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Drive Bender

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Change log

Release information

Keys:
[*] General information.
[b] Bug fix.
[u] Updated feature.
[n] New feature.
[d] Driver change.
[k] Known issue or limitations.
[e] Experimental (feature is implemented but under review)

Release v3.9.9.5 release (2022-08-02)

[u] Windows 11 compatibility release.

Release v3.9.9.2 beta (2022-08-08)

[b] Fixed an issue preventing drive mounting on WHS2011.

Release v3.9.9.1 beta (2022-08-05)

[u] Rollback driver update (removed driver with cache write issue). [u] Changed Gen6 driver configuration to be Windows 11 compatible.

Release v3.9.9.0 beta (2022-08-04)

[b] Fixed issue with driver truncating very large files due to caching issues.

Release v3.9.4.0 beta (2022-02-25)

[b] Fixed issue with large file reads/writes and Smooth Streaming.

Release v3.9.3.0 beta (2021-11-01)

[u] Architecture change from beta v3.9.2.0 (beta removed) [u] Windows 11 compatibility [u] Drive Bender core updated with a number of rewrites [n] Added new "File placement" options to drive nodes, including "Landing zone", "Primary files", "Duplicate files", "Custom target folders" and "Target not preferred". [b] Memory leak of the server when the Drive Bender Manager is running for extended periods. [b] When removing a drive, pool size change error fires.

Release v3.7.0.0 release (2020/04/08)

[u] Some minor performance and reliability improvements.
[b] Fixed a number of minor service bugs

Release v3.6.6.0 beta 2 (2020/04/30)

[b] An issue with any drive that causes the pool to switch into fault-tolerant mode can cause the Drive Bender service to crash.
[n] We have added the ability to reset file object permissions across a pool, see - https://support.division-m.com/hc/en-us/articles/360001500816

Release v3.6.5.0 beta 1 (2020/03/31)

[b] Change in pool size error was causing the pool to switch into a fault-tolerant mode, and not switch back. [b] Detecting missing drives ate boot time now works as expected. [b] Scheduling task no longer blocks tasks for extended periods. [u] Even balancing has been improved on larger drives.

Release v3.6.0.0a (core v3.6.2.0) release (2020/01/23)

[b] FolderWall may not process rules containing explicit application entries correctly

Release v3.6.0.0 release (2020/01/22)

[b] Fixed a potential file looking issue.
[u] Further performance improvements introduced.

Release v3.5.0.0 release (2020/01/20)

[b] Some users were experiencing “Access Denied” under certain file system operations.
[u] We have changed the way the FolderWall module is disabled, and as a result, the version will explicitly disable the FolderWall. Important - This release will disable any pre v3.5 rules in place.
[u] We have improved file system performance and drive failure/offline detection.

Release v3.4.0.0 release (2020/01/09)

[b] Changing network cards could cause the system to boot slower than normal, and cause other system stability issues.
[b] Some users were experiencing a FolderWall error message on boot.

Release v3.3.0.0 release (2019/12/12)

[u] By default the FolderWall feature (module) is not enabled. Important - This release will disable any pre v3.3 rules in place.
[b] Fixed an error that some users were experiencing at boot concerning the FolderWall module.
[b] At startup, a mount point conflict could occur that cause the mount point to be removed and recreated.
[u] Added ".BVR" to the VIDEO file types.

Release v3.2.0.0a release (2019-11-29)

[b] Fixed an error message at start up regarding the FolderWall rules.
[b] Small change to file auditing.

Release v3.2.0.0 release (2019-11-01)

[b] Fixed an issue with file tracking and reporting. (DB-211 & DB-248)
[b] Fixed a number of memory leak issues. (DB-209, DB-244 & DB-245)
[b] Fixed a number of issues with file balancing. (DB-246)
[u] The "Drive Idle" feature has been disabled, as we are implementing a new variation of this feature for the next release.

Release v3.1.0.0 release (2018-12-03)

[b] Fixed an issue network security errors.
[b] Fixed an issue with Drive Idle terminating
[n] Drive Idle now defaults to disabled.
[n] Side Channel Protection can now be enabled via the setting.
[b] Closing the Drive Bender Manager's config window was updating custom setting even when no setting were changed.

Release v3.0.9.0 beta (2018-11-09)

[b] Further improvements on Drive Idle performance.
[b] A number of bug fixes on the Drive Idle feature.
[n] Drive Idle now defaults to disabled.
[n] Added notification options to the Pool Firewall.
[b] A number of minor network share related issues.

Release v3.0.8.0 beta (2018-10-15)

[n] Added new "Side Channel Protection" feature. (DB-228)
[b] Installer not updating all dependencies correctly. (DB-231)
[b] Network services staring but not seeing mount point, we have needed to restart "server" for network path to appear. (DB-227)
[b] Drive Idle performance slow, and for some users files missing during file enumeration. (DB-233 & DB-239)
[b] Mount point name appearing as "Local Disk". (DB-226)
[b] Empty pool purging is causing an issue on new installs. (DB-229)
[b] Drive Bender Manager throwing an error when first starting on some systems (DB-230)
[b] Network shares can display security issues (DB-238)
[b] File system health check could create folders using a file name (DB-240)

Release v3.0.0.0 beta (2018-07-21)

[n] Added new "Pool Firewall" feature  (note disabling the "List" option is currently not available). (DB-216)
[n] Added file enumeration cache feature (FEC), this is part of the new "Drive Idle' feature. (DB-218 & DB-220)
[u] Empty pools are purged on restart. (DB-202)
[b] Improved network share handling, including a number of network share bug fixes. (DB-203)
[b] Network nodes being restored after having been removed from a pool. (DB-213)
[b] A pool can fail to mount if a network share failed to connect. (DB-214)
[u] Some USB based removable drive were not being detected. (DB-215)
[u] Improved mount point checks and loading times. (DB-204)
[u] Hard limit on log file usage improved. (DB-219)
[u] Fixed a number of driver installation issues. (DB-223)
[b] Fixed several issues with balancing and landing zone clearing. (DB-217)
[u] Improved balancing performance. (DB-217)
[u] Thread deadlocking issue resolved, and improved thread marshalling for better performance. (DB-225)
[b] Fixed a number of server related bugs.

Release v2.8.0.0 release (2017-10-26)

[b] Balancing on pools with multiple mount points may not balance both mount point (only the first), this could also affect landing zone clearing.
[b] When applying duplication, the Drive Bender Manager/Console could hang.
[b] Fixed a number on minor bugs.
[u] Added additional logging for some areas of code to track drive issues.

Release v2.7.0.0 release (2017-08-31)

[b] Balancing and landing zone clearing can start at the same time causing the other to abort.
[b] When files are being balanced, certain conditions can cause this process to hang, resulting in timeout errors and/or file system hangs.
[u] "Non-pool used space" is now scanned as part of the file health system scan, and is no longer estimated.
[u] Improved file locking resulting in I/O speed improvements.
[b] Fixed a number of minor bugs related to worker thread tasks and queues.
[u] Windows Server Dashboard is now more Server 2016 aware.
[b] Fixed a number of minor bugs related to the Drive Bender Manager.

Release v2.6.0.0 release (2017-05-20)

[b] Folder repairing during a health check was not reporting errors correctly.
[u] Improved logging for balancing issues.
[u] Improved logging for folder issues across the pool.

Release v2.5.8.0 beta (2017-02-24)

[u] Major improvements in file balancing and (debug) logging.
[b] Large internal file operations could timeout (most notable when balancing large files).
[b] Folder cache scanning could hang under some conditions.
[b] Fixed a number of minor bugs related to worker thread tasks and queues.

Release v2.5.5.0 beta (2017-02-18)

[u] Much of the core has been updated to use our new code base.
[b] When restoring a pool, an empty pool could be created in addition to the restored pool.
[b] When an internal task is run, it is possible for that task to be flagged as finished before the task has completed (this happening multiple times can bring down the Drive Bender service).
[b] Fixed a number of processing issues with file validation.
[b] The Drive Bender Manager can display an incorrect file count value when the pool count is displayed.
[b] When uninstalling, one or more error messages can be displayed resulting in the uninstallation process failing.

Release v2.5.0.0 release (2016-12-10)

[u] Windows 10 Anniversary update driver issue fixed, we are now using the stock Eldos driver for Windows 10 / Server 2016.
[b] Drive Bender leaking Windows handles.
[n] Added "most space" balancing option. Put simply, when new files are copied to the pool, the target drive will be the drive with the most space (note background balancing is disabled in this mode).
[b] Uninstalling Drive Bender can result in the CX driver being removed. Need to check for CX "installation flag".
[n] Add registry value override for email "sender". By adding the registry string value "Email From Override", and setting to an address, all email, sent will be from this address.
[b] There is an issue with enabling/disabling the SMART engine.
[b] Improved real-time file count tracking.
[b] Fixed a number of UI bugs.

