About Multiple Pool Support in DrivePool 1.3 BETA

StableBit have posted a blog post on DrivePool 1.3 BETA which adds multiple pool support.

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DrivePool – Add to a new pool

The post explains what multiple pool support is and how to use it. How this affects the new balancing system introduced in DrivePool 1.2 and what would happen if you plugged your data drives into another server running DrivePool?

An interesting read, which you can find here.

Add-In: StableBit DrivePool v1.3.0.7229 BETA

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A beta build of StableBit DrivePool has been released for users of Windows Home Server 2011, Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials and Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 Essentials which provides multiple pool support.

Version 1.3.0.7229 BETA has the following changes:

  • [D] Key areas of virtual disks can be written to by the OS in order to allow it to update virtual on-disk structures, for example to resolve signature collisions.
  • [D] New pools will be GPT disks (not MBR) in order to avoid possibility of signature collisions.
            Legacy pool will continue to be MBR disk
  • Extended the UI to support multiple pools (too many changes to list individually).
  • Updated the service to support multiple pools (too many changes to list individually).
  • [D] Added multiple pool support (too many changes to list individually).

[D] = Driver was modified (reboot required after update)

You can download this beta build of StableBit DrivePool from here.

The Home Server Show Podcast Episode 206

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Episode 206 of "The Home Server Show" podcast is up.

And in this weeks episode:

It’s a pre Thanksgiving show that is pretty laid back. Chris Lux and John Zajdler join Jim and Dave to go over Windows Phone, Server Essentials 2012, and get nostalgic over WHS v1. 

You van catch the audio here or watch the video below:

Western Digital release 4TB Black series Hard Drive

Western Digital have released a 4TB Black series hard drive.

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The new drive new drive has some features which are normally reserved for their RE (enterprise) series drives, such as dual processors and dual stage actuator tech. This 7200 RPM unit comes with the now standard 64MB cache and SATA 6Gb/sec interface.

With a MSRP of $339, here is the blurb:

WD® EXPANDS ITS HIGHEST-PERFORMING DESKTOP HARD DRIVES TO 4 TB CAPACITY
New WD Black Hard Drives Offer Uncompromising Storage Performance for Enthusiasts, Gamers
IRVINE, Calif. – Nov. 20, 2012 – WD®, a Western Digital (NASDAQ: WDC) company and a world leader in hard drives, today announced its highest performance, highest capacity desktop hard drive, the WD Black™ 4 TB, 3.5-inch, 7200 RPM drive. Shipping immediately, the fast performance and extreme capacity of the award-winning WD Black drives make them perfect for gaming, high-performance desktop systems and workstations.
WD Black hard drives combine 7200 RPM spin speed, 64 MB cache, dual stage actuator technology, SATA 6 gigabits per second (Gb/s) interface, and an integrated dual processor to deliver ultimate performance in a maximum-capacity drive.
“Maximizing the features and functionality of power computing applications such as gaming, multimedia and video editing, the new WD Black 4 TB hard drives offer capacity and performance—without compromise,” said Matt Rutledge, vice president of WD’s client storage group. “In choosing WD Black hard drives, WD desktop customers get the best possible mix of capacity, performance and reliability to handle intense desktop computing with ease.”
WD Black 4 TB hard drives feature:
Dual processor – Twice the processing power to maximize performance.
Dual actuator technology – A head positioning system with two actuators that improves positional accuracy over the data track(s). The primary actuator provides coarse displacement using conventional electromagnetic actuator principles. The secondary actuator uses piezoelectric motion to fine tune the head positioning to a higher degree of accuracy.
IntelliSeek™ – Calculates optimum seek speeds to lower power consumption, noise and vibration.
StableTrac™ – The motor shaft is secured at both ends to reduce system-induced vibration and stabilize platters for accurate tracking during read and write operations.
NoTouch™ ramp load technology – The recording head never touches the disk media ensuring significantly less wear to the recording head and media as well as better drive protection in transit.
Price and Availability
The WD Black 4 TB GB (model WD4001FAEX) hard drives are available through select distributors and resellers. Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) for the WD Black 4 TB drive is $339.00 USD. More information about WD Black 4 TB desktop hard drives may be found on the company’s website at http://www.wd.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=760. WD Black drives are covered by a five-year limited warranty, see http://www.support.wdc.com for details.

Add-In: StableBit DrivePool v1.2.2.7145

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The guys at StableBit are updating their DrivePool add-in quicker than we can inform you 🙂

Version 1.2.2.7145 has the following change:

  • [D] When CoveFs_ReportAsNtfs was enabled, the pool would lock up.

[D] = Driver was modified (reboot required after update)

You can download this latest release from here.

Add-In: StableBit DrivePool v1.2.1.7140

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The beta build of StableBit DrivePool has been released as a completed stable build.

Version 1.2.1.7140 has the following changes:

  • Final release build.
  • Major new items since last release (1.1.0):
      – A flexible balancing framework.
      – Fine grained balancing settings.
      – Layered plug-in based balancing algorithms with user customizable settings.
      – 3rd party balancing plug-in support. Anyone can write a new balancing plug-in.
      – Integration with Scanner 2.2+ allowing for file evacuation and temperature control.
      – Use your SSD as a landing zone for new files on the pool with our ‘Archive Optimizer’ plug-in.
      – A completely rewritten real-time file size tracking system. It’s faster and more accurate.
      – Various drive removal improvements.
  • Balance ratio recalculation is now based on the number of bytes changed on the pool.
  • Drive removal was unnecessarily leaving behind some duplicated files on the drive that was removed.

You can download from here.

Add-In: StableBit DrivePool v1.2.1.7135 BETA

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The BETA build of StableBit DrivePool has had an update.

Here’s the change log for version 1.2.1.7135:

  • [D] Fixed access denied error on drive removal.

[D] = Driver was modified (reboot required after update)

You can download this release from here.

Ten Atoms DNS Updater Available for WHS2011

Ten Atoms DNS Updater which was available for WHS v1 is also now compatible with WHS 2011.

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DNS Updater allows you to access your computer remotely even with a dynamic IP, provides vanity url redirection for Windows Home Server or any pc (URL not included) provides update notifications and a new notification engine to send an email, create one or FTP one.

DNS Updater supports the following hosts:

  • DynDNS
  • NO-IP
  • ZoneEdit
  • DNS-O-Matic
  • Open DNS
  • TZO

A trial version is available after which DNS Updater will cost you $9.99

More information is available from here.

16GB of Memory with vSphere on the HP MicroServer

There’s a great write up and video on the HP MicroServer running 16BG of memory with vSphere.

HP ProLiant MicroServer

The 10 minute video demonstrates the installation and running of VMware ESXi 5.1 on the HP MicroServer through what brand of RAM to use and how to install it on the HP MicroServer to gain 16GB of memory.

You can find the article and video here.

Advanced Admin Console 2011 is coming to WS 2012 Essentials

The add-in Advanced Admin Console 2011 is coming to Windows Server 2012 Essentials.

Advanced Admin Console 2011 for WS2012e

Developer Andreas M has been working on his add-in which allows access to all administrative areas of your server for WS2012e.

In a blog post Andreas stated that he has finished porting the Advanced Admin Console 2011 AddIn to the new Windows Server 2012 Essentials platform.And that it would be available for download shortly.