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Whats the recommended time frame to rescan the surface?


Abula

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Im new to scanner, but im loving it, im atm scanning all my hdd but takes like 8 hours or so to scan each 4tb, i see has multiple features into how to schedule and when, but idk whats recommended, i wont be able to scan all drives at once that would be good, just 8 hours and im done for the month, but scanning one by one will be 8x8 = 64 hours, thats more than a weekend, or i could give the first 8 days of the month to scan one by one on the night.... idk i guess im complicating my self into this, but would appreciate if you guys can share what do you guys do with the scanner and schedule?

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AFAIK, it does scan drives simultaneously, to the extent the controller permits/can handle the I/O.

 

Moreover, Scanner halts/suspends scanning a single disk when other I/O needs that disk, so it can be done while you use the system (I am assuming it runs 24/7 BTW).

 

Also, and I think this is nice, the next scan starts xx days after the previous scan _ended_, not _started_. So, if it can not effectively scan all at the same time, it'll work itself out to do some sooner than others and the next time they'll start some time apart. And then, _if_ you notice (I/O) performance issues during scans, there are all kinds of settings to ensure controllers will not be overloaded. I would not tinker with the default settings unless there is an observed problem.

 

Personally, I have it set at every 14 days (had it weekly until recently). I have far less storage (1 x 1TB, 2x2TB, 1x750GB and the Server Backup HDD which is 2TB or 4TB depending on the rotation). I never ever noticed whether scanner was running or not. It just tells me it did when I check through the dashboard and I choose to believe her.

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Given that your HDD can only access data about 120MB/s (average).... and that 4TB is ... well, 4 million MBs... that's roughly 9 hours and 15 minutes to scan a 4TB disk. So that seems right.

 

And as Umfriend has said, StableBit Scanner is good about throttling the scans based on usage, to prevent bottle-necking or impacting the performance.

 

 

As for the "timeout".... it does that. If you open up the volume map, (click on the "+" next to the disk), it marks each range with when it was last scanned. It then uses THAT information to determine when to scan each SECTION of the disk. Not the whole disk, but section. That means if the scan got stopped part way because of activity and didn't start till the next day... those two sections will have different deadlines.

And that also applies to disks, as well.

 

 

Also, StableBit Scanner can and usually does scan multiple disks at the same time. By default, it scans one disk per controller, but you can disable that functionality in the Scanner settings. That *may* speed up the scan though, or it may bottleneck the controller...

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Also, StableBit Scanner can and usually does scan multiple disks at the same time. By default, it scans one disk per controller, but you can disable that functionality in the Scanner settings. That *may* speed up the scan though, or it may bottleneck the controller...

 

Where is this changed? I don't see it anywhere.

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It's all in the "Scanner settings". Just click on the "Settings" button in the toolbar, and it should drop down a list. "Quick Settings", "Scanner Settings" and "Notification Settings".

 

Under the "Scanner" tab are all the options for when to scan, or rescan the drives. 

StableBit Scanner Settings - Scanner.png

The "Throttling" tab settings control how we scan the disks (when to wait or throttle the scans, basically).

StableBit Scanner Settings - Throttling.png

And there is an option to throttle the scans based on the temperature, in the "Heat" tab.

StableBit Scanner Settings - Heat.png

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Guest FjYskcwknon

On my RocketRAID controller, it only scans one disk at a given time, even if I check none of the options on the Throttling tab.

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To scan multiple disks on the same controller requires editing the config file. To do so:

http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_Scanner_Advanced_Settings

 

 

And set "Scanner_DirectIoScanMaximumConcurrent to the number of disks you want to scan concurrently, or "0" for unlimited.

However, that does require setting "Scanner_ScanWithDirectIo" to "True", and I believe that the setting doesn't throttle the scan.

 

 

Edit: eek, I forget the link! Sorry.

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Guest FjYskcwknon

Thank you, that worked. I still only get around 100-110MB/s total scanning speed (according to resource monitor) though. In my previous RAID configuration, the controller was able to provide several hundred MB/s. Do you have any idea as to why scanning cannot utilize this kind of bandwidth?

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If these are a single drive each, and not part of an array, that would be why.

 

A majority of "spinning" drives will only hit up to ~150MB/s under IDEAL conditions. A RAID array uses several disks, so it's accessing content on multiple disks at the same time. Basically, it's reading in parallel, and adds the speed together.

Also, DirectIo bypasses the Windows built in disk access optimization, I believe. That means that it may not access the disks as fast in all circumstances.