Release v2.4.0.0 release (26/01/2016)

[b] File duplication issue that can cause a mismatched time stamp between the primary and duplicate files when there is a daylight saving's time shift. This can cause some files to be unnecessary re-duplicated.
[u] The underlying volume GUID for a mount point will be the same each time the mount point re-mounts.
[u] Improved start up when one/all drives detached from the pool.
[u] Improved polling load (aka less CPU usage) when waiting on drives to reconnect to the pool.
[n] Pools can now be switched "offline", this causes all mount points to be dismounted until the user switched back to "online" mode. Option available along the top banner within the Drive Bender Manager.
[u] The pool file system health check now runs every 7 days and no sooner, even after a restart.
[u] The location of temp and log files has changed, there are now located in "\ProgramData\Division-M\Drive Bender".
[b] Folders pending delete may not get deleted, this can result in "orphaned duplicate" messages being generated.
[b] If the pool is in fault tolerant mode, the Drive Bender Manager can cause an excessive load on the pool.
[b] When using a landing zone, and a file is sent to the recycle bin before it has been moved from the landing zone, the file remains in the recycle bin on the landing zone drive until emptied. As part of the clearing process, the recycle bin is now checked and any files found are now moved from the landing zone drive.
[u] Improved target drive selection under "Balanced" mode.
[b] The minimum free space setting from drives can fail in some conditions.
[u] When upgrading, the installer will now uninstall the existing driver version first before installing the newer version (this happens automatically).

Release v2.3.9.0 release (2015-08-17)

[u] Improved overall start up performance when one or more drives have not connected.
[u] Add registry value to override for email "sender", under "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Division-M\Drive Bender" as a new string value "Email From Override".
[b] When deleting a pool under the Drive Bender Manager, the confirmation dialog is displaying the wrong pool.
[b] Pool does not start if all drives timeout during validation check.
[b] Issue with processing cache folder, it seems it is scanning the System Volume Information folder.
[b] On the activate license dialog, the intro text is being covered up.
[b] The SMART service starts to spike CPU usage after waking up from a sleep state.
[u] Improved the way the landing zone is being cleared.
[u] Add the drive name to the audit CSV log.
[b] When performing a folder scan, some users are receiving a recursive folder warnings.
[b] Files stored on the pool cannot be opened with a metro application under Windows 10.
[b] Folder images are not showing up under Windows 10.
[e] Improvements have been made to better calculate the slack space being used on a pool, which will result in a more accurate "non pool used" value.
[e] With multiple pools, if one pool is disconnected (aka drives not connected), other pool is taking 30 minutes to come on line.

Release v2.3.8.0 release (2015-06-10)

[u] Pool scanning tasks (aka health monitor, landing zone clearing and balancing) now cache folders for improved performance.
[b] Balancing and clearing of the landing zone tasks may not complete.
[u] The health monitor scanning frequency has been changed from every 4 days to every 7.
[b] There is now a limit on the number of repeat notification emails that can be sent.
[b] When the pool is starting and system drives are inspected, the default timeout has been increased to prevent spurious warnings.
[b] If the landing zone clearing time is set to one minute, it can prevent the health monitor from starting.

Release v2.3.7.0 release (2015-06-04)

[b] The file system health check may finish before traversing the entire file system.

Release v2.3.6.0 release (2015-06-03)

[b] Users running multiple pools could experience errors during a file system health check.
[b] Some components did not install/upgrade correctly and may cause issues.

Release v2.3.5.0 release (2015-06-01)

[b] The file balancing intervals could be set to a value that was not expected.
[b] SMART settings for individual drives was not taking effect.
[b] The SMART service and Windows tray application can use excessive CPU when the host machine comes out of sleep mode.
[b] Scheduled tasks can fail to load on start-up.
[b] The core driver is spamming the Windows event log.
[b] If the pool switches to fault tolerant mode, the duplicate file may not be displayed.
[b] On some occasions it is not possible to create a network mount point.
[u] Improved the efficiently of the pool health check.
[b] Fixed a font issue with the duplication manager.
[u] Windows 10 support.

Release v2.3.0.0 release (2015-01-07)

[b] S.M.A.R.T now being processed by its own service (the change in the previous release failed for some users).
[b] The Windows Server Dashboard could crash if some options were selected.
[u] When performing a pool audit, the file size used to calculate pool usage is now based on the size used on the drive, not the file size itself. This means the non-pool value display in the Drive Bender Manager will be more accurate.

Release v2.2.0.0 release (2014-12-11)

[b] Internal tasks can hang due to a dead locking issue.
[b] Improved handling of missing drives at boot.
[u] When remove a drive if the file being move out already exists in the pool, then the file is renamed (previously this would generate an error).
[b] The Drive Bender Manager can open the sub menus in the incorrect location on a multi-monitor setup (we could not reproduce this, however we did change code in an effort to fix this).
[u] When adding a drive, the merge option is disabled for system drives.
[u] S.M.A.R.T. processing has been moved to the external tray application.
[u] When a drive disconnects from the pool, Drive Bender now additional low level tasks to reconnect.
[u] When removing a drive from the pool, the drive's health is checked and if not 100% healthy, a waring is displayed.

Release v2.1.9.0 release (2014-09-26)

[b] When enumerating folders during a file system health check or balancing operation, the watch dog introduced in v2.1.7.0 is now disabled by default (was causing a benign error to be generated).
[b] A fix to the "Microsoft based objects permission issue", caused other file handling issues. This has now fixed and the original permission issue has been rectified.
[b] The setting for update check and notification was not be honoured correctly.

Release v2.1.8.0 release (2014-09-17)

[b] When enumerating folders, the process can hang if a folder that is flagged as "pending delete" is encountered.
[b] When enumerating folders, scanning of the System Volume Information folder can cause the process to hang.
[b] If a thread that has obtained a folder enumeration lock hangs, the locks will be reset after a short period.
[u] The timeout for a folder enumeration scan has been increased (this is to prevent slower systems timeout when there are just slow to respond).
[b] When installing certain Microsoft based objects, they can fail with an "Access Denied" error.
[b] Desktop.ini files were not being included in the file audit.
[b] The file audit count was not being correctly persisted across restarts.

Release v2.1.7.0 release (2014-08-26)

[b] When opening the Duplication Manager, an error is generated in the file list.
[b] The client sort menu is not refreshing correctly.

Release v2.1.6.0 release (2014-08-25)

[u] Further improvements to the upgrade start up issue.
[n] Added registry switches to allow a mount point to mount as a non PnP drive.
[b] The health monitor scan can fail on folders containing certain string formatting characters.
[b] File balancing cab start while a drive is being removed. This can result in multiple primary files being created.
[n] You can now specify the "drive full" values (i.e. when a drive is considered full). This value is used for both cascade balancing and landing zone.
[b] When performing a file system check, or scanning drive to be balanced, the task can hang if a directory junction point is found.
[b] Fixed how the client is displaying the non-pooled value, it should no longer corrupt the pie chart.
[b] Deleting a notification does not always work.
[b] A number of minor interface fixes and updates.
[u] The Drive Bender tray notification application uses less resources.

Release v2.1.5.0 release (2014-07-18)

[u] Improved the way Drive Bender attempts to recover from mount errors.
[u] Mounting a drive letter mount point is much faster.
[e] Added option to delay the drive online/offline notification. If the drives have reconnected before the period expires, no notifications are sent.
[e] Added balancing load detection which pauses balancing if the predefined threshold is exceeded.
[n] Added option to explicitly set the clearing landing zone schedule.
[b] The file system health monitor may try and duplicate the recycle bin, or display errors regarding invalid duplicated file in the recycle bin.
[b] A pool repair can fail if there is one or more drives connected to the pool that are not responding correctly.
[u] If a drive removal fails, the state of the drive is restored and is no longer left in a "removal pending" state.
[n] Have added an option to recycle the live logging connection (under the real time dialog).
[u] Changed the default minimum percent of free space required when using cascade balancing, from 15% to 5%.
[b] Fixed a bug with the UNC connection required for adding networked resources to a pool.
[b] When upgrading from v1 to v2 on Windows XP, an error message is displayed.
[b] EA's Origin (game manager) throws an access denied error when downloading a to a pooled drive.
[b] Fixed a minor bug with CRC validation that can cause the validation to fail with an exception.

Release v2.1.1.0 release (2014-06-12)

[b] Fixed memory leak occurring when file security is being checked.
[b] Fixed memory leak occurring when a file or folder is denied access.
[u] Minor performance improvement to folder / file enumeration.
[u] Call trace mode is selectable from the logging level menu (settings -> performance).
[u] Add new drives sorting option called "Cascade", this orders the drives in the order that is used when running cascade balancing.

Release v2.1.0.5 release (2014-06-08)

[b] The Drive Bender Manager fails to start if the Windows font scaling setting is not 100%.
[b] When a file is being created, a target location is not being found.
[b] Changing the "Provisioning limit" caused the Drive Bender Manager / Console to crash.
[b] Landing zone clearing can fail to find a target location for the file to be moved.
[b] Drive enumeration (as used internally) not filtering some system folders correctly.
[b] Added threaded monitoring for networked mapped nodes.

Release v2.1.0.0 release (2014-05-30)

[b] If a mount point is unmounted by Windows, it may fail to re-mount.
[b] Drive merging could fail with an error.
[b] The file health monitor could missing certain file when scanning the pool.
[b] The core service could fail to start is the OS language was not recognised.
[b] Many tweaks to the Drive Bender Manager and Console.

