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Installed Beta - can I restore existing data locally?

Question
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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
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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. :)- Marked as answer by Jonas Svensson -FST- Wednesday, August 4, 2010 11:52 PM
Wednesday, August 4, 2010 12:52 PMModerator
All replies
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Hello All:
There is no upgrade path from v1 to Vail. When you installed Vail, it should have automatically wiped every drive that was attached.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
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?
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.Thanks,
John
Wednesday, August 4, 2010 3:58 AMModerator -
It appears he installed Vail with those data drives not connected, then connected themafter the installation of Vail. Now if he adds them to the pool they well be formatted andhe will lose all existing data on them So, yes... he must first connect those drives to aclient and save all the data and then save that data to the Vail storage pool. I hope Igot this right... feel free to correct me or add to it if it is not clear. :)Art [artfudd] Folden--"kariya21 [MVP]" wrote in messagenews: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) thesystem to delete the files/format the C drive.There is no upgrade path from v1 to Vail. When you installed Vail, it should haveautomatically wiped every drive that was attached.All of my data disks seem to still have data on themI 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 nofiles but thinks that the disks have data on them (i.e., they show as having substantialamounts of total storage used). Vail wants me to add the drives but says it will formatthem, obviously causing a loss of data. Short of restoring the files from my online backup, are there any other options?Thanks,JohnI'm not sure how you did what you did (you shouldn't be able to all). In any event, thebest way to see if there is anything left on any drive is to pull each drive from yourserver, connect it to a client, and copy everything you find inside a hidden folder calledDE (that's where the real data is stored in v1.) Once you have everything off of thatdrive, then add it to your Vail storage pool.Wednesday, August 4, 2010 4:29 AM
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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 -
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. :)- Marked as answer by Jonas Svensson -FST- Wednesday, August 4, 2010 11:52 PM
Wednesday, August 4, 2010 12:52 PMModerator -
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 -
"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.
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DonWednesday, August 4, 2010 1:32 PM -
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 PMModerator -
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.
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DonWednesday, August 4, 2010 5:12 PM -
"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 andconfusing.Can't they come up with some clearer names for the various types of 'backups'" As it is itis very ambiguous and confusing as can be seen by some of the posts & questions. I am notsure at this time if I could clearly describe what each name means - for instance "serverbackup" compared to "server storage" compared to "shares" compared to "client backups"etc...Art [artfudd] Folden--"Ken Warren [MVP]" wrote in messagenews: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, orbuilds since I suppose they might require this more than once) this requirement to flattenthe server will happen, but my suspicion is that previous hints Microsoft might requirethis 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'tgot 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