Adding drives with data to pool

[DaveWI]

When creating a new DrivePool or adding to an existing pool, can the drive already have files/data on it? If the drive is already NTFS formatted can it be added to the pool and the existing files recognized? DrivePool would be running on a Windows 10 system. I would like to preserve the data already on the drives I'd be adding to the pool.  Thanks! - Dave

[Umfriend]

The answer is in two parts:
1. Yes, you can add a HDD to a Pool if there is already daya on the HDD. That existing data will remain but it will not be part of the Pool. The space used by it will be unavailable to the Pool.
2. If you want that data to be in the Pool then the quickest way to achieve this is to move that data on the new HDD to the hidden PoolPart.* folder that is created on the HDD once you add the HDD to the Pool. I believe it is advised to stop the DrivePool service prior to the move and restart after. The Pool will need to be remeasured (not sure if this is done automatically or must be forced through the UI) and it will rebalance (and duplicate if duplication applies) thereafter.

[Christopher (Drashna)]

On 12/16/2018 at 7:27 AM, DaveWI said:

When creating a new DrivePool or adding to an existing pool, can the drive already have files/data on it?

Yes, absolutely! 

On 12/16/2018 at 7:27 AM, DaveWI said:

If the drive is already NTFS formatted can it be added to the pool and the existing files recognized?

Yes, and no. 

Yes, it can be added to the pool. But adding it to the pool does not move the files into the pool. This must be bone manually.  And we handle things this way, so that adding a disk to the pool does not break any existing configuration. 

Specifically, you'd want to "seed" the drive, in this case:
http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Q4142489