HP Mediasmart hardware
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The cheapest 2GB USB flash drive I can find on NewEgg is under $20. It's slow, but it would be good enough for a recovery, don't you think?
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Since it's a hardware function, if you can find a motherboard that supports it (the only one I've seen announced so far is the Gigabyt board, but there are probably at least a couple of others) I assume the hardware side of it will be. You might have to outfit your WHS with a special "recovery" button that hooks up to a header on the MB, or something like that.
And I bet you'll have to come up with the "recovery" code yourself, because that's probably tied to OS and hardware customizations that OEMs are doing. The recovery code is the hard part, of course. -
So, I'm reading the blog post you linked. I have a comment, which is that you did an admirable end run around the question of a server reinstallation, but I don't see why you bothered. If you choose your hardware to work with WHS, then you don't need to bypass a reinstallation, and the data actually lost is fairly minimal. It's the work of an hour to recreate the users, add the PCs back in, and reinstall any add-ins. Other software will take longer, but most users won't install other software. Heck, most users probably won't install any add-ins (beta testers excluded ).
And I'm afraid I have to ask this, because your blog post doesn't say anything sufficiently concrete that I would want to recommend others rely on your method:
If I simulate a serious software error by e.g. formatting C: (so there's absolutely nothing left), then try a restore, what happens? Have you done this, or are you extrapolating from tests that you have done? If you're extrapolating, what tests did you perform that you're extrapolating from? -
Ken,
It's always good to read your responses, you know we have exchanged views and ideas before ?
How concrete is the solution - well it's hardened concrete ! It has to be.
It's based on the creation of a capsule (image of the C: drive) - which is then positioned after the DATA drive (normally takes about 3GB)....... it's based on a world class 'image/recovery' solution (one of the top 5 anyway). We've just tweaked it and made it work with our BIOS.
The creation of the capsule is done under WinPE from a USB flash (HDD), all silent and effective - if you attach a monitor, you can see the activity. The design, is that the image creation can be done at any time - ie after a user setup (and can be updated at any time - ie after a new user / new HDD / major update.
The recovery 'operation' simply boots the system (WinPE), and puts the image back to the C: partition
(again, IF there was a VGA monitor, you can see it).
All done from 2x USB sticks, part of the 'trick' was the BIOS setup, ie ALWAYS booting from a USB flash (HDD), if one was present - the WHS OEM hardware is like this - by pressing the 'recovery' button, it forces the BIOS to change it's boot order. With our hardware, it's not like that we dont need the button.
We've successfully tested the solution, ie erase a MAJOR folder structure from C: - then re-start (it wouldn't re-start) - then inserted the 'green' key (USB recovery device) - and 6-7 minutes later the system shuts down (completed) - remove the key and presto - back to the 'setup state'....... what could be easier.
Always welcome your feedback Ken
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A main board (or other fatal) fault, is a different matter, than just an OS (C
problem, which may be caused by 'user error' etc.At present, we offer a RTB warranty period onall of our equipment, this does not however cover data protection.
It is certainly worth considering that IF there should be any other failure, than the primary HDD itself, that there should be a 'tool set' to recover as much of the user data / settings as possible. Of course the 'recovery capsule' is maintained on the primary HDD, so there's nothing much anyone can do IF the primary HDD fails (except of course to rely on the fact that precious data is still held on the 'duplicated' drive (s).
I will present this task (recovery tool set) to my team next week, and see what solutions we come up with. As an organisation, customer satisfaction is our number one priority - in deed and word. Providing a 'fatal system error ' recovery service is a must, for WHS users (the data is MOST precious) - and we will certainly be ensuring that such a service mechanism is reviewed,and offered.
