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New HDD not being used


scottnl

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Hi,

I am a new user to Drive Pool.

I have a Win 8.1 64bit system with 3 drives in the pool and duplication of most of the data stored in the pool.

The three drives are being used fairly evenly.

I recently added a fourth drive but after three weeks it still has not had any data placed on it.

Is this normal?

Can I force Drive Pool to start using this fourth drive?

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Yes, this is completely normal.

 

If you're not adding new data to the pool, it won't use it. Unless the rest of the drives are over 90% filled, or one of the balancers forces data to be balanced to it.

 

Also, by default, StableBit DrivePool adds new data to the drive with the most available free space (absolute, not percentage).

 

If you do wish to balance the data between the drives, check out the "Disk Space Equalizer" balancer. It forces StableBit DrivePool to keep the data usage equalized between the disks.

https://stablebit.com/DrivePool/Plugins

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But the Disk Space Equalizer plugin seems to only equalize unduplicated files since that will spread out your risk the most. I have a pool with 7 1.5TB disks that I just added a 3TB disk to. It moved a bunch of un-duped files to the new disk and then stopped. My duplicated files are just spread out over the original 7. I guess I would expect it to do that first, but I also expected it to spread out the duplicated part of the pool so as to minimize the amount of work needed to replace a disk in the future. What is the easiest way to make it do that? My balancer config: http://i.imgur.com/qfF5xQT.png

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Quck Update.

I have loaded the Disk Space Equalizer, ticked equalise by percent used, and now all four disk are being used both for duplicated and non duplicated files.

So all seems fine, just what I wanted, and I have not had a problem with duplicated files.

 

Thanks

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But the Disk Space Equalizer plugin seems to only equalize unduplicated files since that will spread out your risk the most. I have a pool with 7 1.5TB disks that I just added a 3TB disk to. It moved a bunch of un-duped files to the new disk and then stopped. My duplicated files are just spread out over the original 7. I guess I would expect it to do that first, but I also expected it to spread out the duplicated part of the pool so as to minimize the amount of work needed to replace a disk in the future. What is the easiest way to make it do that? My balancer config: http://i.imgur.com/qfF5xQT.png

 

Brad, I'm sorry, I appear to have completely missed this question.

 

You don't have the "Disk Space Equalizer" balancer installed. It's an optional one, like the SSD Optimizer. You can download it at at the same place:

https://stablebit.com/DrivePool/Plugins

 

It will balance ALL the used space (by DrivePool) between all of the drives

 

Also, if you're using the Disk Space Equalizer, it may cause issues while using the SSD Optimizer balancer, long term.

 

There are a number of similar named balancers, but they're not the same. The "Volume Equalizer" does a similar task but between volumes on the same disk. The "Disk Usage Limiter" is to configure the usage of duplicated or unduplicated space on each disk. 

 

Quck Update.

I have loaded the Disk Space Equalizer, ticked equalise by percent used, and now all four disk are being used both for duplicated and non duplicated files.

So all seems fine, just what I wanted, and I have not had a problem with duplicated files.

 

Thanks

 

I'm glad to hear that everything seems to be working fine.

As for the issue, see my above comments.

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I know this is an older post - but exactly the situation I have.  I have a WHS 2011 with 7 drives in the pool. 6 are 4TB drives and I just upgraded an old 2TB to an 8TB.  After 48 hours only a few (newly saved) files are on the 8TB.  All of my 4TB drives have roughly 500 GB free (so approx 1/8th free on each - all 6 of the 4's are balanced).  I plan to upgrade 2 of the 4's to 6 TB drives - but was going to wait for DrivePool to move files around - assuming I'd have less files on 2 of the 4's and therefore removing them from the pool would go faster.

 

Apparently that isn't the case.  I'm thinking that when I remove the 2 4 TB drives, DrivePool will likely move files to the new 8TB drive since it has the most space.  I need to turn duplication back on for a few shared folders also - but will do that when the 2 additional 6TB drives are in.

 

Anything I should do BEFORE I remove the 2 4TB's I'm upgrading - to have files balanced?  If the answer to that question is "no - just remove the 2 4's and replace with your 6's" is the answer - then second question: anything I will/should need to do after the new 6's are installed?