Release v2.0.4.0d beta (2014-05-23)

[b] If a new file's target folder does not exist, it is now dynamically created.
[u] Added more detailed debug logging on pool validation.
[u] SMART is scanned 15 minutes after boot regardless of any registry setting change.

Release v2.0.4.0c beta (2014-05-21)

[b] When checking for duplicates without primary files (using the tool under the duplication manager), excessive worker thread can be used.
[b] During a pool repair, some duplicate files do not have their primary counter parts scanned.
[b] Correct Unicode UNC access with mapped networked drives.

Release v2.0.4.0b beta (2014-05-20)

[b] When creating a folder many levels deep, the operation can fail.

Release v2.0.4.0a beta (2014-05-19)

[b] Removing a drive that contains no files can cause an error.
[b] The task scheduler was not starting task correctly.
[b] A configuration issue could prevent the core service from starting.

Release v2.0.4.0 beta (2014-05-12)

[b] The Drive Bender implementation of chkdsk now reports the reason if it fails to run.
[u] The balancing method setting now applies to how files are moved from the landing zone to the pool even if the balancing option is disabled.
[b] Starting the duplication managed was showing an authorization required dialog.
[b] A worker thread could throw an exception when exiting.
[b] When view a drive in the manager, the drive’s volume name could not be changed.
[b] Changing a drive volume name could cause the Drive Bender service to hang.
[b] When creating a file, the files owner is now set correctly.
[b] Fixed a memory leak that was occurring when modifying a files/folders time stamp of security settings.
[b] The non-pool usage report now displays the correct value.
[b] When a landing zone is specified, if duplication is in use, the file is now duplicated when moved from the landing zone (was being created when writing to the landing zone, negating any speed advantage).
[b] A number of fixes and improvements to the drive adding, removing and swapping features.
[b] The file count maintained by Drive Bender was being corrupted when the file system health task was running (although it was corrected once the task completed).
[b] If the drive swap operation was cancelled, the added drive was still being flagged as "pending add".
[b] The worker thread engine (used for all internal task etc) could cause an exiting thread to hang.
[b] Email notification was not sending email when required.
[b] Under extreme circumstances renaming a large file while it was being moved from the landing zone to the pool, could result in 2 files being created.
[b] When swapping a drive, all system folders (i.e. system folder and the recycle bin folder) are now moved to the new drive.
[b] Many UI fixes and improvements.

Release v2.0.3.8 beta (2014-04-06)

[b] The landing zone can be filled causing the system to fail when writing new files to the pool.
[u] Licensing has been re-enabled.
[a] Cascade balancing option has been added.
[b] Adding/removing/swapping drive causing a corrupt drive list to appear in the manager.
[a] Add a warning when adding a networked drive to a pool containing no other physical drives.
[b] Memory leak with SMART scanning.
[b] Editing a pools attributes fails if the pool does not contain any drives.
[b] Many interface bug fixes and tweaks.
[b] When uninstalling, an error can be displayed causing the process to be aborted.

Release v2.0.3.6 beta (2014-03-24)

[b] When starting, a single drive can take a number of minutes to load. This delay can the result in a number of system services failing to start.
[b] With the "Dark" theme, disabled field have an incorrect background color.
[b] Text incorrect for drive offline action option.
[b] Minimising and restoring the Manager results in the drives list becoming corrupt.

Release v2.0.3.4 beta (2014-03-21)

[u] Updated driver to the release driver.
[b] When attempting to delete a file that the user does not have permission to delete, the driver is now reporting the error correctly under Windows 8 and Server 2012.
[b] An incorrect CRC value can be returned when a file is zero bytes in length.
[b] The CRC calculation on a file can cause the file to become locked.
[n] Added option to have all mount points dismount if one or more drives go offline.
[u] Improved drive detection when a system wakes from sleep (prevent drive offline messages).
[n] Added an option to dismount mount points when removing or swapping a drive.
[b] During balancing all drives are now checked to make sure all are flagged as ok (otherwise balancing is aborted).
[u] Added user authentication to the pooling of network drives.
[u] Improved the way drives are checked to determine if they are on/offline.
[u] Tuned a number of the DB Manager / addin themes.
[n] Drive details are persisted across reboots (i.e. is a drive goes offline, Drive Bender retains key information such as the volume name, mode and serial numbers across reboots).
[b] Fixed a number of issues with the new "Dark" theme.
[n] The "Dark" theme is now the default theme.
[b] The drives list now resized into multiple columns space permitting.
[b] The width of the columns in the File Access list are now retained.

Release v2.0.3.2 beta (2014-03-08)

[b] Pool restore not be offered when the Manager first starts.
[b] Multiple queues of the same type could be created causing conflicts.
[b] Notification icon was not returning to the correct color.
[b] The duplication manager could crash is there is no available mount points.
[u] Added the "Dark" theme.
[u] Themes can now be changed without restarting the Drive Bender Manager (Server addin does not support this feature).
[b] When a duplication task is being rescheduled, the rescheduling can fail.
[u] Updated internal file copy/move routines to improve file locking issues.
[b] Opening the Running Tasks windows could cause them Manager to hang.

Release v2.0.3.0 beta (2014-02-27)

[b] Adding a drive under the Server addin resulted in the dashboard crashing.
[b] Adding a drive to a pool that does not have a mount point resulted in the interface crashing.
[u] Added I/O timeout on internal file management.
[b] WIP (work in progress) files not loading at start up.
[b] When deleting a file, the file parent folder's permission were not being honoured.
[k] When attempting to delete a file that the user does not have permission to delete, the DB drivers is not reporting the error correctly under Windows 8 and Server 2012 (although the files permission are honoured correctly).
[u] Added start up wizard to the Manager and Server addin.
[u] Updated HDS engine.

Release v2.0.2.9 beta (2014-01-31)

[n] Unified installer (Windows and WHS versions of the installer are now merged).
[b] Multiple instances of the balancing queue can be created causing a resource issue, and file balancing conflicts.
[b] Many interface issues have been fixed with both the Manager and Windows server addin.
[u] More improvements to the drive add, remove, merge, convert and swap routines.
[u] The drive merge feature is now integrated into the drive add feature (if files are detected, the merge option is shown).
[d] Driver upgraded to the production release version.
[b] Improved driver upgrading when going from Drive Bender v1 to Drive Bender v2.
[b] Fixed a potential interface deadlock when running add, remove, merge and swap routines.
[b] When balancing files on a system that contains duplicates, there can be a conflict between the primary and duplicate.
[u] Added Open SSL dependencies.

Release v2.0.2.8 beta (2014-01-24)

[b] Internal tasks may hang under some circumstances.
[b] Some Windows services may not restart correctly when adding or restarting a mount point.
[b] Non pooled drives not displaying in the interface correctly.
[b] The balancing routine is not calculating the correct balancing ratio.
[n] Pool file system health check, file balancing and file duplication validation can be launched and monitored from the main Manager interface.
[n] Pool notifications are now supported by the Manager interface.
[u] A number of interface improvements have been made.

Release v2.0.2.6 beta (2013-12-16)

[b] A number of thread locking changes to fix possible client / server errors.
[b] Drive letters now managed correctly when adding drives to the pool.
[u] Improved drive removal and drive swap speeds.
[b] The health monitor thread can prevent the balance monitor from executing.
[n] You can now perform a forced drive removal directly.

Release v2.0.2.4 beta (2013-12-4)

[b] File balancing not identifying drives correctly. This could cause files to be moved to the wrong drives.
[b] An internal worker thread can deadlock causing the task to stall.
[u] A number of performance improvements with both the file health and balance monitors.
[b] A number of fixes to the Drive Bender Manager.
[b] Drive Bender console compatibility issue.
[b] The WHS Drive Bender health service had an error when starting.

Release v2.0.2.2 beta (2013-11-26)

[b] Under certain conditions a deadlock can occur causing the pool file system to stop responding.

Release v2.0.2.0 beta (2013-11-20)

[u] Updated the core driver to the next generation.
[n] Full support for NFS.
[n] The "Landing zone" feature is now enabled.
[u] Pooled drives are now created using a GPT partition (XP / Server 2003 will still use MBR).
[n] System tray notification application has been added to the Windows and client installers.
[u] Introduced the new drive management framework.
[u] Adding and removing a drive and pool repair are now using the new drive management framework for improved performance and reliability.
[b] If one or more drives is disconnected at start up, the underlying mount point will not come up.
[b] Many bug fixes to the Drive Bender Manager.

Release v2.0.1.0 beta (2013-10-08)

[u] Much of the core Drive Bender service has been rewritten to accommodate the new features coming in v2
[u] New Interface for both the Windows client and the Windows Server Dashboard client (i.e. WHS client).
[a] Added support for networked drives to be added to a pool.
[u] Alternate (named) streams are now enabled by default.
[u] Support for physical drive number emulation is now enabled by default (this allows Drive Bender to support TrueCrypt volumes).
[k] The new "Landing Zone" feature has been disabled due to a last minute bug, it will be re-enabled in a minor update.
[k] Pie charts not rendering correctly, this is being sort for the next update.
[k] Mapped pooled drive do not support network security, as a result the user name and password fields in the clients are disabled for this beta.
[k] The pool restore option does not restore mapped drives (you can manually do this by simply adding the drive to the restored pool).
[k] Themes support has been disabled in this beta for the Windows client.
[k] The drive merge option has been removed, it is becoming an option when adding a drive.
[*] This beta's license is set to a fixed expiry date.

