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Few newbie questions


telemach

Question

I'm starting my experience with DrivePool and have some questions regarding product

- do I understand correctly that after adding a disk to a pool I can change the drive letter assigned to this disk, I can change the interface (from sata to usb enclosure) and DrivePool will always find this certain disk and present files in the pool (files that are stored on this particular disk)

- if disk starts to fail I can remove it from PC (without removing from the pool) and pool will not be affected (but surely files stored on that disk will not be presented) ?

and then I can attach replacement disk to the pool and just copy files from faulty one to PoolPart directory on new one and that will do the job so files will be once again visible in the pool despite the fact that previous disk is missing and although it was not yet removed from the pool but simply is not connected to the PC

- if disk is a part of a pool then is it possible to make some changes like for example creating new partition on that disk or changing a size so DrivePool will recognize it automatically and resize pool ?

- let's say I have all my disks in one usb enclosure and would like to use it on both PC1 and PC2 by reconnecting USB plug from one computer to another; can I copy pool settings to have same pool on different computers ? or DrivePool will detect PoolPart directories and will create a pool automatically

-  can I change pool letter using Windows or 3rd party partitioning software ?

- is it possible to have this tool Everything https://www.voidtools.com/  indexing pool and not only disks added to the pool ?

- is there any speed increase if TeraCopy is copying from the pool ?

BTW: It would be so much better if there will be a wizard upon adding a new disk (with existing files on it) asking if I want to automatically move files to the pool. Right now it just adds a disk to the pool, pool is empty and after a little bit of searching you find out this : http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Q4142489

but software can ask and if confirmed do this for user upon adding a disk to a pool

 

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On 3/13/2020 at 7:20 AM, telemach said:

- do I understand correctly that after adding a disk to a pool I can change the drive letter assigned to this disk, I can change the interface (from sata to usb enclosure) and DrivePool will always find this certain disk and present files in the pool (files that are stored on this particular disk)

Correct. StableBit DrivePool tracks the drive by Volume ID, not by the drive letter.  

And as long as the NTFS volumes on the disk show up, then StableBit DrivePool will continue to be able to use it.

On 3/13/2020 at 7:20 AM, telemach said:

- if disk starts to fail I can remove it from PC (without removing from the pool) and pool will not be affected (but surely files stored on that disk will not be presented) ?

The drive will show up "missing" in this case, and you'll have to remove the missing disk to get the pool to be writable again. 

Additionally, if you reconnect the disk later, it will re-add the disk to the pool. 

And shamelessly, if you have StableBit Scanner installed too, if it detects issues, it will cause StableBit DrivePool to evacuate the contents of the disk. 

On 3/13/2020 at 7:20 AM, telemach said:

and then I can attach replacement disk to the pool and just copy files from faulty one to PoolPart directory on new one and that will do the job so files will be once again visible in the pool despite the fact that previous disk is missing and although it was not yet removed from the pool but simply is not connected to the PC

The best way is to remove the disk from the pool, using the UI.  This will make sure that everything is handled correctly. 

https://stablebit.com/Support/DrivePool/2.X/Manual?Section=Removing a Drive from the Pool

On 3/13/2020 at 7:20 AM, telemach said:

- if disk is a part of a pool then is it possible to make some changes like for example creating new partition on that disk or changing a size so DrivePool will recognize it automatically and resize pool ?

It should, but that's tricky.  Both in doing and answering.  It *should* be fine, but if not:
https://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_F1655

This works for merging pools, or re-pooling a drive. 

On 3/13/2020 at 7:20 AM, telemach said:

- let's say I have all my disks in one usb enclosure and would like to use it on both PC1 and PC2 by reconnecting USB plug from one computer to another; can I copy pool settings to have same pool on different computers ? or DrivePool will detect PoolPart directories and will create a pool automatically

Duplication settings are stored on the pool itself, so that will go with the pool, no matter what.

But the balancing settings are stored on the system locally and cannot be copied over.

But, yes, DrivePool will detect the poolpart folders and rebuild the pool with the available disks. 

On 3/13/2020 at 7:20 AM, telemach said:

-  can I change pool letter using Windows or 3rd party partitioning software ?

Absolutely!   We recommend using Disk Management, since it's built in. 

And the same goes for the pooled drives, too.

On 3/13/2020 at 7:20 AM, telemach said:

- is it possible to have this tool Everything https://www.voidtools.com/  indexing pool and not only disks added to the pool ?

Yeah, that should absolutely work.  Some features, such as USN Journaling support are not present on the pool, though. 

On 3/13/2020 at 7:20 AM, telemach said:

- is there any speed increase if TeraCopy is copying from the pool ?

Not really. Multithreaded copies may benefit, but it's HIGHLY situation. 

On 3/13/2020 at 7:20 AM, telemach said:

BTW: It would be so much better if there will be a wizard upon adding a new disk (with existing files on it) asking if I want to automatically move files to the pool. Right now it just adds a disk to the pool, pool is empty and after a little bit of searching you find out this : http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Q4142489

but software can ask and if confirmed do this for user upon adding a disk to a pool

It does have a popup on the first pool creation.  But yeah.  However implementing it in a safe and non-destructive way isn't easy. 

But it is something that we may add in the future.

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thank you for your replies

 

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On 3/13/2020 at 3:20 PM, telemach said:

- is it possible to have this tool Everything https://www.voidtools.com/  indexing pool and not only disks added to the pool ?

Yeah, that should absolutely work.  Some features, such as USN Journaling support are not present on the pool, though. 

any hint on the matter of making it show results from pool drive ?

 

update: I'll answer for myself, in settings turn off indexing NTFS for hdd that is attached to pool drive and select folder indexing for drive letter of pool drive

Edited by telemach
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