Restore from WHS 2011 backup

Markus

Hello,

I'm using DrivePool (DP) for some days to find out the pros and cons under WHS 2011. I have 2 disks (D & E) with data pooled by DP (Z) and backed up with WHS (scripted, because more thean 2GB) to 2 additional disks (D->F & E->G). When I'm testing the WHS restore function I see that DP spreads the files from folders on the lowest level (where no folder is in) to 2 disks. So I always have to look into multiple backup logs to restore a folder from the lowest level completely. Is or will there be a switch in the DP config to prevent DP spreading files on lowest level to multiple disks?

Info: DP seems to split the files to multiple disks by file extension. My folders contain audio files, normaly several *.flac and one *.jpg file. The result is, that DP stores out of one (1!) folder in the pool hundreeds of MB (flac) to disk 1 and 0.1 MB (jpg) to disk 2. This is in case of restoring time consuming and annoying.

I apologize for my english not being perfect and hope that I could describe my problem in a understandable way.

 

Shane

Since (as far as I know) DP actually doesn't split by file extension, I suspect what's actually happening is due to the relative sizes of the files. Most flac files are very large, while most jpg files aren't; the flac files are probably tripping the balancing algorithm that DP uses to ensure a disk doesn't get full before any others in the pool.

Why do you have to look into the backup logs? Why not just restore the folder in question from F back to D and G back to E?

Markus

Thanks Shane,

sorry, I mean that I have to restore from multiple disks (no to look into logs). With my example I have to restore from 2 disks at the moment but with full extension of my server + backup system there will be 4 disks which I might have to restore from. So it would be easier and faster only to have to restore from one location.

Quote: "Since (as far as I know) DP actually doesn't split by file extension"

You are right, it just was the situation in that (few) folders where I looked into. But in the meantime I found folders with accidental distribution.

Markus

Shane

Back around M3 the idea of being able to control whether DP kept files in a folder together was discussed, but I don't know if it's still on the todo list.

My personal hope is that we may get access (by API? script logic? something) to DP's balancing algorithm so we can customise it to suit individual requirements.