Using SSD Optimizer for archive (shingled) drives

[RobbieH]

I have two regular hard drives (WD Red) and one Archive drive. I want files to first copy to the regular drives, then be moved off later to the archive drive. I'm guessing I can do this with the SSD Optimizer. Under Drives, I set the two regular drives as SSD, then the archive drive as Archive. I'm not sure what the best way to set the rest of the settings would be. 

 

Also, would this affect how duplication is performed? In my case, it really won't matter if all the duplication is done on the two regular drives (SSD in optimizer) but I certainly do not want to end up with no duplicated files.

 

I have set the file placement to drop all of my movie rips and TV shows onto all three, since I never duplicate these. I can always re-rip them if I need to, and since they are what takes up 99% of my space. Everything else is stored just on the two regular drives since these are more dynamic.

[Christopher (Drashna)]

That is absolutely fine, and honestly, with the SMR drives, I would recommend something like this. 

 

That said, using it in this way shouldn't be a problem either.  However, it will keep data on the "SSD" drives (the Reds), as there won't be a valid target for the second copy of the files.   This may cause the "pool condition" to degrade over time, until you add a second archive drive. 

 

However, what may help here is to shrink both of the SSD drives by ~100-200GBs, add additional partitions, use THOSE partitions for the "SSD"s, and the main (larger partitions) for "archive".  This may make things appear better and work better, in the short term. 

[RobbieH]

I like that idea, thanks!

 

Hey, this is unrelated, but I need some help. On a separate server, I have had some major corruption issues. The primary drive is a 3TB WD Red, and the duplication drive is my one last remaining Seagate 3TB bundle of joy. I don't know what caused it, but data on both drives got really really badly corrupted. I think I have a situation where both drives are failing at the same time. I started getting SMART errors on both drives at about the same time, and now I'm to the point that I removed the Seagate from the pool and diskpart / clean 'd the drive. On the WD, it is so corrupted that even after 3 days chkdsk /r will not complete, it hangs at the end. So, I tried removing that drive, but it will not complete. 

 

Here is what I THINK I need to do, but I need a sanity check:

Stop drivepool, and copy everything from the PoolPart folder on the WD Red that is failing to the new drive. I'm thinking at this point to go as far as to uninstall DrivePool. Install 2nd new drive. Create new pool with same drive letter as the old pool. Data will move to new PoolPart folders and will operate as it did before.

 

Does this sound correct?

[Christopher (Drashna)]

You're very welcome!  
 

As for the drives, ouch. I'm sorry to hear that.

 

As for what to do: 

Stop the "StableBit DrivePool Service". (run "services.msc" and do so from there).  This will stop the software from balancing (moving data around).  

 

From there, yes, you can copy the contents of the "PoolPart" drive to a new disk.  Don't copy the "PoolPart" folder itself, just the contents of it.  

 

Then you would want to "seed" the pool:

http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Q4142489

 

(basically, start the service back up, add the disks to the pool, move the contents into the new PoolPart folder, and remeasure the pool). 

 

 

Also, if you haven't already, use the "Advanced RMA" option for these drives, if they're still under warranty. 

[RobbieH]

Eh, no reason to say sorry, it happens, and I made bad choices on drives.

 

I said WD Red, that's incorrect. My 5TB drives in the other server are reds. This is a 3TB Green that I ran WDIDLE3 on, trying to get more life out of it. It is 2 years out of warranty, so that tells you it's not a "fresh" drive.  Lessons learned on both of those. 

 

I just ordered a pair of 4TB (I don't need huge space in this server) HGST NAS drives to replace them. They will be here tomorrow. These are the drives that record data from my Blue Iris system (ten 3MP cameras), so I figure a little more speed can't hurt, and they were only a few bucks more. Of course I use them for more than just that, but that's what keeps them busy all the time. Been wanting to try some of them anyway, even though they may be more noisy, generate a little more heat and use a little more power. It didn't hurt that I was able to order them today and they will be here tomorrow for free, the WD Reds were 2 BUSINESS day shipping, which meant Monday evening.

[Christopher (Drashna)]

Well, I'm sorry to hear about it, because drive failure always sucks. Regardless of the reason. 

 

And yeah, definitely not "fresh" drives.

 

And I hope you're enjoying Blue Iris. It really is nice software.