How do I stop it spreading data across disks ?

[Zammo]

So just downloaded Drive Pool and added 3 drives to the pool. One drive is nearly full and the other 2 have a fair amount left. I thought I had changed the balancing settings so it will only balance when reaching 50gb free space, but it seems after I pressed "re-measure" (I was just checking different things out) to have removed 1 video file from each folder on 2 of my drives on to the drive with the most space (the one I have at the top of the list for new files). I could understand if these were new files but it has moved existing files, which is not ticked. 

I presume "Or this much free space" overrides the percentage bar above it if ticked ? As I had it ticked. Is it because "Drive Emptying" was set to 85% ? But I am confused, as doesn't that cancel out the max space options ? 

I have installed a couple of the plugins. Basically all I want is for any new files added to be added on the drives in order that I have them under "Ordered File Placement" plugin. I don't need them spread across other drives until that drive is full up to 50gb free space and I don't need it to move files already on the drive. I have "Volume Equalization" deticked in the plugins. 

Also does "Prevent Drive Overfill" not do exactly the same as "Drive Usage Limiter" ??? If I tick the "All in One" plugin do I need to detick all the other plugins ? 

I notice also Stablebit Scanner is in the plugins, is this the same as the separate software that you buy ? Is it only activated right now because I am in a trial or is it the same name but different software ? 

I will soon be buying 2 licenses of Drive Pool so just want to make-sure I can get my head around it before I do. 

Thanks for any help.

 

[Shane]

Welcome to DrivePool!

If "Or this much free space" is ticked, it does override the percentage slider.

Prevent Drive Overfill is different to Drive Usage Limiter. The first is "what to do if a drive gets too full" the second is "where should files go". If the former has a higher priority (is higher in the list), it will override the latter.

If you're using the All In One plugin, then both the Drive Usage Limiter and Ordered File Placement balancers should be unticked as they are redundant in such case.

The StableBit Scanner plugin balancer for DrivePool gets its data from StableBit Scanner, and is available because you've installed the latter software.

It sounds like you might want only StableBit Scanner and All In One ticked.

 

[Zammo]

Thanks Shane. Just a few follow ups if okay.

1). On the All in One plug in it says "Fill up the disks in the order specified below", but I can't see my drives listed below that. Does it not mean specific drives then ? At the top there is a list of drives, but not below it ? 

2) On the main page there is a small blue and orange triangle arrow. The orange arrow is correct in saying it won't fill beyond 99% but why do I have blue arrows too ? I don't have a duplicate drive or anything. It says it is in the un-duplicate target for re-balancing ??? I have balancing set to 99% but the blue arrows are placed in random places ??

Thanks again !!

 

[Shane]

A1) Once you've selected "Fill up the disks in the order specified below", you can then tick the Prioritize checkbox in the Unduplicated and/or Duplicated tabs to select the desired order (note: if you first ticked in the former tab, it will also tick it the corresponding checkbox in the lattertab as well for some reason, but if you're not actually using duplication then the latter tab is irrelevant).

A2) On the triangles for each drive in the pool (as indicated by the tool tips when the mouse cursor is resting on them):

• Dark blue downwards triangle indicates balancing target for existing un-duplicated files
• Light blue downwards triangle indicates balancing target for existing duplicated files
• Dark red upwards triangle indicates placement limit for new un-duplicated files
• Light red upwards triangle indicates placement limit for new duplicated files

where "balancing target" is the amount of existing files DrivePool calculated should (under ideal conditions) be on that drive based on your settings, and "placement limit" is the amount of new files DrivePool will put on the drive before it tries to put them somewhere else based on your settings. It can't always achieve these goals due to files having different sizes.