Issue

Christopher
Technical Support
StableBit DrivePool
2.1
Windows Home Server 2011
Public
Alex
I've setup the test like this:
  • Hyper-V on Windows 8.1 Pro running a session of a brand new install of Windows Home Server 2011 with 2 cores and 2048 MB RAM (static).
  • Client OS: Windows 7 64-bit running in a VMware Workstation VM on a different machine.
  • On the Hyper-V server I created a checkpoint to take the OS back to the point when it was connected to the client.
  • On the Windows 7 client, I took a snapshot after connecting it to the server.
  • After each test run I would reboot the Hyper-V host machine and revert the Windows Home Server 2011 OS to the saved checkpoint, and at the same time I would restore the saved Windows 7 snapshot. This made sure that each test run was starting with the exact same conditions.
  • I made sure that nothing is running besides the backup on all machines. This was pretty difficult because the indexing service and the .NET optimization service (NGEN) would start up spontaneously throwing the results off by minutes.
  • Everything was connected through a GB LAN.
In this controlled environment I conducted the following full client computer backups:
  • Non-pool: A backup where the Client Computer Backups folder was stored on a pass-through disk.
  • DrivePool 1.3.5: A backup where the Client Computer Backups folder was stored on the pool (1.3.5 release final) which had a single pass-through disk.
  • DrivePool 2.0.0: A backup where the Client Computer Backups folder was stored on the pool (2.0.0 release final) which had a single pass-through disk.
Results:
  • Non-pool:
    • 4:29
    • 4:02
    • 4:14
  • DrivePool 1.3.5:
    • 4:12
    • 4:07
    • 3:59
  • DrivePool 2.0.0:
    • 4:00
Even though I took steps to ensure a controlled test, there is still some variation in the backup times. This just goes to show that many factors influence the computer backup time. For example, something as simple as not moving the mouse on the client computer can increase the backup time by  minutes. However, I am convinced that these numbers do not show a fundamental issue with how StableBit DrivePool interacts with the Client Computer Backup service.
Public
Alex
  • Build a Windows Home Server 2011 machine in a Hyper-V host running Windows 8 with pass-through disks.
  • Attempt a Client Computer Backup on the pool and then the same backup not on the pool, in a controlled manner (which means reverting both client and server to their previous states prior to said backup).
  • Determine if there is any performance drop with the backup on the pool.