Sign in
Microsoft.com
 
Microsoft
 
 
 

locked
Installed Beta - can I restore existing data locally? RRS feed

 > 

  • Question

  • Question
    Sign in to vote
    0
    Sign in to vote

    Hello All:

    I recently installed the beta VAIL on my WHS server.  I only allowed (so I thought) the system to delete the files/format the C drive.  All of my data disks seem to still have data on them but I cannot access any of the files (e.g., videos, pictures and music) and Vail shows no files but thinks that the disks have data on them (i.e., they show as having substantial amounts of total storage used).  Vail wants me to add the drives but says it will format them, obviously causing a loss of data.  Short of restoring the files from my online back up, are there any other options?

     

    Thanks,

    John

    Wednesday, August 4, 2010 3:34 AM

Answers

  • Question
    Sign in to vote
    0
    Sign in to vote

    Vail only partitions/formats the system disk now, I believe, even for a new installation.

    If the drives are attached to your Vail server, and you want to get the data on them into server storage, you can just copy from the drive(s) to your shares.

    However, let me remind you that Vail is a beta product, not supported for use in a production environment. It's quite possible that there is some subtle bug in the product that is eating all the data on your server, a byte (heh. heh. Aren't you glad I don't do stand-up? :) ) at a time. So please don't commit irreplaceable data to Vail.

    Also, Microsoft has hinted that there will be a requirement to reinstall from scratch (leveling the entire box, including server storage) at some point. So you will have to do this all over again.

    I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)
    Wednesday, August 4, 2010 12:52 PM
    Moderator

All replies

  • Question
    Sign in to vote
    0
    Sign in to vote
    Hello All:

    I recently installed the beta VAIL on my WHS server.  I only allowed (so I thought) the system to delete the files/format the C drive. 

    There is no upgrade path from v1 to Vail.  When you installed Vail, it should have automatically wiped every drive that was attached.

    All of my data disks seem to still have data on them

    I don't see how that's possible if you installed Vail with all of your drives attached.

    but I cannot access any of the files (e.g., videos, pictures and music) and Vail shows no files but thinks that the disks have data on them (i.e., they show as having substantial amounts of total storage used).  Vail wants me to add the drives but says it will format them, obviously causing a loss of data.  Short of restoring the files from my online back up, are there any other options?

    Thanks,

    John

    I'm not sure how you did what you did (you shouldn't be able to all).  In any event, the best way to see if there is anything left on any drive is to pull each drive from your server, connect it to a client, and copy everything you find inside a hidden folder called DE (that's where the real data is stored in v1.)  Once you have everything off of that drive, then add it to your Vail storage pool.
    Wednesday, August 4, 2010 3:58 AM
    Moderator
  • Question
    Sign in to vote
    0
    Sign in to vote
    It appears he installed Vail with those data drives not connected, then connected them
    after the installation of Vail. Now if he adds them to the pool they well be formatted and
    he will lose all existing data on them So, yes... he must first connect those drives to a
    client and save all the data and then save that data to the Vail storage pool. I hope I
    got this right... feel free to correct me or add to it if it is not clear. :)
     
    Art [artfudd] Folden
    --
    "kariya21 [MVP]" wrote in message
    news:54e4a374-ff7c-4208-b3ac-aacdc7a407f9@communitybridge.codeplex.com...
     
    Hello All:
     
    I recently installed the beta VAIL on my WHS server.  I only allowed (so I thought) the
    system to delete the files/format the C drive.
     
    There is no upgrade path from v1 to Vail.  When you installed Vail, it should have
    automatically wiped every drive that was attached.
     
    All of my data disks seem to still have data on them
     
    I don't see how that's possible if you installed Vail with all of your drives attached.
     
    but I cannot access any of the files (e.g., videos, pictures and music) and Vail shows no
    files but thinks that the disks have data on them (i.e., they show as having substantial
    amounts of total storage used).  Vail wants me to add the drives but says it will format
    them, obviously causing a loss of data.  Short of restoring the files from my online back
    up, are there any other options?
     
    Thanks,
     
    John
     
    I'm not sure how you did what you did (you shouldn't be able to all).  In any event, the
    best way to see if there is anything left on any drive is to pull each drive from your
    server, connect it to a client, and copy everything you find inside a hidden folder called
    DE (that's where the real data is stored in v1.)  Once you have everything off of that
    drive, then add it to your Vail storage pool.
     
     
    Wednesday, August 4, 2010 4:29 AM
  • Question
    Sign in to vote
    0
    Sign in to vote

    Thanks, all for the input.  Interestingly, I did the install with all drives attached and it only (?) wanted to wipe the local drive, not the drives attached via both a raid card and the other drives.  Very odd.