 

Release v1.9.5.0a (2013-10-01)

- Bug fix: Mounting a pool over 2TB in size on Windows XP / Server 2003 can fail.

Release v1.9.5.0 (2013-07-05)

- Bug fix: On shutdown a BSOD may occur under certain conditions.

- Added: Adding / removing a pool is now dynamic and does not require all pool instances to restart.

- Bug fix: When converting a drive, there can be empty folders added to the converted drive.

- Update: Some of the duplication text has been updated to be concise.

- Bug fix: The WHS add-in may not refresh on occasions.

- Update: Improved checking when a drive disconnects from the pool.

- Bug fix: Under certain conditions, Smooth Streaming can disable (due to a memory error) and block the current read.

- Bug fix: Add a mount point to a pool with no drives fails to mount.

Release v1.9.1.0 (2013-06-17)

- Bug fix: Some folders shared by Windows are not visible at boot.

Release v1.9.0.0 release (2013-06-07)

- Bug fix: Under heavy load a mount point can hang requiring a reboot.

- Update: Dependencies have been removed from a number of services.

- Update: Improved service start up times.

- Update: A number of changes have been made to the installer.

- Bug fix: A number of minor bug fixes have been made to the core service.

- Update: Major upgrade to a number of key components to support features coming in v2.

- Bug fix: Changing the last accessed, modified and creation time stamp on a folder failed.

- Added: A pool refresh button has been added to the pool tab.

- Added: Email notifications can now be sent using a fixed server, therefore only a target email address is required.

- Update: Improved driver upgrade process.

Release v1.8.6.0 release (2013-05-16)

- Bug fix: Under some conditions the mount point can fail to mount.

- Bug fix: When removing a drive a message is incorrectly stating that the mount point will be unmounted.

- Bug fix: If there is an issue with the first drive enumerated at start up, it can prevent the pool from starting correctly.

- Update: High transaction I/O performance has been dramatically improved.

- Update: A number of changes have been made to the way file system security is handled.

- Update: When restoring a pool, there is no longer a prompt regarding the deleting of existing configuration.

- Update: The email notifications now reference the server name in the email message.

- Bug fix: An update in v1.8.1.0 to improve boot times can cause the pool to fail on load on some machines.

- Bug fix: The duplication scan tools will not scan recursively scan folders if the top level folder was not flagged for duplication.

- Bug fix: The additions to the Server Folders tab under the Server Dashboard (i.e. WHS 2011, SBE 2011, SBE 2012) can cause the dashboard to crash.

- Update: The delay time before the Hard Disk Sentinel engine is start has been increased from 30 seconds after mount, to 5 minutes. This is to improve overall start up performance.

- Update: The resources required when running the duplication tools has been greatly reduced.

Release v1.8.1.0 release (2013-04-28)

- Bug fix: Removing the second last drive from a pool with duplication enabled can fail.

- Bug fix: Removing/swapping a drive can fail if the file being moved off contains a "%s" (issue with writing the event to the log).

- Update: During the drive removal/swapping process, the mount point is no longer taken offline.

- Bug fix: Drives not displaying correctly in the Drive Bender Manager.

- Update: Improved HDS support for certain drives.

- Update: The pool and duplication state of a folder is now display under the "Server Folder" tab (Windows Server family).

- Update: You can now manage folder duplication form the "Server Folder" tab (Windows Server family).

Release v1.8.0.0 release (2013-04-10)

- Bug fix: Converting and merging a drive can result in one or more folder being missed during the convert/merge operation (these folders remain untouched on the drive).

- Bug fix: The Windows Search Indexing service can fail to index a Drive Bender pooled drive.

- Bug fix: The comparison of primary and duplicate files during a health check can incorrectly identify files to be different when they are in fact identical.

- Bug fix: Under certain conditions the Manager's drives list is not populated correctly.

- Update: Improved drive identification in drive offline messages.

- Update: Mount points now come online earlier during the boot process.

- Update: The Drive Bender console application can now access S.M.A.R.T. details.

- Update: The Drive Bender console now displays the drive's model and serial number.

- Bug fix: The initial creation of the first pool could result in 2 pools being created (the second remains empty and unused).

Release v1.7.2.0 release (2013-03-19)

- Bug fix: For files that have failed the duplicate validation check, re-duplication of the file can fail with a duplicate target locked message.

- Update: The maximum number of files that can be balanced during a single balancing process has been increased.

- Bug fix: Minor text changes.

Release v1.7.1.0 release (2013-03-13)

- Bug fix: An internal language issue could prevent the S.M.A.R.T. attributes from displaying correctly.

- Bug fix: Under certain circumstances a drive removal process can fail with an error.

- Bug fix: When upgrading to a new version and email notifications are enabled, the first re-start can result with a service crash.

Release v1.7.0.0 release (2013-03-12)

- Bug fix: S.M.A.R.T. could cause a mount point to stop responding for short periods during specific file system operations (folder namely rename and delete operations).

- Bug fix: Improved drive S.M.A.R.T. detection.

Note - The base version number has been incremented to align with a number of internal libraries.

Release v1.4.7.9 rc2 (2013-02-28)

- Bug fix: A change in how file security was checked in v1.4.7.8 could cause a file save operation to fail and report an error.

- Bug fix: File case preservation now reported correctly.

Release v1.4.7.8 rc1 (2013-02-18)

- Update: Improved the file deleting speed for folders will a large number of files.

- Update: The file handling performance has been dramatically improved.

- Bug fix: Manually activation can fail with an error.

- Update: S.M.A.R.T. drive detection has been improved.

- Update: S.M.A.R.T. monitoring ignores drives that are in a powered down mode.

- Update: Email notifications are now limited in the number that can be sent is a given period.

Release v1.4.7.7 beta (2013-02-08)

- Added: Hard Disk Sentinel is now powering the S.M.A.R.T. functionality.

- Added: Physical drive number emulation supported (allows TrueCrypt volumes to be used against Drive Bender). See help for more details.

- Bug fix: Under some extreme circumstances, mount points can fail to mount.

- Bug fix: A number of minor interface and service issues.

- Update: Trial changed from 30 days to 60 days.

Release v1.4.7.5 release (2013-01-22)

- Bug fix: When file balancing is occurring, the drives involved may not have their free space updated correctly. This could result in unbalanced drives.

- Added: Ping volume feature (under advanced options of each drive). This feature will continuously write to the drive for a period of 30 second, allowing the physically drive to be identified by its activity light.

Release v1.4.7.0 release (2013-01-17)

- Added: Email notifications. Any Drive Bender system notification can now be sent to a nominated email address, this is configured under the Notification settings.

- Update: Improved user security setting when creating a new mount point.

- Bug fix: On a multi-pool system, if all the drives go off line for one of the pool, the other pool can also be affected.

- Update: Improved handling of participating drives going off line (fault tolerant mode).

- Bug fix: When opening the Drive Bender Manager, the main interface can hide behind other windows.

Release v1.4.6.5 release (2013-01-15)

- Update: Improved license validation to prevent license activation issues.

- Bug fix: BSOD can occur under some extreme conditions.

- Update: Upon boot, Drive Bender now forces a refresh of the Windows volume symbolic link. This is to prevent the drive not found issue some users experience.

- Update: Added a number of logging improvements to the balancing operation and increased the default range from 2% to 4% (i.e. drives must be 4% out of balance before balancing will occur).

Release v1.4.6.0 release (2012-12-21)

- Update: Added detail debug logging on license check.

- Update: Drive removal changed so that a number of checks are made when the client indicates the process has finish.

- Update: Updated help file.

- Update: Some interface additions and tweaks.

- Bug fix: Some users have been experiencing "License does not belong to this machine" errors.

- Update: A number of performance improvements with regards to how pool free space is calculated and reported.

Release v1.4.5.5 release (2012-12-14)

- Update: Enabled some of the low level caching to improve pool enumeration and access speed. This caching can improve some operation by up to 10 times.

- Bug fix: Under some extreme circumstances, file reads while using Smooth Stream can stall indefinitely. When this happens Drive Bender will now drop out of Smooth Stream mode for this specific file context.

Release v1.4.5.0 release (2012-12-10)

- Update: The Getting started wizard now offers to add more drives to a newly created pool.

- Bug fix: When adding a pool, it was possible that the new pool would not start.

- Bug fix: The Getting stated wizard has a number of text issues.

- Update: New icons have been added to some of the themes.

- Bug fix: When moving a folder, the destination folder's modified date is not being updated correctly.

Release v1.4.2.5 rc2 (2012-12-05)

- Bug fix: During a pool initialization or pool restore, Drive Bender can hang on Windows 8, Server 2012.

- Bug fix: On Windows 8 / Server 2012 (can also apply to older O/S's), Windows can throw recycle bin corrupt error messages (cause by permissions issues).

- Update: When creating a drive letter mount point, the default "drive" permissions are now set to "Everyone". This is to prevent some users experiencing the message "You need permission to perform this action".

