I have 4 external USB3.0 drives attached to my BE2012 server. I have configured the backup jobs for my 6 servers to these disks. After running for a couple weeks to get a handle on my storage requirements, I believe my storage capacity is sufficient, but barely. Rather than replace 3 and 4TB disks with larger ones or a NAS or something, I have decided to create storage pools. Not revolutionary, I know.
Storage Pool 1 includes Disk A and D
Storage Pool 2 includes Disk B and D
Storage Pool 3 includes Disk C and D
As mentioned, Disk A, B and C are sufficient for the backup jobs to run without issue when not using pools, however 2 of them are up to 90% full at any one time. What I would like to happen with the pools is BE to continue to backup as normal to Disks A, B and C and then use Disk D as an overflow disk when it warrants due to a full disk. Basically, Disk D would be empty until a backup "overflows" to it due to Disk A, B or C becoming full. I have reconfigured my backup jobs to point to the pools instead of the individual disks. None of my backup job windows overlap.
My question is what order does BE2012 choose to use the disks in the pool? Will it operate as I desire, always using the first disk in the pool unless the device is busy? Or some other way based on utilizing all available resources for performance reasons?
Thanks.
--Mark