Combine two hard drives?

[eclas]

I was wondering how to setup a symbolic link (at least i think this is what I need).
What I'm trying to do is add another drive for more storage but have it 'in addition to' my recorded tv folder.
i.e. when I press the recorded tv button or record a show It will use my original recording folder AND the new one on a different hard drive.
So am I deluding myself thinking it would look like 1 folder to WMC and yet they are loaded with different files?

Edit: I'd delete this thread but I can't. I figured an easier way to do what I want. When this drive gets close to full I can add the other drive and change it to my recorded tv drive. Then just add the old folder in wmc settings so it shows all files from both drives.

[choliscott]

Depending on what you ultimately would like to do, there is an WMC add on called "WMC Recording Storage Pooler". This allows you to have multiple drives to record on & it automatically switches between the drives that you allocate for recording.

However what I did was purchased a license for Stable Bit Drive Pool. This takes all of the drives in the computer & makes it appear as it's one large drive

[eclas]

Thanks for that tip. I may give stablebit a try

Depending on what you ultimately would like to do, there is an WMC add on called "WMC Recording Storage Pooler". This allows you to have multiple drives to record on & it automatically switches between the drives that you allocate for recording.

However what I did was purchased a license for Stable Bit Drive Pool. This takes all of the drives in the computer & makes it appear as it's one large drive

[choliscott]

They have a 30 day full functioning trial

Thanks for that tip. I may give stablebit a try

Depending on what you ultimately would like to do, there is an WMC add on called "WMC Recording Storage Pooler". This allows you to have multiple drives to record on & it automatically switches between the drives that you allocate for recording.

However what I did was purchased a license for Stable Bit Drive Pool. This takes all of the drives in the computer & makes it appear as it's one large drive

[eclas]

ok, I downloaded the trial version but I have a question.
I have my recordings on the D drive so obviously they go into the 'recorded tv' folder on that drive.
I added that drive plus another one into drivepool.
My question is when WMC does a recording it will go into that recorded tv folder. How does that special folder work that was created by stablebit?
If the original drive fills up will it put the next recordings into that special folder and will WMC be able to see shows normally?

[dbailey75]

ok, I downloaded the trial version but I have a question.
I have my recordings on the D drive so obviously they go into the 'recorded tv' folder on that drive.
I added that drive plus another one into drivepool.
My question is when WMC does a recording it will go into that recorded tv folder. How does that special folder work that was created by stablebit?
If the original drive fills up will it put the next recordings into that special folder and will WMC be able to see shows normally?

but default, I believe it will fill up the first drive before moving to the second drive, but you can install a plug in, such that you can have data balanced nightly between all the drives in the pool.
http://stablebit.com/DrivePool/Plugins

Disk Space Equalizer
Author: Covecube Inc.
•This plug-in is a simple disk space equalizer. It will equalize the used space across all of your pooled disks.
•It can work in 2 modes: ◦Equalize by free space remaining - It will try to make the free space on all your pooled disks the same.
◦Equalize by percent used space. - It will try to make the percent of disk space used the same across all the disks

this is a fantastic product, I've been running it for a while (4 years or more) on my WHS2011. I have a separate pool where my recorded TV is automatically archived via the WHS connector, and stored on 3 drives with duplication should I lose a drive.

[eclas]

let me see if i got this...
I have 2 drives in the pool with no duplication. I installed the 'ordered file placement plugin' so that it fills 1 drive before starting to add files to the 2nd one.
Default was to keep free space even i think.
So I have my recorded tv folder on the 1st drive (prior to installing drivepool) and I now create a pool with 1 more drive added.
When WMC records to the 'recorded tv' folder and that drive gets 90% full then drivepool will start to save shows to the 2nd drive and WMC will not know the difference. i.e. when i look in the recorded tv section of WMC all shows on both drives will show?

Also, after a few recordings end up on the 2nd drive I will be able to go to windows file manager and see the recordings on that physical drive?

sorry for all the questions

[dbailey75]

let me see if i got this...
I have 2 drives in the pool with no duplication. I installed the 'ordered file placement plugin' so that it fills 1 drive before starting to add files to the 2nd one.
Default was to keep free space even i think.
So I have my recorded tv folder on the 1st drive (prior to installing drivepool) and I now create a pool with 1 more drive added.
When WMC records to the 'recorded tv' folder and that drive gets 90% full then drivepool will start to save shows to the 2nd drive and WMC will not know the difference. i.e. when i look in the recorded tv section of WMC all shows on both drives will show?

Also, after a few recordings end up on the 2nd drive I will be able to go to windows file manager and see the recordings on that physical drive?

sorry for all the questions

You description is correct, DP creates a virtual Hard drive Pool, which you will see under my computer/disk manager. You can access the hidden pool part folder of each physical drive (must show hidden folders) and see the share/folder structure setup and explore the Recorded TV folder. The only downside is you don't know which files are stored on which drive from a pool perspective, you can mount the physical drives as NTFS folders since there's really no reason to access them directly, but that's just a preference. On the other hand you can still store data on the physical drives (not in the pool folders), and the data will not show up in the pool.

You'll need to map your new pooled drive to WMC.

[eclas]

>>You'll need to map your new pooled drive to WMC.

I didn't do that till I saw this part of your msg. Sometimes I am a dunce.
I changed the recorder folder to the virtual DP drive.
with that set I now see a 'Recorded TV' on the virtual drive so I think I finally got it set right so as now it will fill the 1st drive and then transparently record to the 2nd drive.
Thanks for your assistance!

[choliscott]

Just in case you didn't already do this. If you want to see existing files displayed under the virtual drive, you will need to move the files to the hidden "PoolPart.." folder