- Update: Some interface additions and tweaks.

Release v1.4.2.0 rc1 (2012-12-02)

- Bug fix: During a pool repair and rebuild operation, duplicated files with specific attributes may not be discovered during the rebuild scan, and therefore not restored (note these duplicate files remain untouched).

- Update: The check disk function has been changed to ensure the balancing / health monitoring tasks are run while the disk is being checked.

- Update: A number of interface improvements have been made to the duplication feature.

- Update: Call trace mode is now switchable with out rebooting (although Drive Bender still requires a soft restart).

- Update: A number of tweaks to Smooth Streaming have been made (mainly around memory usage).

- Bug fix: Some minor changes and updates to the S.M.A.R.T. capability.

Release v1.4.1.5 beta (2012-11-22)

- Bug fix: Memory leaks in DriveBender.dll library.

- Bug fix: Worker thread manage can assign to worker tasks to the same thread, resulting in the thread becoming deadlocked.

- Bug fix: The "Getting started" wizard could crash if attempting to create a pooled drive when there is not top level pool object present.

- Bug fix: There can be instances where duplication scanning can enter the mount recycle bin.

- Bug fix: The Windows 7 theme's icons for setting and notification where not very visible.

- Bug fix: Some minor changes to the main windows default start up position.

- Bug fix: The duplication tools status line would disappear if it was longer than the available space.

- Update: Some interface additions and tweaks.

- Update: A number of duplication windows updates.

Release v1.4.1.2 beta (2012-11-15)

- Update: The introduction of our updated driver (VHyperDrive) for improved performance and Windows 8 / Windows Server 2012 compatibility.

- Bug fix: Adding and deleting pools is now better handled (for both the client and server).

- Bug fix: An invalid pool / drive configuration can prevent the pool from starting correctly (this issue was introduced in v1.4.0.0)

- Bug fix: A number of minor interface issues.

Release v1.4.0.0 release (2012-11-02)

- Bug fix: Pool property file is restored if deleted from the pooled hard drive.

- Bug fix: Pool property description attribute is not written correctly.

- Bug fix: Setting thin provisioning could fail with an error if the size being set is smaller that the total space available.

- Update: Reduced the maximum amount of memory the Smooth Stream feature can use (there were instance when system resources were stretched).

- Update: Some additions and tweaks.

Release v1.3.8.2 beta (2012-10-26)

- Bug fix: A number of compatibility issues with S.M.A.R.T. and Silicon Image controllers.

- Update: When adding a drive via the wizard, the system drive (i.e. drive C), no longer appear in the list of drives available (they appeared disabled).

- Update: Improved S.M.A.R.T. notification.

- Update: Improved license / hardware detection, this should stop license de-activation issues.

- Added: On startup the service will detect any pools that can be recovered.

- Bug fix: The health service can crash (WHS platforms only).

- Bug fix: "Value cannot be null" error message when starting the Drive Bender Console application.

Release v1.3.7.9 beta (2012-10-16)

- Bug fix: The settings option is missing in the 1378 build.

- Bug fix: When using the "drive swap feature" the newly added drive retained its drive letter.

- Update: A number of changes to how mount points are mounted and unmounted.

- Bug fix: When checking the "format drive" option, the designated warning messages was not appearing.

- Bug fix: A number of installer 1378 issues fixed.

Release v1.3.7.8 beta (2012-10-12)

- Bug fix: The activation dialog could randomly request a user name and password.

- Bug fix: When enumerating a folder that is linked to a folder outside of the pool, each file can be listed more than once.

- Bug fix: Folder linking was not supporting SymLink correctly.

- Update: Core driver acrhitectural changes.

- Big fix: S.M.A.R.T. monitoring feature was not displaying information correctly for some users.

- Bug fix: A number of minor interface and server issues resolved.

Release v1.3.7.5 release (2012-09-19)

- Update: Much improved duplication speed and lower CPU overhead (most notable on large folders).

- Update: Duplication folder scanning speed have been much improved.

- Bug fix: When using duplication tools, stopping a search can cause the client interface to hang.

- Update: Improved speed of mount points loading in the dashboard.

- Bug fix: WHS dashboard crashes when drive removal/swap is complete.

- Update: Hard drive S.M.A.R.T. monitoring has been introduced.

- Update: Hard drive model and serial number is now displayed for pooled drives (under the drives dashboard).

- Update: A number on interface enhancements.

- Bug fix: A number of minor interface and server issues resolved.

Release v1.3.6.0 release (2012-08-10)

- Update: Some branding changes to the client interface.

- Update: The settings option has been moved from the advanced tab to the main interface (lower left).

- Bug fix: As of Drive Bender v1.3.5.0 a drive removal or a drive swap operation will dismount all pool mount point for the duration of the operation. This is by design, however the notification of this dismount is not displayed, and as a result some users may not realize that this is intended.

- Bug fix: As of Drive Bender v1.3.5.0 a drive removal or a drive swap operation will dismount all pool mount point for the duration of the operation. This is by design, however if Drive Bender is set to manage system drive letters, then it may assign the dismounted mount point's drive letter to the drive removed, this could cause the mount point not to come back up.

- Added: strict driver version check now performed. If there is a mismatch, an error is logged.

- Update: By default CRC validation of files moved or copied is now disabled (effects duplication, drive removal and drive swapping). This does not effect uses that have explicitly changed this seeing. This can be re-enabled via the settings.

- Bug fix: Opening the Advanced windows under the WHS addin (classic interface) can cause the dashboard to crash.

- Bug fix: The duplication tools could fail when running under the WHS classic theme.

- Update: Some additions and changes to themes.

- Bug fix: The map pooled drive option under setting was not working correctly.

- Bug fix: The progress on some drive management operations did not show correctly.

Release v1.3.5.0 release (2012-08-03)

- Bug fix: User security can have issues with some extended characters.

- Bug fix: Removing a user from the user security list could fail.

- Bug fix: The "file in use" detection could fail in some circumstances (resulting in a number of internal file conflict issues).

- Update: Health monitor scanning time has been improved.

- Update: Better handling of files moving between duplicated and non-duplicated folders.

- Bug fix: Under some conditions, creating a folder can fail.

- Bug fix: Fixed a number of reparse point issues.

- Added: Added additional reparse support. This is disabled by default, for more information, see http://support.drivebender.com/entries/21522563-folder-link-support.

- Update: Performance improvement when reading / writing large numbers of small files.

- Bug fix: The client duplication window can crash on occasions.

- Update: Much improved duplication feedback and the addition of duplication tools to improve management.

- Update: When a license expires, the pool no longer shuts down, it now switches to read-only mode after an hour.

- Update: Improved IO error handling and logging.

- Update: Duplication processing speed has been vastly improved on large folder.

- Bug fix: The release license request option now checks for the trial key before proceeding.

- Bug fix: Some special characters can per vent files being renamed.

- Update: All dashboards now support mouse scrolling.

- Update: The client interface is now faster loading and more responsive on low end systems.

- Added: Option to disable Windows AutoPlay for drive letter mount points.

Release v1.3.1.0 release (2012-05-09)

- Bug fix: When deleting a pool, the dashboard may not refresh correctly.

- Update: When adding a pool, the newly added pool is automatically selected.

- Added: Introduced a start-up specific log file. This captures all start up logging and ensures it does not get deleted during log rotation.

- Update: Improved file balancing algorithm.

- Update: The way duplication is handled when moving a folder within the same folder tree has changed. For details please visit support.drivebender.com

- Added: Better support for slower connecting drives (i.e. USB drives). Drive Bender will now wait for these drives to connect for a period of 2 minutes.

- Bug fix: If none of the drives within the pool are connected at start up, the loading of the mount point will no longer be aborted.

- Update: Improved mount point conflict resolution.

- Bug fix: You were not able to change some key properties if user security was enabled.

- Bug fix: Remounting of networked mount points.

- Added: Automated release license request option under support.

- Bug fix: Issue with user security and session time out resolved.

- Bug fix: The progress screen in the WHS addin may not close at start-up.

Release v1.3.0.5 release (2012-05-03)

- Bug fix: When upgrading from a pre v1.3 release, the server may hang due to a configuration issue.

- Bug fix: If a mount point is created before any drives are added to the pool, the mount point will not see the drive until a restart occurs.

- Bug fix: Deleting a pool that has connected drives, may result in the pool not being entirely deleted.

- Bug fix: The WHS Drive Bender health monitor could fail at start up.

- Bug fix: The remove drive letter feature could sometimes fail.

- Bug fix: The merge into folder feature could sometimes fail.

- Bug fix: On very rare occasions a drive removal could fail due to a target conflict (i.e. the target drive of a file being removed).

- Bug fix: If a remove drive operation failed, there was no indication of the failure.

- Update: The client applications are better aware of the server location (i.e. if it is remote or on the local machine).

- Bug fix: At start up the validation of system drives could hang for extended periods.

- Bug fix: Font / display issues on Windows desktops using a non standard text size.

- Bug fix: The convert and merge functions could hang on locked files causing an indefinite rebooting notification loop.

- Bug fix: When switching between pools the dashboard may not refresh.

