Just Installed

[dxfan227]

I have two drives ( E: and F:)

 

Drive E is full of files and drive F is empty 

 

i created a new pool and added both drives.

 

I need this new pool to have all the files from drive E on it...I then need the pool to be given the drive letter E so that I can keep the same paths.

 

Do i simply copy all files from E to the pool? or do i need to copy all the files from E into the hidden folder in the pool?

 

once thats done how do I assign the drive letter E to the pool and change the drive letter of the "old" Es

 

[blueman2]

I just went through mostly the same thing.  I am not expert, but here is what I did.  First, do not copy the files (it will take too long).  Move them into the hidden Poolpart.xxxxxxx directory onto the same drive as they now exist.  This will occur almost instantly since it is not moving any files really, but just moving the pointers of where the files are.  All the files will now show up in the pool (I am guessing drive G on your system).  Balancing will then occur over time to balance them between the drives.  

 

As for the drive lettering, I do not know how that is done but I am sure others will chime in.  I know it can be done.  

[Umfriend]

This can be done through Computer Management -> Storage -> Disk Management.

 

I believe though that this is not best practise and that Covecube advises to use a high-in-the-alphabet letter for the Pool.

 

Not sure what OS you are running but if it is a server OS and the links are to shared server folders then I would consider to:

1. Create folders on E: with names from which you know what shared folders they represent

2. Move from shared folders to those "copied" folders

3. Create the pool, give the Pool a drive letter like P:

4. Use the server OS's functions to move the shared folders, they will now be in the hidden Poolpart.xxxxxx folders

5. Move from the copied folders to the shared folders on E: within the Poolpart.xxxxxx folders.

 

It might be that you can skip steps 2 and 5 but then I am not sure whether it'll take a lot of time, it probably will if only because DP will move to the two physical drives.

 

But it really also depends on why you need the paths to remain the same.

 

I would also wait or Drashna to chime in ;-)

[dbailey75]

for ease of use, would definitely recommend using a drive letter somewhere near Z for DP or work your way backwards if Z is already taken,  if you plug up USB drives and add new drives often, windows my highjack your drive letters.  

 

also, UNC files paths are easier to manage, one the one hand with DP, your data management is much easier, but a UNC path is going to make your life easier if you have to change drive letters for any reason.

 

UNC path, note that your drive letter is irrelevant of what drive the share is stored on. 

 

\\servername\share\file_path

 

instead of
E:\share\file_path

 

some applications that depend upon the drive as a letter may not be compatible, in the end its up to you and what works.

[dxfan227]

This can be done through Computer Management -> Storage -> Disk Management.

 

I believe though that this is not best practise and that Covecube advises to use a high-in-the-alphabet letter for the Pool.

 

Not sure what OS you are running but if it is a server OS and the links are to shared server folders then I would consider to:

1. Create folders on E: with names from which you know what shared folders they represent

2. Move from shared folders to those "copied" folders

3. Create the pool, give the Pool a drive letter like P:

4. Use the server OS's functions to move the shared folders, they will now be in the hidden Poolpart.xxxxxx folders

5. Move from the copied folders to the shared folders on E: within the Poolpart.xxxxxx folders.

 

It might be that you can skip steps 2 and 5 but then I am not sure whether it'll take a lot of time, it probably will if only because DP will move to the two physical drives.

 

But it really also depends on why you need the paths to remain the same.

 

I would also wait or Drashna to chime in ;-)

So here is what I did please let me know if this is ok or not.

 

1. created the pool ( Drive letter assigned was G:\)

2. Moved all files from drive E into the hidden folder on drive E

3. In disk management for windows 7 changed the drive letter of E to F

4 In Disk Manamanget change the drive letter for G ( Drive Pool) to E:\

 

Seems to have worked just fine this way.  

 

I also noticed that it automatically balanced the drives ( even though documentation says that default is no balance)

 

Is there anyway program out there that will create a list of all files on the drive( or folders) so that if 1 drive fails, I know what was on it?

I'm not going to use the duplication feature quiet yet as I don't think the 50 % overhead is worth it right now.

[Umfriend]

No, there is no catalogue. In fact, now that files are split amongst two drives, the probability of you losing *some* files has increased. Do you have/make backups?

 

What you did is what I'd have done had I wanted the Pool to be E:\. Again, I think this is ill advised unless really neccessary.

 

I would have expected (but failed to mention) that it would balance (unless sizes were very different), at least overnight.

 

Maybe a DIR /s/n/b > list.txt or something might help but I don't know how it deals with hidden folders etc. And of course, it'd be a snapshot only.

[dbailey75]

So here is what I did please let me know if this is ok or not.

 

1. created the pool ( Drive letter assigned was G:\)

2. Moved all files from drive E into the hidden folder on drive E

3. In disk management for windows 7 changed the drive letter of E to F

4 In Disk Manamanget change the drive letter for G ( Drive Pool) to E:\

 

Seems to have worked just fine this way.  

 

I also noticed that it automatically balanced the drives ( even though documentation says that default is no balance)

 

Is there anyway program out there that will create a list of all files on the drive( or folders) so that if 1 drive fails, I know what was on it?

I'm not going to use the duplication feature quiet yet as I don't think the 50 % overhead is worth it right now.

Create a hash digest of the hidden pool parts of each drive with exactfile,  Or you can create a digest of the share, and when you lose a drive, run the digest check, and it will tell you what files are missing.  

[Christopher (Drashna)]

The wiki knowledge base is a good source of information. Though some of it was based on stuff posted here (or the like).

 

For "seeding" a pool (as in, moving contents from an existing drive to the pool):

http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Q4142489

 

For changing the drive letter:

http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Q6811286

 

For "hiding" the disks in the pool, while keeping them accessible:

http://wiki.covecube.com/StableBit_DrivePool_Q4822624

 

As for the duplication, aside from protecting you against data lose due to drive failure, there is at least one other reason to enable it.

Read Striping.

Depending on the performance and pool, we will read from the faster drive exclusively, or cache chunks into the memory to speed up access.

Some more info about it here:

http://stablebit.com/Support/DrivePool/2.X/Manual?Section=Performance%20Options

 

And no, you're not going to see RAID like speed increases.