data drive fails after warmup! Help!

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 04:19:57 Z

I have a 500gb drive that I can read if turned on for longer than 3 minutes but less than 20 minutes.

I was able to copy over all files except three files.

IF I sub new drive with the good files, WHS wants to add drive
instead of use drive. (therefore ERASE drive)

A lot of data and backup on that drive.
Tried to remove bad drive, but WHS failed to remove after trying for 36 hours. Said drive was missing.

HELP!
Thanks,
Ray

data drive fails after warmup! Help!

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 05:00:40 Z

Hi Ray,
is your server fully patched?
Check also brubbers post here how to remove such a drive rejecting to leave.

To keep your files on the replacement save, login to your Home Server desktop and copy the files to a subfolder on your WHS through Shared Folders on server, given you have enough space. After finishing you can add the disk to the storage pool.

Better would be, to put the files temporary to disks on client PCs (create a shared folder on them for this purpose) or on an external disk and copy them to the Shared folders on server after adding the second disk again. Otherwise the D: drive on the server may fill up rapidly.

Best greetings from Germany
Olaf

data drive fails after warmup! Help!

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 11:25:58 Z

I can see how I can do that for SAVED files like mp3 and the like.
But I have been backing up 10 computers since WHS release.
Some not so important but some very important.
And some have failed already that I need their backup.
So I am hoping to restore as much info as I can.
I have almost everything, except a couple of files but on different drives.
So I need a way of installing new whs then copy over files from old installiation.
tombstones, backups and saved files.
OR
How can I tweak system drive to think repacement drive IS the data drive?
Not a new drive to add to the pool!
Thanks,
Ray

data drive fails after warmup! Help!

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:41:39 Z

Hello Ray,
there is no way I know to clone the primary drive to another harddisk.

About the client backups: Those have the drawback, that they are not redundant. So while you can copy them, one missing or damaged file may be enough to loose some or even all backups.

You can try to copy the backups using following procedure on the server:
net stop PDL
net stop WHSBackup
xcopy E:\folders\{00008086-058D-4C89-AB57-A7F909A47AB4} D:\folders\{00008086-058D-4C89-AB57-A7F909A47AB4}
net start WHSBackup
net start PDL
(in the xcopy command line E: represents the attached disk, containing parts of the backups, this letter may be different on your system. This can be the DATA partition on the former primary drive and the volume on other, still not reattached disks.)
Some of the files listed there are tombstones - those will not be copied.

Due to the huge size of these files it can become inpractical to copy all at once, especially while the primary disk is the only one in the server after a fresh install. So using a large external drive temporary seems to be the best method.

Best greetings from Germany
Olaf

data drive fails after warmup! Help!

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:58:29 Z

Thanks again, Olaf!

What I am doing right now is sending back defective 500gb drive for replacement.

When I get new drive I will copy over ALL files that I saved before.

I hope that will work.

Thanks,

Ray

data drive fails after warmup! Help!

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 18:32:09 Z

Hi,

Although a little late now, there is an Add-In, which allows internal duplication of your Backups, plus the facility to copy Backups off to another drive. (You can also use it to restore your Backups from the external storage to the Server).
One of the problems of using things like cloned drives, is that WHS keeps an internal record identifying the actual hardware. It then uses this as one of the ways of tracking drives so a 'cloned' drive just won't be recognised corectly.

Colin

If anyone answers your query successfully, please mark it as 'Helpful', to guide other users.

data drive fails after warmup! Help!

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:44:37 Z

Colin,
Thanks!
I will try this.
Always looking for different solutions to a bigger and bigger common problem I have seen and heard.
Thanks,
Ray

data drive fails after warmup! Help!

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:57:31 Z

OK a little bit.

Replacement 500gb data drive (same exact drive)

with files from defective drive, less a few bad files, seems to be accepted

as if it is the original drive.

BUT

I can’t seem to start backup service.

Tried to repair, but it skipped right out of that.

Is there a way of only deleting backups that used corrupted now deleted file?

Thanks,
Ray

data drive fails after warmup! Help!

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 08:21:15 Z

Hi Ray,
this is the problem with the backup database - it is storing stuff very efficient, without unnecessary redundancies. This efficiency makes it also vulnerable, so if parts of the database are damaged, this may render the entire database unreadable.
Viele Gruesse
Olaf