- Update: The setting dialog now displays a restart message when specific option requires a dashboard restart before they take effect.

- Update: Added an aggressive balancing mode.

- Update: Added the Drive Bender Console client (what was the old Manager) to the Windows and Client installs.

- Update: Added the drive swap option to the Drive Bender Console and WHS Classic interfaces.

Release v1.3.0.3 release (2012-04-26)

- Bug fix: Applying a trail license returns an error (although the license is applied ok).

- Bug fix: UAC was preventing the application theme on some systems.

Release v1.3.0.2 release (2012-04-25)

- Bug fix: Read rate not working in dashboard.

- Bug fix: Smooth Stream disabling.

Release v1.3.0.0 release (2012-04-24)

- Update: New Windows and WHS interface.

- Bug fix: File count feature could report the incorrect number of files.

- Update: Minor health monitor improvements.

- Bug fix: Networked mount points are non-writable on Windows 2008 R2.

- Update: If a drive removal process fails, the drive is no longer mark with an error. The pool will continue to operate a normal.

- Added: Drive swap feature. This allows a pooled drive to be swapped out with a new drive.

- Update: Smooth Stream performance improvements with high volume, small file reads.

- Bug fix: The drive removal process could fail with a "not enough free space in the pool" error.

- Update: Thin provisioning has been implemented.

- Bug fix: Folder rename and delete functions can fail on a folder marked for duplication.

Release v1.2.5.0 beta (2012-03-09)

- Bug fix: During an upgrade from v1.2.x, it is possible that a drive could be added to the pool more than once.

- Update: Check disk feature is now available to volumes.

- Bug fix: An exception can occur during drive removal causing the final process (pool validation check) to be aborted.

- Bug fix: A number of minor file balancing issues including file count tracking.

- Update: Improved handling of queued tasks.

- Bug fix: Under certain conditions the driver can deadlock.

- Update: File read / write performance improvements.

- Update: Drive Bender licenses can now be deactivated.

- Update: License manually activation is now supported.

Release v1.2.4.5 beta (2012-02-11)

- Known issue: The drive format option has been disabled due to a last minute bug.

- Update: Pool configuration and validation has been improved.

- Update: The restore from drives feature has been improved.

- Bug fix: Drive letter mount points will mount even if one or more drives is offline.

- Update: A pool remains in read only mode until all drives are on-line and ready.

- Bug fix: When adding a raw (unformatted) drive, a "drive unrecognized" error can be thrown even if the format option was selected.

- Update: When a drive is removed from a pool, the file are no longer copied, but are now moved from the drive to the pool.

- Bug fix: When removing a drive, an error can be thrown on completion.

- Bug fix: If a drive goes offline, or is offline at start up, files could still written to the pool even though the pool is in a fault tolerant state.

- Update: Improved fault tolerant detection and handling.

- Bug fix: A number of WHS addin / Manager interface updating issues.

- Bug fix: Lockup issue when Smooth Stream is enabled.

- Update: Many improvements to the Smooth Stream feature.

- Update: Enabling and disabling folder duplication has been improved.

- Bug fix: File count statistics count sometimes report an incorrect duplicated file count.

- Bug fix: It is possible that threads scheduled to wake at a specific time fail to do so.

- Update: NFS is now natively supported.

- Bug fix: A number of driver related issues have been resolved.

- Update: Improved reparse point handling.

- Update: Improved folder deleted functionality.

- Update: Improved folder rename functionality.

- Bug fix: Adding a mount to a new pool can result in the desired configuration no being completed.

Release v1.2.3.5 beta (2012-01-14)

- Bug fix: The pool could lockup under certain conditions (issue is caused by the named (alternate) stream support previously introduced, as a result this has been removed for the time being).

- Bug fix: BSOD could occur on systems running MSE.

- Update: The health monitor has been improved now sleeps after each scan (currently this sleep time is 96 hours).

- Update: The pool file count meta-data is now persisted across reboots.

- Update: Client / server security has been introduced. This feature uses the Windows authentication system.

- Update: Client / server networking is now fully encrypted using AES.

- Update: Folder time stamping has been improved and now works as per the NTFS spec.

Release v1.2.3.0 release (2011-12-31)

- Update: Support for a number of NTFS API's including compression and junction points.

- Update: Named (alternate) stream support.

- Bug fix: The WHS Move Folder feature no longer quits with an error.

- Update: Added call trace mode from improved debugging (this is accessible from the "About" in the Manager, or "Other Tasks" in the WHS addin).

- Update: A number of file system performance improvements.

Release v1.2.2.2 release (2011-12-04)

- Bug fix: Some users are seeing higher than normal usage of the WmiPreSE.exe process.

Release v1.2.2.1 release (2011-12-02)

- Bug fix: The transaction execution monitor was raising an error on any transaction exceeding 2 minutes, when it should only raise an error when it exceeds 36 hours.

Release v1.2.2.0 release (2011-12-01)

- Update: Many improvements to file duplication, including a more verbose duplication feature.

- Bug fix: Under certain conditions a networked connection to a Drive Bender mounted drive can be dropped by Windows. This is the result of incorrect NTFS "File Id" handling.

- Update: Lazy duplication has been removed from the Drive Bender options.

- Update: Improved performance for file/folder enumeration across a pool.

- Update: Improved pool recovery process.

- Update: You are now able to change the volume label of a drive letter mounted point via Windows (i.e. F2 the drive in Windows explorer).

- Bug fix: A large number of files no longer cause an error when using the duplication feature.

- Bug fix: Many minor interface bugs have been fixed.

Release v1.2.1.7 release (2011-11-19)

- Update: Improved pool recovery process.

- Update: You are now able to change the volume label of a drive letter mounted point via Windows (i.e. F2 the drive in Windows explorer etc).

Release v1.2.1.6 release (2011-11-12)

- Bug fix: During the duplication process (i.e. enabling duplication on a folder) could cause a file to have its read only flag removed.

- Bug fix: The file / duplication count for a pool can sometimes read zero.

- Update: Some performance improvements on file duplication.

- Update: Some performance improvements on file / folder renaming and deleting.

- Bug fix: The Drive Bender Manager does not display changes in mount points.

Release v1.2.1.5 release (2011-11-07)

- Update: Implemented the "Pool setup wizard".

- Update: Fully integrated help system.

- Update: Documentation has been greatly improved.

- Bug fix: A number issues with add, merge and convert a drive have been fixed.

- Bug fix: Creating a folder now implements the requested attributes against the folder.

- Bug fix: The health monitor could take a very long time to perform a single pool scan.

- Update: The amount of I/O generated by the health monitor has been greatly reduced.

- Bug fix: A number of minor interface and server issues.

Release v1.2.1.4 release (2011-10-26)

- Bug fix: Minor memory leak occurred when the WHS dashboard was open.

Release v1.2.1.2 release (2011-10-25)

- Bug fix: The WHS addin could crash the dashboard if the local user is not the user that it was installed under.

- Bug fix: Under some specific circumstances, file renaming could fail or cause access denied errors.

- Bug fix: The Drive Bender Manager and WHS addin now update correctly if the state of a drive within the pool changes.

- Bug fix: The license messaging system now reports any licensing issue much better.

- Update: The add and remove mount points feature has been improved to provide better feedback.

- Bug fix: A number of minor interface and server issues.

Release v1.2.1.0 release (2011-10-14)

- Update: Transaction are no longer persisted between restarts (this was causing a lot of ongoing issues, mostly with users migrating from older versions).

- Bug fix: The handling of remote Drive Bender servers is now working correctly for duplication, running task, notifications and logs.

- Bug fix: The duplication window now updates correctly after a change to the state of a folder.

- Bug fix: Merging and converting a drive now removes all existing Windows drive letter before the operation. This helps to ensure no files / folder get locked again if a reboot is required.

- Bug fix: Coping / moving a file to the pool could result in the destination files having it's attributes striped.

- Bug fix: The health monitor is less likely to be interrupted resulting in better file monitoring and file count statistics.

- Bug fix: The health monitor thread is now slower executing, resulting in even less (no) load on the server.

Release v1.2.0.1 release candidate 1 update (2011-10-07)

- Bug fix: A number of cosmetic issues were fixed.

- Bug fix: Installing on a x86 platform was throwing an error.

- Bug fix: Cleaning up orphaned Drive Bender temp files has been improved.

Release v1.2.0.0 release candidate 1 (2011-10-04)

- Update: New user interface for both the Windows and WHS clients.

- Bug fix: Balancing operations could create a locking issue if there was a file / folder rename or delete request.

- Update: All drives are now checked at start up and an alert is raised if there is one or more drives missing from the pool.

- Update: Drive letter management is now fully implemented (this automatically removes and adds drive letters to drives added and removed from the pool).

- Update: Improvements to adding, removing and merging of drives.

- Bug fix: Improved duplication when enabled on existing folder.

- Update: Orphaned Drive Bender temp files are now cleaned up.

- Bug fix: Logging no longer stops when there are a large number of entries.

- Bug fix: Installation of blank license key is no longer allowed.

- Known issue: Documentation was omitted from this release due to time constraints. This will be supplied in RC2.

- Known issue: The unmanaged pool mode is disabled. Because of the "feature freeze" for RC1, this is still incomplete.

