DrivePool strange behavior

Klode

I just installed new WHS 2011 on my Acer H341 and give a try to StableBit. The install went well, but didn't setup the pool. I then started to copy my data from my old server onto my D drive for the moment. Once most of the data was transferred, I created some customized folders out of the pool. Once everything is setup, I moved 2 drives into the pool. I then started to move folders into the pool as well. All of a sudden, I saw something rolling back. I checked which folder rolled back and it was one of my custom folder. I moved the folder again in the pool and it succeed. I went back to see if all my data was there and noticed it messed up with folder names, and only few files were moved. The original folder name was Claude and after it changed to Favoris!! All the files were still on drive in ServerFolder. I am now in the process of reinstalling WHS 2011 and get my files back since they all seems to be there. I know it's BETA and not STABLE like the name... Is there any way of proceeding with that setup so it doesn't mess with folder names. I have to say I'm using WHS 2011 in french. Can it be because of the locale language of WHS 2011? Am I better off to setup all drives and empty folders into the pool and then transferring my data to the pool?

Claude

DrTone

Yah, I'd just setup your pool and shares and then copy right from your old server into the shares in the drivepool.

Klode

OK, I'm just about finishing setting up my WHS 2011 again and will install DrivePool, merge empty folders and copy data from the old server. Thanks for the advice,

Claude

Klode

Unfortunately, I tried to move 2 folders to the pool and they were just deleted by Stablebit. The error message I get is:

Error moving folder

Cannot move folder

Cannot retreive WHS folders

I have a copy of the log file stating the 2 folders were deleted.

 

Claude

DrTone

There's an issue on lesser powerful home server boxes, a timeout that can be changed via a config file.  Others have experienced your exact issue, you can find the thread here in the forums.

Edit:

Found the link for you.  http://forum.covecube.com/discussion/156/cannot-retrieve-whs-folders-error-when-moving-or-creating-folders-in-pool.#Item_13

Alex

@Klode, Indeed that is an error that's affecting folder migration for some users in M3. We're working on a fix for M4. It involves changing some of the architecture introduced in M3 to be more reliable.

If something goes wrong while DrivePool is migrating folders it will try to roll back the changes back to the source. If that fails, you will have some of the files left on the pool. Look in C:\ServerPool\ServerFolders.Mount\.

DrivePool should't delete anything, it just moves the files around.

Klode

Hi Alex, DrTone,

@DrTone, I saw the thread you're pointing me to. It is not recommended by Alex to increase the delay to more than 60 seconds. I don't know what it is set now, I didn't look into the config file.

@Alex, My first attempt to setup DrivePool, it didn't delete anything. It just moved files around. But, after finishing setting it up in my second WHS 2011 install, it actually deleted 2 folders and I mean delete, because they were nowhere to be found. Hopefully, these were only new empty shares. So, if it can delete empty shares, it can also delete the data that's in there. Here is part of the log where it says it deleted the folder and clean-up.

 [FolderMigration] Error synchronizing links. Cannot retrieve WHS folders. 2011-10-16 02:52:11Z 4642113774
DrivePool.Service.exe Warning 0 [FolderMigration] Error moving files, rolling back changes. Cannot retrieve WHS folders. 2011-10-16 02:52:11Z 4642121727
DrivePool.Service.exe Information 0 [FolderMigration] Copying folder 'C:\ServerPool\ServerFolders.Mount\Claude.1\' to 'D:\ServerFolders\Claude\' 2011-10-16 02:52:11Z 4642123019
DrivePool.Service.exe Warning 0 [CoveWhsFsOperations] LockFile - Not implemented 2011-10-16 02:52:11Z 4642211963
DrivePool.Service.exe Information 0 [FolderMigration] Renaming folder 'C:\ServerPool\ServerFolders.Mount\Claude.1\' to 'C:\ServerPool\ServerFolders.Mount\Claude.1.DELETE.{70b6ad9c-f8b8-4173-a614-2d05d7f6a3d9}' 2011-10-16 02:52:11Z 4642249647
DrivePool.Service.exe Information 0 [FolderMigration] Closing shared files to C:\ServerPool\ServerFolders\Claude\ 2011-10-16 02:52:11Z 4642251456
DrivePool.Service.exe Information 0 [FolderMigration] Closed 0 files 2011-10-16 02:52:11Z 4642254047
DrivePool.Service.exe Information 0 [FolderMigration] Closing pool handles to \Claude.1\ 2011-10-16 02:52:11Z 4642255554
DrivePool.Service.exe Warning 0 [CoveWhsFsOperations] CreateFile - File not found (\Claude.1.DELETE.{70b6ad9c-f8b8-4173-a614-2d05d7f6a3d9}) 2011-10-16 02:52:11Z 4642267942
DrivePool.Service.exe Information 0 [FolderLinks] Synchronizing folder links... 2011-10-16 02:52:11Z 4642275803
DrivePool.Service.exe Information 0 [FolderLinks] Mount directory: C:\ServerPool\ServerFolders.Mount\ 2011-10-16 02:52:11Z 4642277336
DrivePool.Service.exe Information 0 [FolderLinks] Links directory: C:\ServerPool\ServerFolders\ 2011-10-16 02:52:11Z 4642278807
DrivePool.Service.exe Warning 0 [CoveWhsFsOperations] Cleanup (\Claude.1.DELETE.{70b6ad9c-f8b8-4173-a614-2d05d7f6a3d9}) - Invalid handle 2011-10-16 02:52:11Z 4642315676