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To scan multiple disks on the same controller requires editing the config file. To do so:

http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_Scanner_Advanced_Settings

 

 

And set "Scanner_DirectIoScanMaximumConcurrent to the number of disks you want to scan concurrently, or "0" for unlimited.

However, that does require setting "Scanner_ScanWithDirectIo" to "True", and I believe that the setting doesn't throttle the scan.

 

 

Edit: eek, I forget the link! Sorry.

 

I have tried this, and i am still not able to scan more than one disk on the same controller. My controller reported by StableBit Scanner, has a Buss speed rated to 212MBps.

 

Here is my exact config file, maybe i am just missing something. I have also unchecked ALL settings in the Throttling tab of the scanner settings.

 

If anybody can help point out to me why it is not scanning more than one drive at a time on the same controller, that would help me out a lot.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>

<!-- 
  Copy this file to Scanner.Service.exe.config in order to put into effect.
  
  You may also want to remove any extra "setting" tags that you're not altering 
  so that the default will always take effect.
  -->

<configuration>
    <configSections>
        <sectionGroup name="applicationSettings" type="System.Configuration.ApplicationSettingsGroup, System, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089">
            <section name="ScannerServiceLib.My.MySettings" type="System.Configuration.ClientSettingsSection, System, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" requirePermission="false"/>
        </sectionGroup>
        <sectionGroup name="userSettings" type="System.Configuration.UserSettingsGroup, System, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089">
            <section name="CoveNativeSafe.My.MySettings" type="System.Configuration.ClientSettingsSection, System, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089" allowExeDefinition="MachineToLocalUser" requirePermission="false"/>
        </sectionGroup>
    </configSections>
    <system.diagnostics>
        <sources>
            <!-- This section defines the logging configuration for My.Application.Log -->
            <source name="DefaultSource" switchName="DefaultSwitch">
                <listeners>
                    <add name="FileLog"/>
                    <!-- Uncomment the below section to write to the Application Event Log -->
                    <!--<add name="EventLog"/>-->
                </listeners>
            </source>
        </sources>
        <switches>
            <add name="DefaultSwitch" value="Information" />
        </switches>
        <sharedListeners>
            <add name="FileLog"
                 type="Microsoft.VisualBasic.Logging.FileLogTraceListener, Microsoft.VisualBasic, Version=8.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a, processorArchitecture=MSIL" 
                 initializeData="FileLogWriter"/>
            <!-- Uncomment the below section and replace APPLICATION_NAME with the name of your application to write to the Application Event Log -->
            <!--<add name="EventLog" type="System.Diagnostics.EventLogTraceListener" initializeData="APPLICATION_NAME"/> -->
        </sharedListeners>
    </system.diagnostics>
    <applicationSettings>
        <ScannerServiceLib.My.MySettings>
            <setting name="ErrorReportingOverride" serializeAs="String">
                <value>False</value>
            </setting>
            <setting name="DirectIOOverride" serializeAs="String">
                <value>True</value>
            </setting>
            <setting name="SmartOverride" serializeAs="String">
                <value>True</value>
            </setting>
            <setting name="NotificationOverride" serializeAs="String">
                <value>True</value>
            </setting>
            <setting name="GoodIdentifyOverride" serializeAs="String">
                <value/>
            </setting>
	    <setting name="Scanner_DirectIoScanMaximumConcurrent" serializeAs="String">
                <value>4</value>
            </setting>
	    <setting name="Scanner_ScanWithDirectIo" serializeAs="String">
                <value>True</value>
            </setting>
        </ScannerServiceLib.My.MySettings>
    </applicationSettings>
    <userSettings>
        <CoveNativeSafe.My.MySettings>
            <setting name="UnsafeDirectIo" serializeAs="String">
                <value>True</value>
            </setting>
	    
        </CoveNativeSafe.My.MySettings>
    </userSettings>
</configuration>
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Greg,

 

This is ... mostly fixed.

 

If you download the newest version (2.5.1.3062+), and install it.

Open up the "Scanner Settings" and find the "Show advanced settings and troubleshooting" checkbox. Check it and then go to the "Throttling" tab. Uncheck the "Do not interfere with other disks on the same controller" option and then hit "Ok".

Then open "Settings", and there will be a new, forth entry, labeled "Advanced settings and troubleshooting". Select this, and then open the "Configuration Properties" tab. Find the "Scanner" section and the "ScanMaximumConcurrent". Set this to whatever number you like. 2-4 should be good, depending on your system. 8, if you have a higher end card.

 

Then restart the scanner service (or reboot the system). You should be able to scan multiple disks on the same controller now. In fact, I have tested this and it scans 4 disks on the same controller just fine (after disabling the throttling option, or it turns on and off repeatedly).

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