- Known issue: The list view in the WHS addin is not grouping by default. To manually group this view, right-click the view and select "Group", then "Drive type".

Release v1.1.8.8 - beta (2011-09-29)

- Bug fix: When during heavy enumeration a reference to a bad pointer could cause the service to crash.

- Bug fix: If there system has an expired license, there was no message to indicate that was the case.

- Bug fix: When using Smooth Stream a threading conflict could cause the service to crash.

- Bug fix: Setting attributes could sometimes return the wrong result when the file / folder did not exist.

Release v1.1.8.4 - beta (2011-09-18)

- Bug fix: When adding, merging or removing a drive to / from the pool, the process could hang and not complete.

- Bug fix: When upgrading an XP x64 platform, the drivers may not get updated correctly.

- Bug fix: Repairing a pool's configuration was not working correctly and did not update the registry correctly.

- Update: File security performance has been improved through the use of caching.

- Bug fix: File / folder deleting, rename and modifying (i.e. attributes and security) has been improved.

- Bug fix: If a file is denied access (because of an access check), the service could crash under some conditions.

Release v1.1.8.3 - beta (2011-09-14)

- Bug fix: A number of issues effecting performance and stability.

- Bug fix: Under certain circumstances a folder can be locked preventing it being renamed.

- Update: The implementation of file system security has been completed.

- Bug fix: The uninstaller was not removing the Drive Bender references in the DependOnService values.

Release v1.1.8.2 - beta (2011-09-11)

- Bug fix: An issue with the "SetEndOfFile" API handling was causing the WHS backup service to crash.

- Bug fix: During file balancing, setting the files time stamp was throwing an error (cannot find the file specified). The resulted in the files time stamp to out by a number of milliseconds.

Release v1.1.8.1 - beta (2011-09-09)

- Update: Much improved detection of invalid duplicated files.

- Bug fix: Heavy I/O (either internal or external) could lock folders prevent them from being renamed or deleted.

- Update: Task loading time has been dramatically improved.

- Bug fix: An issue with the transaction manager was causing the transaction engine to stop processing.

- Update: The number of validation tasks that can be queued at any one time has been dramatically reduced.

- Bug fix: File duplication was not always time stamping the duplicated file correctly.

- Bug fix: Files moved as part of a balancing operation could end up with slightly modified timestamps.

- Update: Folder attributes and security values and now monitored as part of the file system health check.

- Bug fix: The installer could throw an error during uninstall.

- Bug fix: Adding a drive on Windows XP failed with an error.

- Bug fix: Under certain conditions, drive balancing could disable itself.

- Bug fix: Minor Smooth Stream stability issue.

- Bug fix: When loading the Manager from the WHS addin, the dashboard could crash.

Release v1.1.7.9 - beta (2011-09-01)

- Bug fix: Start up exception fix that could occur on some systems.

- Bug fix: Missing SmartInspectConsole.exe from DB Manager path.

Release v1.1.7.8 - beta (2011-08-31)

- Update: Smooth Streaming now has much improved performance while using less RAM.

- Bug fix: Smooth Stream memory leak has been rectified.

- Update: New MSI installers for all versions of Windows. These will automatically upgrade from the previous non MSI installer and also clean up legacy beta code.

- Bug fix: Fix a bug with directory enumeration which could crash the service, or report incomplete enumeration under heavy load.

- Update: Directory enumeration is much more responsive and uses much less RAM.

- Update: The file health monitor now checks for "empty" duplicates.

- Update: Windows mount points for the individual pooled drives (i.e. via "...\System\Mounts") are no longer available by default, and must be explicitly enabled via the options.

Release v1.1.7.7 - beta (2011-08-23)

- Bug fix: A number of issues were found that could cause instability issues, these have now been fixed.

Release v1.1.7.6 - beta (2011-08-22)

- Bug fix: Networked mount points now start correctly (these were hanging the startup process).

- Update: License issues are now sent via the alert system.

Release v1.1.7.5 - beta (2011-08-18)

- Update: Applying file security and / or file attributes to a file in a folder marked for duplicate, will also apply those same security / attribute setting to the duplicated file.

- Update: Much improved start up performance.

- Update: Smooth Streaming is now file type sensitive, and when enabled, will only kick in for common audio and video files.

- Update: Drive Bender core driver updated.

- Bug fix: Exception from either the Manager or WHS add-in no longer occurs if the Drive Bender server is still starting when these clients start.

- Update: Implementation of the Windows Server Health system (important Drive Bender events are now flagged with server alerts).

Release v1.1.7.1 - beta (2011-08-09)

- Bug fix: When writing to a folder marked for duplication, the duplicated file itself may be corrupt and unusable (bug introduced in v1.1.5.8).

- Bug fix: Heavy I/O could cause a number of memory leaks to occur.

- Update: When installing a new version (or updating to a new version) of Drive Bender, a pool integrity check is automatically performed when the pool next starts.

- Bug fix: A number of transaction related bug fixed.

- Update: File balancing is less aggressive when there is a large number of files to move.

Release v1.1.6.2 - beta (2011-08-01)

- Bug fix: When adding / merging a drive, folders on the new drive are now created with any special attributes that were on the pool's folders.

- Update: When adding, merging and removing drives to and from a pool, the mount point is no longer reloaded (it remains persistent). This functionality was disabled in v1.1.5.9 due to an issue with the mount points disappearing under certain conditions.

- Bug fix: When adding a drive, if the formatting option was set, the drive was renamed regardless of the state of the rename drive option. This is no longer the case.

- Update: Improved folder moving when merging / converting a drive.

- Bug fix: "System Volume Information" folders are now correctly handled when merging / converting a drive.

- Update: Improved handling of pooled drive total / free space.

Release v1.1.6.1 - beta (2011-07-27)

- Bug fix: Mount points could attempt to load before the required Windows services have completed starting. Prior to v1.1.6.1 this could cause the service to become unresponsive.

- Update: The pool no longer validates duplication when adding a drive (the exception here is if going from one drive in the pool to two). This improves the speed of adding a drive to the pool, and ensure that adding multiple drives does not cause continuies pool validation.

- Big fix: A number of interface fixes.

Release v1.1.6.0 - beta (2011-07-26)

- Bug fix: Under very heavy load, 0 byte files could appear if validation was running at the same time (these would appear on the same physical drive as the duplicate file).

- Bug fix: Drive conversion was not loading the mount point correctly if a reboot was required during conversion.

- Bug fix: Fixed a number of issues with file tracking (used to determine opened / in use files). Under some circumstances this could cause a service crash.

Release v1.1.5.9 - beta (2011-07-25)

- Update: Changes to the way DB reports a pools total space. Mount points are now reloaded when the pools total space changes (changing this without remounting the mount points could cause Windows to dismount the mount point without warning).

- Update: Unexpected dismounts of a mount point are now captured, and If possible the mount will be automatically restored.

- Update: Much improved read / write performance when there is heavy I/O.

- Bug fix: Video streaming (with Smooth Stream disabled) no longer stutters if there is are write operations being performed.

- Update: Client logging information improved.

- Bug fix: Drive removal now works correctly.

- Bug fix: Internal file copies can now write to read only folders.

- Bug fix: Creating a new pool and adding drives could leave the mount in a read only state, this is no longer the case.

- Bug fix: Removing a drive could fail on some files because the destination location was the drive being removed.

- Bug fix: Read / write rates are now correctly reported.

Release v1.1.5.8 - beta (2011-07-13)

- Bug fix: Changed architecture to fix heap corruption issue and improve overall performance.

Release v1.1.5.7 - beta (2011-07-08)

- Update: Enabling, disabling and validating duplication using the WHS addin is now done asynchronously.

- Bug fix: The validating folders and child folders option no longer enabled validation on any child folder not currently enabled.

- Update: Further improvements to the task feedback system.

- Bug fix: Many small bug fixes and improvements.

Release v1.1.5.6 - beta (2011-07-04)

- Bug fix: Unable to add a drive to a new pool.

- Bug fix: A file could fail to open if the file was marked as read only.

- Bug fix: Unhandled exceptions could sometimes occur while reading and writing to a file.

- Update: Enhanced the CRC32 validation of files moved as a result of balancing. We have also made this operation more verbose if logging is set to "Medium" or "Debug".

- Update: If the CRC32 validation setting is enabled, files copied as a result of enabling validation on a folder, will also be validated using CRC32.

Release v1.1.5.5 - beta (2011-07-02)

- Update: Fault tolerant mode now fully supported.

- Update: Improved startup time when loading.

- Update: Drive removal improved and includes better user feedback.

- Update: Running tasks information is much more complete.

- Bug fix: Renaming a file to the same name no longer causes the file to be deleted.

- Bug fix: Errors returned to the OS are now correctly passed back.

- Bug fix: Fast file through put no longer causes an unhandled overflow exception.

- Update: Many other interface bug fixes and enhancements.

- Known issue: The WHS move folder feature throws an error.

Release v1.1.5.2 - beta (2011-06-27)

- Bug fix: A deadlock could occur when heavy IO was happening. This would cause the service to appear to lockup (and the pooled drive to go offline).

- Bug fix: Validation could attempt to validate a folder that no longer exist.

