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To set up and configure Drive Bender for maximum redundancy, you must configure its multi-drive File Duplication engine. Unlike traditional RAID which stripes data across drives at a block level, Drive Bender operates at the file level. It ensures that exact duplicates of your files are physically stored across separate hard drives within your pool.

Note: Division-M (the creator of Drive Bender) has officially shut down operations, and the software is no longer supported. If you choose to continue using it for data redundancy, follow the blueprint below. Phase 1: Pool Requirements for Maximum Redundancy

Before enabling maximum redundancy settings, your hardware pool must meet specific conditions:

Minimum of Two Physical Drives: You cannot enable duplication with only one drive.

Drive Count Matches Redundancy Level: To protect against multiple simultaneous drive failures, your pool must contain at least as many physical hard drives as your target duplication factor (e.g., a 3x duplication level requires a minimum of 3 distinct hard drives).

Adequate Storage Capital: Duplication multiplies the required storage space. Enabling 2x duplication cuts your pool’s usable capacity in half; 3x duplication reduces it to one-third. Phase 2: Configuring Pool-Wide Duplication

To protect every single piece of data added to your system, configure pool-wide (global) duplication: Open the Drive Bender Manager application.

Navigate to the Pool Viewer panel and select your storage pool. Click on Pool Settings or the Duplication tab. Check the box to Enable Pool Duplication.

Set your global duplication level. Select 2x (copies of files on two separate drives) or 3x (copies of files on three separate drives) based on your drive count and safety requirements.

Click Apply. Drive Bender will begin a background replication task to mirror existing un-duplicated files across your physical drives. Phase 3: Optimizing Balancing and Validation Settings

For maximum reliability, you must tweak how Drive Bender automatically moves and validates data in the background:

Configure File Balancing: Under the File Balancing settings, ensure the mode is set to Even. This forces Drive Bender to equalize the percentage of used space across all drives. It ensures that background duplication tasks always have ample distributed space to spread file copies across separate disks.

Enable Real-Time Duplication: Ensure that the duplication mode is set to write in real-time rather than scheduled batches. This ensures that the moment a file is saved to the pool, a redundant copy is immediately generated on another drive.

Maximize Validation Performance: Redundancy validation requires extensive Cyclic Redundancy Checks (CRC). To prevent slow verification passes, open your Windows Power Options (powercfg.cpl) and change the system profile from Balanced to High Performance. This prevents CPU throttling during deep background health checks.

Phase 4: Setting Folder-Specific Redundancy (Optional Overrides)

If you want ultra-high redundancy (like 3x or 4x) for critical personal documents, but standard redundancy (2x) for heavy media, you can use folder overrides:

Right-click the specific folder inside your virtual Drive Bender pool. Select Drive Bender Properties from the context menu.

Use the folder-level slider to manually elevate the duplication level specifically for that directory. Important Maintenance and Recovery Note Duplication check tool? – General – Covecube Inc.