 

Thanks!

 

UPDATE: actually, I just noticed the "re-balance" link at the bottom of the pool tab.  It notes 85% and when I hover over the "re-balance" link it says "file placement not optimal" - so updated question:  Do I "re-balance" BEFORE I remove another drive (or both) that I plan to upgrade?

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New files are placed on the drive with the most available free space by default.  So being placed on the 8TB drives is normal here. 

 

However, StableBit DrivePool does not balance data off of the drives normally.  They will remain there until something causes them to be balanced off of these drives (eg, not enough free space, Scanner flagging the drive, etc). 

 

If you want to move files off of the smaller drives to prepare them to be removed, you can use the "Drive Usage Limiter" balancer to accomplish this, actually.  Just unselect "Duplicated" and "Unduplicated" for the disks in question.  The software will then try to balance all of the data off of the drives, so they're clear and removal goes quickly. 

 

 

 

As for "need to do", no, StableBit DrivePool tries to handle everything automatically, without the need or intervention, as much as possible. 

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I guess I need to do some reading?  Where/how do I use the "Drive Usage Limiter"..I've seen that reference come up in a few replies and don't think I've ever seen any detailed settings/config stuff for DrivePool...maybe I haven't looked closely enough?  Thanks for the feedback/clarifications.

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Circling back...  ok, regardless of whether it's a good idea to upgrade to version 2.x - looks like I'm WAY behind in version 1 releases by a fair ways.

 

So assuming there's plenty of reasons to upgrade to the latest version 1 release?

 

Q: I was having all sorts of permissions issues (still am but have found work arounds that are less than optimal) - IE: users that were not granted access to shares could still access those shares while other dshares they WERE granted access to were not accessible.  I couldn't figure it out.  Any chance somewhere in the releases since 1.2.4.7226 a fix was implemented?

 

Thanks for the feedback.

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You can check the changelog for specific issues. 

http://dl.covecube.com/DrivePool/beta/download/Changes.txt

 

however, n it doesn't appear to be a specific fix for the issue you've described.  But given the large number of changes, it is likely that one or more fixes addressed the specific problem. 

 

 

 

 

That said, permission issues are probably a configuration thing. 

 

Network shares have a seperate permission that is checked first. Then it falls back onto NTFS permissions.  THis can cause weird behavior. 

 

The best solution is to set the shares to give "Everyone" full control, and then fall back onto NTFS permissions. 

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So you mean set permissions in WHS 2011 Dashboard to allow full access - then MANUALLY adjust permissions for each share in Windows?  Do you have a god primer on that - or point me towards something that explains the process?  I'm fairly comfortable with most config aspects - but permissions and the multiple cascading menus that pop up are confusing.

 

Guess I'll do an upgrade for DrivePool first though and see if that helps.

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So you mean set permissions in WHS 2011 Dashboard to allow full access - then MANUALLY adjust permissions for each share in Windows?  Do you have a god primer on that - or point me towards something that explains the process?  I'm fairly comfortable with most config aspects - but permissions and the multiple cascading menus that pop up are confusing.

 

Guess I'll do an upgrade for DrivePool first though and see if that helps.

 

Actually, this is what the WHS2011 dashboard does. 

 

It sets the share itself to have full control for everyone, and then sets the NTFS permissions, it's about the best method, and is why I recommended it. 

 

But if you're having issues with that ... then it may be more complicated. 

Also, it may be a good idea to re-inherit the permissions (using the "advanced" options for the Security info). 

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Sigh.  That's why I need a good primer / instructions.  I get lost in the sea of popup security windows.

 

I just tested a few - one of the users defined isn't able to access certain shares marked as "no access" in WHS but IS able to access others with the exact same settings in WHS :(

 

Even if I delete the use and re-add - and resetup the permssions - its as if Windows is remembering the orignal settings and applying them to the re-added user.

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Honestly, because of the complexity of permissions, it may be simplest to "get hands on" and set up a remote support session. 

 

Otherwise, run "fsmgmt.msc" on the server, and check the settings there.  

 

You can also see what computers are logged into which accounts, so you can verify that things are being authenticated properly.

Additionally, check the "Credential Manager" on the client system to make sure it's not saving credentials for the wrong account. 

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