    When you say that I should attach the drives to client, what do you mean by that?  Just an ordinary machine running Win 7?  WHS v1? 


    Thank you for your kind thoughts.

    Best,

    John

    Wednesday, August 4, 2010 5:12 AM
  • Question
    Sign in to vote
    0
    Sign in to vote

    Vail only partitions/formats the system disk now, I believe, even for a new installation.

    If the drives are attached to your Vail server, and you want to get the data on them into server storage, you can just copy from the drive(s) to your shares.

    However, let me remind you that Vail is a beta product, not supported for use in a production environment. It's quite possible that there is some subtle bug in the product that is eating all the data on your server, a byte (heh. heh. Aren't you glad I don't do stand-up? :) ) at a time. So please don't commit irreplaceable data to Vail.

    Also, Microsoft has hinted that there will be a requirement to reinstall from scratch (leveling the entire box, including server storage) at some point. So you will have to do this all over again.

    I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)
    Wednesday, August 4, 2010 12:52 PM
    Moderator
  • Question
    Sign in to vote
    0
    Sign in to vote

    Thanks, all for the input.  Interestingly, I did the install with all drives attached and it only (?) wanted to wipe the local drive, not the drives attached via both a raid card and the other drives.  Very odd.

    When you say that I should attach the drives to client, what do you mean by that?  Just an ordinary machine running Win 7?  WHS v1? 


    Thank you for your kind thoughts.

    Best,

    John


    John,

    You can attach the drives to a client of your liking, as long as it can read NTFS (Windows XP/Vista/7 for example. WHS v1 works fine also).
    As kariya21 wrote, hidden folders named "DE" contain all data.

    Then you can copy content over to Vail, or wherever you want it.

    A WHS v1 machine in the basement + Vail on an AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+, 3 GB RAM, a mixed setup of harddrives in and outside the storage pool...
    Wednesday, August 4, 2010 12:52 PM
  • Question
    Sign in to vote
    0
    Sign in to vote
    "reinstall from scratch (leveling the entire box, including server storage)"
     
    I asked this question before and didn't see this information "including server storage". By "server storage" you mean the "server backup"?
     
    Is there docs that I missed that was stating this for "server storage"?
     
    What I was wondering if when a new install is done can you bring back the "shared folders data" from the "server backup"? I just think that it would be easier to move from backup in my case. It's just data that is there not the only copy.

    --
    Don
    Wednesday, August 4, 2010 1:32 PM
  • Question
    Sign in to vote
    0
    Sign in to vote

    Have you looked at the appropriate tab in the Vail Dashboard, Don? See what shows as "server storage" there, as opposed to backup drives. I can't say when (what build, or builds since I suppose they might require this more than once) this requirement to flatten the server will happen, but my suspicion is that previous hints Microsoft might require this will turn into "Hey, we told you we'd do this!"

    As for server backups, I would think you could restore from a server backup, but haven't got a way to test at the moment. (Oh, Microsoft... :) )

    I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)
    Wednesday, August 4, 2010 4:59 PM
    Moderator
  • Question
    Sign in to vote
    0
    Sign in to vote
    Thanks, I have no issues with "flatten" the server as I have done this many times.
     
    Just for the ease of transfer I wanted to bring back the material in the "shared folders" only, no PC Backups. I have all this material in other sources but to me the quickest way is from the "External Server Backup" that I have.

    --
    Don
    Wednesday, August 4, 2010 5:12 PM
  • Question
    Sign in to vote
    0
    Sign in to vote
    "Have you looked at the appropriate tab in the Vail Dashboard, Don? See what shows as
    "server storage" there, as opposed to backup drives." -- which is very ambiguous and
    confusing.
     
    Can't they come up with some clearer names for the various types of 'backups'" As it is it
    is very ambiguous and confusing as can be seen by some of the posts & questions. I am not
    sure at this time if I could clearly describe what each name means - for instance "server
    backup" compared to "server storage" compared to "shares" compared to "client backups"
    etc...
     
    Art [artfudd] Folden
    --
    "Ken Warren [MVP]" wrote in message
    news:f82500ed-31e6-4d1e-acc5-27ef70d2e4f7@communitybridge.codeplex.com...
     
    Have you looked at the appropriate tab in the Vail Dashboard, Don? See what shows as
    "server storage" there, as opposed to backup drives. I can't say when (what build, or
    builds since I suppose they might require this more than once) this requirement to flatten
    the server will happen, but my suspicion is that previous hints Microsoft might require
    this will turn into "Hey, we told you we'd do this!"
     
    As for server backups, I would think you could restore from a server backup, but haven't
    got a way to test at the moment. (Oh, Microsoft... :) )
     
    I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)
     
     
    Wednesday, August 4, 2010 7:45 PM