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Several Questions About How Backup Works in WHS 2011

Gesperrt Several Questions About How Backup Works in WHS 2011

  • Sunday, May 01, 2011 8:12 PM
     
     
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    I've been experimenting with backups in WHS 2011 and I understand all the fundamentals, but there are a few details that I can't easily test, at least not without needing really large amounts of data and time :-)

    1) Suppose that I have 1.5TB of data on my WHS that needs to be backed up. The drives that I intend to use for Server Backups are 1TB in size. This means that I would actually need 2 disks to hold my entire backup. Will WHS allow me to span more than one disk for the backup?

    2) I noticed that when I did add a 2nd disk to the Home Server Backup group, WHS informed me that I could disconnect one of the disks and use it as an offsite backup. Does this imply that each disk I add is going to hold it's own backup or is there still some way to span the backup accross disks?

    3) If there is away to allow spanning accross more than one disk, how do I tell WHS that the 2 disks I have attached should be used to span as opposed to each being used for seperate backups?

    Thanks in advance for any ideas.

    - Hannes

       

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    • Monday, May 02, 2011 12:21 AM
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      I've been experimenting with backups in WHS 2011 and I understand all the fundamentals, but there are a few details that I can't easily test, at least not without needing really large amounts of data and time :-)

      1) Suppose that I have 1.5TB of data on my WHS that needs to be backed up. The drives that I intend to use for Server Backups are 1TB in size. This means that I would actually need 2 disks to hold my entire backup. Will WHS allow me to span more than one disk for the backup? 

      No.

      2) I noticed that when I did add a 2nd disk to the Home Server Backup group, WHS informed me that I could disconnect one of the disks and use it as an offsite backup. Does this imply that each disk I add is going to hold it's own backup or is there still some way to span the backup accross disks?

      Again, no spanning.  Each hard drive is its own full backup set.

      3) If there is away to allow spanning accross more than one disk, how do I tell WHS that the 2 disks I have attached should be used to span as opposed to each being used for seperate backups?

      Thanks in advance for any ideas.

      - Hannes


         
      • Monday, May 02, 2011 12:48 AM
         
         
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        Wow, that's stunning. Am I correct in saying then that there is simply no way to perform a Server Backup in excess of the largest single HD size available? For example, if I have 5TB of data on my Server, I can't back it up?

        Surely I'm missing something here.

        Is it maybe possible to define more than one backup - say backup #1 copies shares 1-5 to backup disk 1 while backup #2 copies shares 6-10 to backup disk 2?

        - Hannes

         

           
        • Monday, May 02, 2011 3:04 AM
           
           
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          >Wow, that's stunning. Am I correct in saying then that there is simply no way to perform a Server Backup in excess of the largest single HD size available? For example, if I have 5TB of data on my Server, I can't back it up?
           
          Yes and no, if you're talking about the WHS dashboard app, no there's
          no way to back up more data than a single drive can hold.  You can do
          a more advanced backup but it's going to take more work on your part
          and it would be using the Win2008 R2 backup app directly.
           
          >Is it maybe possible to define more than one backup - say backup #1 copies shares 1-5 to backup disk 1 while backup #2 copies shares 6-10 to backup disk 2?
           
          Only by using the backup app directly like I said above.
           
           
          Bob Comer - Microsoft MVP Virtual Machine
             
          • Monday, May 02, 2011 6:53 AM
             
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            >Wow, that's stunning. Am I correct in saying then that there is simply no way to perform a Server Backup in excess of the largest single HD size available? For example, if I have 5TB of data on my Server, I can't back it up?
             
            Yes and no, if you're talking about the WHS dashboard app, no there's
            no way to back up more data than a single drive can hold.  You can do
            a more advanced backup but it's going to take more work on your part
            and it would be using the Win2008 R2 backup app directly.
             
            >Is it maybe possible to define more than one backup - say backup #1 copies shares 1-5 to backup disk 1 while backup #2 copies shares 6-10 to backup disk 2?
             
            Only by using the backup app directly like I said above.
             
             
            Bob Comer - Microsoft MVP Virtual Machine


            Speaking about the built in backup app for Windows Server 2008 R2, are there any guides/guidelines/help sites out there?
            Just a shot from the hip, if someone have the information ready available that is.

             

             

            WHS 2011 RTM coming alive, taking over WHS v.1 duties.
            • Marked As Answer by Hannes S Tuesday, May 03, 2011 12:05 AM
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            • Monday, May 02, 2011 2:31 PM
               
               
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              I really don't know, I use a third part app for backups of the PC's at
              work, and I'm not currently running any kind of backups on my WHS
              machine. (still v1 with folder duplication though, I only run v2 in a
              hyper-v testing scenario.)
               
              --
              Bob Comer
               
               
               
               
              On Mon, 2 May 2011 06:53:29 +0000, ChristianJohansson wrote:
               
              >>Wow, that's stunning. Am I correct in saying then that there is simply no way to perform a Server Backup in excess of the largest single HD size available? For example, if I have 5TB of data on my Server, I can't back it up?   Yes and no, if you're talking about the WHS dashboard app, no there's no way to back up more data than a single drive can hold.  You can do a more advanced backup but it's going to take more work on your part and it would be using the Win2008 R2 backup app directly.   >Is it maybe possible to define more than one backup - say backup #1 copies shares 1-5 to backup disk 1 while backup #2 copies shares 6-10 to backup disk 2?   Only by using the backup app directly like I said above.    
              >Bob Comer - Microsoft MVP Virtual Machine
              >
              >
              >Speaking about the built in backup app for Windows Server 2008 R2, are there any guides/guidelines/help sites out there?
              >Just a shot from the hip, if someone have the information ready available that is.
              >
              > 
              >
              >
              >WHS 2011 RTM coming alive, taking over WHS v.1 duties.
               
              Bob Comer - Microsoft MVP Virtual Machine
                 
              • Tuesday, May 03, 2011 12:09 AM
                 
                 
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                Thank you. Using the backup app direcftly helps. It's still not perfect because even using it the only way I can workaround this issue is to do a manual backup. It seems like only a single can be scheduled. Still, even a manual backup is better than none so I'll accept that for now.

                Thanks again for the help.

                - Hannes

                   
                • Tuesday, May 03, 2011 2:12 AM
                   
                   
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                  If you look up the scripting for the backup software, it can be
                  automated fairly well.  It's programming, but if you have a
                  complicated setup, it might be worth it to figure it out.
                   
                   
                   
                  Bob Comer - Microsoft MVP Virtual Machine