Replacing disk drive - Acronis/Ghost
I finally broke down and bought a copy of WHS. I've been running it for about a month when I decided that the server would be a better off with more disk space. So, what I want to do is to replace my single 320GB disk with a pair of 1TB drives. I've bought the new drives and instead of reinstalling WHS I was wondering if I could clone the old system drive with Acronis True Image 11, adjusting the partition sizes (C:\Sys and D:\Data) and then after the clone completed, add the second drive.
Does anybody know if Acronis will clone a WHS system disk ?? What about Ghost ??
I've looked in the previous threads and don't see anything that is conclusive either confirming or denying it will work!
Thanks.
Greg ...
Answers
Greg Wright wrote: Does anybody know if Acronis will clone a WHS system disk ?? What about Ghost ??
I've looked in the previous threads and don't see anything that is conclusive either confirming or denying it will work!
Thanks.
Greg ...
Hi Greg,
I was trying to do this when WHS was first released, with mixed results.
The C:\Sys drive can be cloned/imaged OK, infact it can even be moved to a bigger partition.
But, the D:\Data drive caused errors or just failed. Probably something to do with DE or the Dynamic drive.
All Replies
Greg Wright wrote: Does anybody know if Acronis will clone a WHS system disk ?? What about Ghost ??
I've looked in the previous threads and don't see anything that is conclusive either confirming or denying it will work!
Thanks.
Greg ...
Hi Greg,
I was trying to do this when WHS was first released, with mixed results.
The C:\Sys drive can be cloned/imaged OK, infact it can even be moved to a bigger partition.
But, the D:\Data drive caused errors or just failed. Probably something to do with DE or the Dynamic drive.
Greg Wright wrote: I finally broke down and bought a copy of WHS. I've been running it for about a month when I decided that the server would be a better off with more disk space. So, what I want to do is to replace my single 320GB disk with a pair of 1TB drives. I've bought the new drives and instead of reinstalling WHS I was wondering if I could clone the old system drive with Acronis True Image 11, adjusting the partition sizes (C:\Sys and D:\Data) and then after the clone completed, add the second drive. Does anybody know if Acronis will clone a WHS system disk ?? What about Ghost ??
Cloning any WHS drive is not supported. While the cloning might work, the re-sizing of the partitions is opening a big can of worms and I would never trust the server after doing that (since it's designed to run on 20 GB for the OS partition).
The best method to handle WHS is to let it do its job (in other words, don't mess with it.
) In your case, I would just add the two 1 TB drives as storage pool drives, leaving the 320 GB as the system drive. Or, if you really want to eliminate the 320 GB drive, start fresh with the 2 new drives, then hook up the 320 to a client PC and copy the data from that drive to the server.Greg Wright wrote: I've looked in the previous threads and don't see anything that is conclusive either confirming or denying it will work! Thanks.
Greg ...
Thanks for your answer. I tried to clone it but it did not work! Oh well, I kind of suspected as much.
Now my next task is to try and do a backup and restore of the server. Back up the server and then restore it to the newer hard drive. If all else fails, I can reinstall on the new drives.
By the way, I don't have room in the small footprint server box I've built for more than two drives.
Thanks again.
Greg ...
Greg Wright wrote: Thanks for your answer. I tried to clone it but it did not work! Oh well, I kind of suspected as much. Now my next task is to try and do a backup and restore of the server. Back up the server and then restore it to the newer hard drive. If all else fails, I can reinstall on the new drives.
Backing up the entire server is also unsupported. Although, in your case, since you only have one hard drive at this point, you might be able to get it to work (no guarantees though
).Greg Wright wrote: By the way, I don't have room in the small footprint server box I've built for more than two drives. Thanks again.
Greg ...
Hmmmm, I thought with PP1, server backup was a supported option!
From what I've read, you just add a new drive to your existing configuration. When asked by WHS if you want to add the drive to the server, you respond in the negative. Then the server shows up in the backups window and you can then backup the server to the new drive.
But then I just re-read the docs and it says it will back up the shared folders only. Looks like a rebuild! Too bad MS didn't make these sorts of things easier.
Thanks again.
Greg ...
Greg Wright wrote: Hmmmm, I thought with PP1, server backup was a supported option! From what I've read, you just add a new drive to your existing configuration. When asked by WHS if you want to add the drive to the server, you respond in the negative. Then the server shows up in the backups window and you can then backup the server to the new drive.
But then I just re-read the docs and it says it will back up the shared folders only. Looks like a rebuild! Too bad MS didn't make these sorts of things easier.
Thanks again.
Greg ...
Actually, the way MS designed it, it is easy for novice computer users. The problem is it's not designed to be "stretched" (much) by enthusiasts. (For example, most people would think Ghost is a movie starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore.
)Greg,
Rather than cloning which will probably be messed up, I would do the following:
1. Install one of your new drives as a "Non Pool" drive.
2. Copy all of your critical data to it.
3. Disconnect both drives and install the second drive (to replace the primary drive)
4. Re-install WHS
5. Re attach your "NON POOL" drive and copy all the data back to your newly installed WHS
6. You can now add the "Non Pool" drive to the pool.
Sounds like a lot of steps but it will protect your data and give you a more stable system then attempting to clone.
Hello...
I have a similar problem to the one being discussed here.
My WHS unit has seven hard drives, and doesn't have room for any more internally. (I would really prefer to not use external USB drives, but will if that really is the best option.)
My system drive is failing, which is a 750gb drive. I do not have duplication turned on for most of my folders, as my combined space of about 4tb is mostly full.
In short, what is the best option for replacing the failing drive?
1) Ghost it to a new drive? I understand that imaging a drive is not supported, but it seems that the problem seems to occur when you change the partition sizes. What if I ghost it to the exact same size, or even the same model?
2) Remove the failing drive, replace it with a new one, and try a server re-installation? Will this work as I expect it to, as the new drive doesn't have a DATA partition already?
3) Ghost the old drive to a new one of a bigger size, and THEN try a server re-installation?
4) Add a new USB drive, copy everything from the data partition of the failing drive to the external, and then do one of the above options?
I really want to love WHS, but it really seems like with all the backing up and redundancy it is capable of, it really should be able to back up itself (as in the SYS partition), or at the least let you choose to keep the DATA on seperate drives than the SYS.
Thanks in advance for the help.
-Charlie
- Experience tells me that trying to use Norton Ghost, Acronis True Image, or other disk imaging software on a failing drive is likely to result in data corruption on the new drive.
The recommended approach is to simply replace the drive and perform a server reinstallation. If, after the reinstallation, you find that you're missing files, you can use data recovery software on the failing drive, to pull as much off as possible before it fails for good.
I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :) - Ok... just to make sure I understand...
I was under the impression that the installer program had to see a pre-existing SYS partition and data for it to offer the reinstallation option. If i replace the system drive with a blank drive (as in, make it so that my server no longer has a SYS partition anywhere in it), does it see that there's data on all the other drives, and then offers the option to reinstall?
Or am I wrong, and the installer always offers the option to do a reinstallation?
- If there is nothing on the system drive, but setup sees a WHS "signature" on the other drives, you should get the option to do a server reinstallation. You'll need to supply storage drivers for your storage pool drives, if they are needed for Windows to see the drives.
I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :) - All right, thanks. As soon as I can get a drive to try this out on, I'll post my results. It'll probably be a few weeks.
