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Drive pool gone. Stablebit struggles to start


--Jason--

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So I installed the trial version to determine if this solution is good for me.  My goal is very simple.  two drives, duplicated (RAID1).  I made a storage pool, added both drives, and checked duplication.  Easy enough.

I didn't want the additional host drives to be visible, so I removed their drive letters.  Everything is still golden, and now I only see the storage pool.  Awesome.

Did some testing, some reboots, file transfers, things are looking good. 

Next, after reading over these forums about how the software tends to scatter files across multiple drives, I was curious if the file structure would be "randomized" in a mirrored setup like this, or if it would match the file structure layout.  So I reassigned drive letters to the drives and compared.  In just initial light testing, it appears they match the folder structure, which is exactly what I wanted.  Perfect.  (Can anyone clarify if that continues to be the case long-term?)

Now I removed the drive letters.  One drive the drive letter just went away.  The other drive, I got some error about how the drive was in use, and the usual message that programs using the drive letter won't be able to reach the drive.  Removed the drive letter.  Things continued working.  cool.    Then... I rebooted.

Now the storage pool is gone.  When I launch Stablebit after a reboot, it shows a message that the services are starting, and the counter there makes it to about a minute before going away.  It does not see either of the drives in the pool. (can't remake the pool).  In short, my original drives used in the pool, no longer "exist" to Stablebit.

I added a drive letter back to one of the drives, and windows see's it fine.  And my files still exist on the drive.  But Stablebit no longer functions.  Tried rebooting several more times in between all this, but got nothing.

Did I discover a bug, or, was adding and removing drive letters a bad thing to do?  To be clear, I did not modify the storage pool "virtual" drive letter, I'm referring to the actual spinning drives.  (making them visible or not as a storage location within windows)

What would be the recovery for this?  I did try taking the drives offline and back online again, but so far nothing has made Stablebit be able to "see" them again.

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31 minutes ago, Viktor said:

The current Windows Version has automount disabled per default. This means drives without assigned drive letters are not mounted at system start and DrivePool will not recognize them. But you can fix that by enabling automount: http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_F3540.

Thank you.  I had looked around in the disk manager for a "mount" option to see if that was it, but didn't see it.   I did the command you mentioned, and rebooted, but Stablebit was still behaving as I described.  (totally not working).. but... I then ran the installer and chose the "repair" option, and that resurrected it.  On the reboot the software again launched quickly, and my drive pool was there as I left it.

So whatever I did really made it angry, but, after running the installer (and doing the mount command) it all came back to life.

 

Do you happen to know if when doing a mirror like this, the folder structure in both drives will match what's setup in the pool?  Meaning in the drives themselves, things won't get rearranged and scrambled?  The folder structure/hierarchy will remain true across the pool and the two real drives?

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The pool's folder structure is actually located on each real drive in a hidden PoolPart folder. DrivePool won't touch any data (pre-existing folders and files) outside the hidden folder. If you want to move existing files and folders from a real drive into the pool, you can simply move them into the drive's PoolPart folder.

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12 hours ago, --Jason-- said:

Do you happen to know if when doing a mirror like this, the folder structure in both drives will match what's setup in the pool?  Meaning in the drives themselves, things won't get rearranged and scrambled?  The folder structure/hierarchy will remain true across the pool and the two real drives?

If you have x2 duplication and 2 HDDs in the Pool then yes, it will remain the same for both HDDs. This is becuase DP ensures no duplicates are stored on the same physical HDD.

If you have x2 duplication on 4 HDDs then the story becomes different and it depends on the circumstances but mostly no, it will not mirror Disk 1 to Disk 3 and Disk 2 to Disk 4 for example. If you really want that then there are things you can do. There is the File Placement Rules option or you could use hierarchical Pools. I have two Pools, no duplication, each with 2x4TB and 1x2TB. Then I created a x2 duplication Pool consisting of the two "actual" Pools. Duplication is mirrored between the two Pools (but it probably is not or will not remain at the actual HDD level).

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On 12/28/2018 at 12:20 PM, --Jason-- said:

Now the storage pool is gone.  When I launch Stablebit after a reboot, it shows a message that the services are starting, and the counter there makes it to about a minute before going away.  It does not see either of the drives in the pool. (can't remake the pool).  In short, my original drives used in the pool, no longer "exist" to Stablebit.

 I added a drive letter back to one of the drives, and windows see's it fine.  And my files still exist on the drive.  But Stablebit no longer functions.  Tried rebooting several more times in between all this, but got nothing.

 Did I discover a bug, or, was adding and removing drive letters a bad thing to do?  To be clear, I did not modify the storage pool "virtual" drive letter, I'm referring to the actual spinning drives.  (making them visible or not as a storage location within windows)

 

Viktor is correct, this behavior is usually due automounting issues. You'd want to fix that and then reboot again.
http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_F3540

If you continue to have issues, then please open a ticket at https://stablebit.com/Contact

And run the StableBit Troubleshooter. Use the Contact ID from the ticket, or use 4007.
http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_Troubleshooter

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