- Bug fix: Smooth Stream was over allocating RAM during heavy IO activity.

- Bug fix: A number of memory leaks fixed.

- Bug fix: The merge dialogs, select path option no longer throws an error.

- Update: A number of internal changes that have made the pool more responsive.

- Update: Improved feedback during adding, merging, converting and removing a drive.

- Update: The add and merge drive functions now have the option as to weather or not to renamed the volume.

- Update: Many other interface bug fixes and enhancements.

Release v1.1.5.1 - beta (2011-06-23)

- Bug fix: A number of minor code changes to fix potential lockup and service crashes.

- Bug fix: The un-installation routine now correctly restores service dependencies.

Release v1.1.5.0 - beta (2011-06-21)

- Update: A new version of the WHS 2011 addin.

- Bug fix: WHS client backup could sometimes fail, this has been fixed.

- Bug fix: Drive balancing no longer balances Drive Bender specific files.

- Bug fix: Windows update no longer fails (permission issue fixed).

- Update: The drive merge functionality has been improved.

- Update The drive removal functionality has been improved.

- Update The drive add functionality has been improved.

- Added: Drive convert feature to convert an existing non pooled drive into a pooled drive.

- Added: Option - Smooth Stream. This is file read caching to improve file streaming performance (default = disabled).

- Added: Option - CRC file validation of duplicated files (default = enabled). Disabling this reverts to file size validation.

- Added: Option - Log level. The specifies the amount of logging taking place (default = none).

- Added: Option - Drive balancing. You can enable / disable balancing as required (default = enabled).

- Added: Option - Drive renaming. When adding a drive to the pool, it is now renamed to make its use obvious (default = enabled).

- Added: Option - Drive letter management. Allows Drive Bender to manage drive letters for drives added to, and removed from the pool (default = enabled). Note that due to a bug, this feature was disabled prior to release.

- Bug fix: Renaming and deleting files and folders should no longer fails with errors.

- Bug fix: Recycle bin support have been fixed.

- Bug fix: Remove Windows assigned mount points (i.e. drive letters) if there is a conflict with a Drive Bender mount point.

- Added: Pool recovery feature. This can recover a pool (or pools) from connect drive without any configuration information (to be uses with OS re-installs etc)

- Added: Pool configuration repair. Drive Bender now validates and repair broken configurations.

- Added: WHS running tasks and notification windows (full WHS notification integration to come).

- Known issue: Fault tolerant mode (i.e. when a drive is missing from the pool) is still not displaying duplicated files (will be fixed in the next update).

- Known issue: The WHS move folder feature throws an error (to be fixed in an update).

- Known issue: The opening of web links from the getting started tab are opening on the server, not the client.

- Known issue: Documentation incomplete.

Release v1.1.4.1 - beta (2011-06-07)

- Bug fix: Under high CPU usage, a number of file system errors could occur. This bug also effected other areas of the application, and could have cause a number seemingly unrelated issues. This bug has been known to cause :-

* Sync / copy applications displaying errors with some files.

  * WHS client backups failing.

  * WHS backup service crashing.

  * Client applications / services crashing.

  * Memory leaks on large file transfers.

  * Drive Bender slow down after a period of time.

  * Excessive C drive usage due to the large log files being generated.

- Bug fix: Deleting a file can sometime leave an orphaned duplicate file.

- Update: Log files are now limited in size.

- Issue: On occasions a deleted file will NOT go to the recycled bin.

- Bug fix: Restarting the Drive Bender service could sometimes cause the service to hang.

- Update: Drive balancing and health monitoring now pause during heavy read / write activity.

Release v1.1.4.0 - beta (2011-06-04)

- Bug fix: Named streams support was inadvertently enabled in the last build (feature was not ready). This could cause duplicate names to appear in the pool file system. This feature has been disabled.

- Bug fix: Under heavy loads, a request for a file handle could sometimes fail. This issue has been resolved.

Release v1.1.3.9 - beta (2011-06-03)

- Update: Duplication validation can now be performed on all child folders.

- Bug fix: WHS now sees a drive letter mount as a fixed drive (not as a removable drive).

- Bug fix: Drive balancing is now correctly thottling during pool usage.

- Bug fix: Drive balancing is now correctly halting before and during drive removal.

- Bug fix: Drive balancing is only performed if the target percentage is not within a certain range.

- Bug Fix: Pool monitoring is correcly halting before and during drive removal.

Release v1.1.3.8 - beta (2011-06-01)

- Update: Updated beta license to run until mid August.

- Update: Improved Manager feedback during long tasks.

- Update: Drive balancing has been enabled.

- Update: The Drive Bender log files now rotate.

- Bug fix: Running an exe from a drive letter mount no longer causes an error.

- Bug fix: Save Office files to a shared folder no longer causes an error.

- Bug fix: WHS backup database cleaning now completes successfully.

- Update: Many other bug fixes and enhancements.

Release v1.1.3.3 - beta (2011-05-18)

- Update: Much improved file read performance.

- Update: Windows based network shared (i.e. shares creating on folders contained within a drive letter mount point) as now restored correctly upon reboot.

- Update: Drive letter mounted pools now show up and work correctly within the WHS "Server Folders and Hard Drives" tab.

- Update: WHS server folders can now be created on a drive letter mounted pool.

- Update: Drive letter mount points now support WHS client backups.

- Update: Drive letter mounted pools now have full recycle bin support.

- Update: Applying and removing duplication can now cascade to child folders.

- Update: Improved file / folder renaming.

- Bug fix: Renaming a folder twice could cause the rename to fail if the name was previously used.

- Bug fix: Removing a duplicated folder was not working correctly in the WHS adding.

- Bug fix: Renaming a file could cause a duplication file to be created.

- Bug fix: Fixed recycle bin corruption bug.

- Bug fix: Adding a drive was causing an error in v1.1.3.2

- Update: Many other bug fixes and enhancements.

Release v1.1.2.8 - beta (2011-04-12)

- Bug fix: The health monitor no longer checks outside of a pool mount path.

- Bug fix: Drive removal can now remove drives even when flagged with an error.

- Update: Added pool rebuild / repair feature. This will repopulate a pool with duplicated files from a missing missing or failed drive. This will also remove the bad drive from the pool.

- Update: Improved handling of file security and file attributes.

- Bug fix: A pool restart could cause Drive Bender to deadlock, this issue has been resolved.

- Bug fix: A Drive Bender WHS addin crashing issue has been fixed.

- Bug fix: Removing a mount point no longer corrupts references to other mount points.

- Update: Drive Bender Manager interface improvements.

- Update: Drive Bender WHS addin interface improvements.

- Update: Bug fix: Drive Bender Manager node selection now enabling correct options.

- Update: Added partial support for WHS shared folders to the WHS addin (see http://www.drivebender.com/whsbeta1).

- Update: Improved start up performance.

- Update: Many other bug fixes and enhancements.

Release v1.1.2.6 - beta (2011-04-04)

- Bug fix: Explorer can lock up when opening a folder.

- Update: Improved error handling in some areas.

Release v1.1.2.5 - beta (2011-04-02)

- Bug fix: The Drive Bender WHS addin crashing issue has been fixed.

- Bug fix: File security is now handled correctly.

- Bug fix: BSOD issue with XP fixed.

- Update: Improved duplication speed.

Release v1.1.2.1 - beta (2011-03-26)

- Update: Bug fix: The Drive Bender WHS addin can cause the dashboard to crash when starting. We have now made this more robust, and included more debug info should a crash occur.

- Update: Added pool instance management to WHS addin.

- Update: Added drive merge to WHS addin.

- Update: Added a driver utility application. This can be used to determine if the Drive Bender drivers are installed correctly.

Release v1.1.2.0 - beta (2011-03-21)

- Update: Many bug fixes and enhancements.

- Update: Windows Home Server 2011 addin.

- Update: Added drive to existing pool enabled.

- Update: Merge drive into an existing pool enabled (disabled on WHS addin, please use the Manager if you wish to perform a merge).

- Update: Remove drive from a pool is enabled.

- Update: Folder duplication enabled.

- Update: We have included a console output application. This can be accessed from the interface of the manager.

- Bug fix: The Manager now starts up correctly after being shutdown while minimized.

- Bug fix: Fixed a number of long file name issue.

- Bug fix: We have fixed a number of bugs that were preventing some third-party file managers from working correctly.

- Bug fix: The health monitor could start looking outside of the pool.

- Important: Please see "Points of note" in the Drive Bender Walk Through PDF for information on known issues and workarounds.

Release v1.0.1.8 - beta (2011-02-24)

- Bug fix: Mount points are now retained after a reboot.

- Update: Improved logging when the Drive Pool server is coming up.

- Update: The client now displays relevant logging information.

- Update: We have enabled remote machine connection on the manager.

- Update: Improved the installer's ability to update existing installations.

- Update: A number of minor bug fixes to the management console.

Release v1.0.1.6 - beta (2011-02-21)

- Bug fix: Creating a mount point using a drive letter now works correctly.

- Bug fix: Installer now working correctly on x86 platforms.

Release v1.0.1.5 - beta (2011-02-21)

- Important: Please refer to the Drive Bender Walk Through pfd (see section "Points of note").