Need to reinstall Windows - Drivepool steps?

[fleggett]

(My apologies if this is in a FAQ somewhere, but I didn't see one.)

 

I suspect I have a critter running around my Windows 10 installation and would like to do a fresh reinstall.  What are the steps I need to perform in order to restore my pool?  I'm currently running 2.1.1.561.  I'm also running 2.5.1.3062 of StableBit Scanner.  Thanks in advance.

 

[Christopher (Drashna)]

Deactivate the license, disconnect the drives, reinstall Windows, reconnect the drives, reinstall the StableBit DrivePool, activate the license.

 

That's it.  Nothing else to it.  The software will automatically re-pool the existing drives without any interaction needed from you.  

 

The caveat is that you may need to reset the permissions on the pool.  

 

And basically the same for StableBit Scanner. 

[fleggett]

Hi Chris.  Thanks for the quick reply.  When you say deactivate the license, do you mean the transfer option?  I don't see a way to outright deactivate anything (neither Drivepool nor Scanner).

 

Oops - nevermind, I see the deactivate option now.  I updated my motherboard's bios today and it tripped the transfer option, which revealed the deactivate button.

 

I'm curious, though - what happens if you don't disconnect the drives before the wipe?  Will the pool become inaccessible at that point?

[Christopher (Drashna)]

You're very welcome! 

 

And I'm glad to hear that you figured it out.

 

And yes, updating the BIOS/firmware will trigger the "transfer" state.   

 

 

For reference (for others), this is how you deactivate the licenses: 

• StableBit DrivePool 1.X: Open the Dashboard (either remotely or locally), and click on the "Settings" button in the dashboard (top, right section). Open the "DrivePool" section in the Settings window, and click on the "manage license" link at the bottom of the page.
• StableBit DrivePool 2.X/Stablebit CloudDrive: Open the UI on the system that the software is installed on, click on the "Gear" icon in the top, right corner and select the "manage license" option.
• StableBit Scanner: Open the UI on the system that Scanner is installed on. Click on "Settings" and select "Scanner Settings". Open the "Licensing" tab, and click on the "Manage license" link.

This will open a window that shows you the Activation ID, as well as a big button to "Deactivate" the license. Once you've done this, you can activate the license on a new system.

 

 

 

I'm curious, though - what happens if you don't disconnect the drives before the wipe?  Will the pool become inaccessible at that point?

 

Nothing.  Usually.  However, in some cases, myself and others have seen Windows setup install the boot loader onto one of the other drives.

 

This is fine until the drive fails.....  And then you have no idea why the system won't boot.   

 

 

The other is to make sure it is obvious which drive you want to wipe and install Windows to.  Otherwise, data recovery!!!

 

 

And yes, once you've disconnected the disks, they will show up as missing if the system is powered on.  If you remove all of them, then the software will remove the pool (so no "missing" drives) 

[jmone]

Just did this without issue onto a new build.  You also need to setup your Balancing Rules etc again.

[Christopher (Drashna)]

Correct.  Balancing and performance options are not retained, but the data, and duplication settings are maintained.