Real-time/deferred duplication settings question...

[MrPapaya]

I have a drivepool with 10 drives set up as drive Y:   Everything in Y: is set to 2X real-time duplication.

Is there any way, by using the balancing settings, hierarchical pools etc, to set only one specific folder (and its sub-folders) in Y:  to NOT use real-time duplication?  I don't want to make a new drive letter if I don't have to. 

The problem i'm having is with drive image backup software such as Hasleo, Macrium Reflect, etc. They often make HUGE files (100GB and up) and I'm finding that I often get messages such as this:

==================================================================================
Duplication Warnings
There were problems checking, duplicating or cleaning up one or more files on the pool.

You can have DrivePool automatically delete the older file part in order to resolve this conflict.

One or more duplicated files have mismatching file parts. One reason why this can happen is if something changed the duplicated file's parts directly on the pooled disk and not through the pool. This can also happen if a disk was altered while it was missing from the pool.

You can resolve the conflicts manually by deleting the incorrect file part from the pooled disks.

Files:

\Pool2\Backup\SYSTEM_Backups\JR4_backups\JR4_RDI\JR4_C_NVME__D_SSD_20240409220013_224_4.rdr
File parts different.

\Pool2\Backup\SYSTEM_Backups\JR4_backups\JR4_RDI\JR4_C_NVME__D_SSD_20240409220013_224_2.rdr
File parts different.

\Pool2\Backup\SYSTEM_Backups\JR4_backups\JR4_RDI\JR4_C_NVME__D_SSD_20240409220013_224_3.rdr
File parts different.

=====================================================================================

Since there's no easy way to know what size the completed backup file is going to be, I figure it's best to let Drivepool wait until the entire large file is completed before duplication begins.

Is there a simple way to accomplish this without setting up new drive letters, network file shares, etc?

[Shane]

I think that's not currently possible. It does sound useful and you might wish to submit a feature request (e.g. perhaps "when setting per-folder duplication, can we please also be able to set whether duplication for a folder is real-time or scheduled") to see if it's feasible?

[MrPapaya]

 Yea, I couldn't find any way other than making a new drivepool.  Anyhow, I have an idea what's going on, not positive.  The drives in that pool range in size from 6TB all the way down to 500GB.  As the pool fills up, those small drives run out of space unless the balancing plugins are set up right.

I found that I had most of the balancing plugins deactivated for ??? reason.  I activated ORDERED FILE PLACEMENT, and put the larger drives at the top of the list. That should fix things. I think using the SSD optimizer is another way to solve the issue.

Another option (that I don't like) is to set my backup software to limit backup files to a maximum size, maybe 25GB each.

[Shane]

Hmm. It's very kludgy, but I wonder:

Pool X: enough drive(s) to handle backup cycle workload. Duplication disabled.

Pool Y: the other drives. Duplication (real-time) enabled.

Pool Z: consists of pools X and Y. Folders in File Placement section set so that all folders EXCEPT the backup folders go directly to Y. SSD Optimizer to use pool X as "SSD" and pool Y as "Archive". Balancing settings to un-tick "File placement rules respect..." and tick "Balancing plug-ins respect..." and tick "Unless the drive is...".

Result should in theory be that everything except the backup folders (and any files in the root folder of Z) get duplicated real-time in Y, while backups land in the X and only later get emptied into Y (whereupon they are duplicated)?