Claude

Klode

Hi, after doing some more testing it seems DrivePool have only problems with the shares created by the user. Default shares like Documents, Music, Pictures, Recorded TV and Videos have no problems being moved by DrivePool into the pool. I did not try to create a new share within the pool though. I might give it a try as I just added 2 new hard drives in my server.

I'm having another concern about the way we create or move shares into the pool. Does it make any difference to use the move folder option either from Drivepool or the regular option in WHS? If it makes no difference, why not just using the option already available instead of duplicating the same available option. In that case it would only add Hard Drive Pooling tab to the actual Server Folders and Hard Drives tabs. Just my toughts but would make sense to me...

Claude

Klode

So, I proceed with reinstalling WHS 2011 and all went well. I finished copying all data back. Then, I installed DrivePool 4074. I did not move any of the default shares, but created few more shares and copied some data into them from the default shares. All went well since then. I also proceed with the installation of the upgraded version to 4105 and all seems to work good.

Claude

Alex

... But, after finishing setting it up in my second WHS 2011 install, it actually deleted 2 folders and I mean delete, because they were nowhere to be found. Hopefully, these were only new empty shares. So, if it can delete empty shares, it can also delete the data that's in there. Here is part of the log where it says it deleted the folder and clean-up....

...DrivePool.Service.exe Information 0 [FolderMigration] Renaming folder 'C:\ServerPool\ServerFolders.Mount\Claude.1\' to 'C:\ServerPool\ServerFolders.Mount\Claude.1.DELETE.{70b6ad9c-f8b8-4173-a614-2d05d7f6a3d9}' 2011-10-16 02:52:11Z 4642249647

...Claude

Claude,

I believe that what happened there is, DrivePool had the "Cannot retrieve WHS folders" error and decided that it cannot complete the move so it rolled back.

After copying any files from the pool back to the drive it deleted the now empty directory that it had created on the pool in order to complete the rollback process. As an added safety measure, the delete is non-recursive so even if the roll-back process fails (and normally it would abort everything if it does, but even if it somehow doesn't and continues to the delete), the delete will never delete any folder if it has files / sub-folders left in it.

Anyway, that's the intention of the code. Your files should be at the source, or worst case, if something bad happens they could be partially in the source and partially in the destination.

I've never seen it delete the only copy of a file. The code is specifically written not to do that, so if you could confirm that it does happen then it needs to be fixed.

Oh, and as far as deleting empty shares that can happen, but ONLY if they're empty. For example, when you set up a new server with an existing pool, DrivePool will auto-migrate your default shares over to the pool in first load, but only if your existing shares are empty. If they're not is will rename the pooled shares so that they don't conflict with the default shares (E.g. Music (1)).

----

About the cannot retrieve WHS folders, we're getting rid of that whole process for M4 because it proved to be unreliable for some people. I believe the reason for it failing is a timeout issue, that's the reason for the advice to increase the timeout beyond 60 seconds. I've confirmed that increasing the timeout does fix this for at least one user in a support case.