StableBit DrivePool for Windows Home Server 2011 Beta 1.0.2.6659 released

There has been another beta build from CoveCube! StableBit DrivePool development marches on – now its version 1.0.2.6659.

Here is how CoveCube describes this application:

• Combine all your hard drives into one big storage pool (except the system drive with the OS).
• Add and remove drives from the pool at any time without re-partitioning or manually moving folders.
• Create duplicated folders on the storage drive pool that are protected against single drive failure. If a drive fails on which a duplicated file was stored, the contents of that file will remain readable even without the drive.
• All your data is stored in standard NTFS files. You can always access your files even if the Windows Home Server completely crashes or this add-in can’t be used.

This beta version’s change log:

1.2.0.6659

* Added visual markers on the DrivePool -> Disks tab to indicate where the balancer wants to attempt to reshuffle your files.

* Added animated arrows on the DrivePool -> Disks tab that show what the balancer is doing in real-time.

* [D] Fixed system crash under some rare conditions due to the timing of I/O operations.

* [D] Upgraded the pool balancing system. – Now uses a layered system of balancers. – Each balancer is responsible for implementing its own balancing algorithm. – A combined balancing model is built by querying all the balancers, where the upper balancers have priority over the lower balancers. – Each balancer can: – Schedule file moves for protected and un-protected files, separately. – Set up real time file placement limits on any drive. – Two types of limits are supported, hard limits and soft limits. – There are 3 built-in balancers: – Duplication Space Optimizer – A perfectly accurate duplication space optimizer that figures out if there are any files blocking the optimal use of disk space for duplicated file placement. It only moves files when it is absolutely necessary. – Prevent Drive Overfill – If any drive becomes full, and there is disk space on other drives, move some of the files to the other drives. This balancer comes with a bunch of settings letting you set up the appropriate balancing limits. – File Placement Limiter (new) – Control where new files will be placed by the real-time file placement algorithm. This balancer comes with settings that let you choose which file types go onto which drives. The algorithm sets up a “soft limit” which will be broken if all of the drives in the system are “full”. “Full” is defined in the settings pane and defaults to 90% full. – There is a simple API for building 3rd party balancers (exposed in DrivePool.Integration.dll – not enabled yet). – Each balancer can be enabled / disable or rearranged in the stack by the user. – A balancer can come with a WPF user control for any settings that have to be exposed to the user. – Each balancer stores its settings in a settings state object that is automatically serialized / de-serialized for the balancer by the system.