, data was moved from old disks to the new one(s),

in order to have them all filled equally, (but I am not sure).

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Welcome.

 

In order: 

  • StableBit Scanner
    • Pulls information from StableBit Scanner if installed. Evacuates the content of a disk and prevents new files from being placed on it, if it StableBit Scanner detects damage (unreadable sectors during surface scan).
  • Volume Equalization
    • Equalizes the usage between multiple volumes on the same physical disk. Eg, if you've partitioned the disk and have added both partitions to the same pool, this will try to equalize the usage between them. 
  • File Placement Limiter (aka Disk Usage Limiter, to reduce confusion with the "File Placement" feature)
    • Allows you to specify that certain disks receive duplicated and/or unduplicated data on the drive (this does not mean that it receives the original or copy, just that it receives duplicated data or not). 
  • Prevent Drive Overfill
    • What it sounds like. If a single disk gets too full (90+%, by default), it will attempt to move data off of the drive, until it's only 85% full (by default). 
      This is specifically because the amount of freespace on the drives is what is checked when creating new files. Since we can't create a file larger than the free space on that drive, having some free space ensures that you don't error out (even if you still have 100's GBs of free space "globally". 
  • Duplication Space Optimizer
    • Essentially, reorganizes the pool to remove the "unusable for duplication" value on the pool. 

Most of these balancers will not cause a lot of activity on the pool as they won't move files around often. Except for in their specific cases. 

 

 

 

There are three Balancer Plugins, which you must download and enable, if you want that sort of functionality. They are:

  • Ordered File Placement
    • This fills up one (or two, or more, with duplication) disk at a time. Files are placed on the specific disk and filled in the order specified in the balancer. Once a disk is filled, it moves onto the next disk in the list. 
    • Do not use this balancer if you are using the SSD Optimizer balancer as well.
      There is an issue with how they both work that will cause it to forever move data around.  The fix is that we include this balancer as an option in the SSD Optimizer balancer. 
  • SSD Optimizer
    • Essentially, it creates a write cache for the pool. New files are placed on the "SSD" drives (though these need not be SSDs, but we do recommend fast drives).  Then later, they are balanced off of the SSD drives and onto the "Archive" drives.  This is determined by the balancing settings (on the "Settings" page).
    • The SSD Optimizer balancer also features a section for the "Ordered File Placement" balancer, which you can then configure to fill up a single disk or multiple disks at a time. 
    • If you are using duplication, you will need multiple "SSD" drives here. This is because the "real time duplication" option writes the copy to all destination disks.  But if there are not enough disks (eg only one SSD), then it will fall back onto other disks (in this case, slower, archive disks). 
  • Disk Space Equalizer
    • This forces the pool to balance the data between the drives, and maintain it.  You can specify "by percentage" or "by free space". 
    • This is the balancer that is more likely to constantly move data around (depending on the balancer settings), to keep everything "in line". 
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