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    My hard drive where I have installed WHS is corrupt and I need to change it. On this drive I also have a partition with data. What will happen with my data on my other drives? Is all data gone????

    Thursday, April 23, 2009 6:52 AM

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    You can replace your system drive and do a server reinstallation; this is a special installation mode offered in addition to a new installation, and it will normally preserve the data in your shares and your backup database. You will boot from the Windows Home Server installation media with all of the drives in your storage pool connected. If needed, supply drivers at the hardware detection screen so that all of your drives are visible, and on the screen where you're asked what kind of installation you want to perform you'll be given the option for a server reinstallation.

    In this particular case (you say there are files on your system drive) you could potentially lose files in your shares, if you didn't have duplication turned on for all your shares. But anything that's on a different drive will still be fine.


    I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)
    Thursday, April 23, 2009 12:33 PM
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    If you have an external disk, at least Power Pack 1 installed and the server is still running  you can declare that external disk as backup disk and manually perform a backup of data in shared folders to that disk via console.
    Other than that, you can replace the broken disk with an empty one and perform a server reinstall (which is a special installation mode, which should preserve your data).
    This may or may not work (depends from hardware, drivers, etc.). 
    If data is been lost in case of a successfull server reinstall is depending from the damage level, the fact if duplication is enabled on shares or not, and where the backup database is stored. (At least the client backups usually can be redone from the still existing clients.)

    You may also wish to read the FAQ How to recover data after server failure.

    Best greetings from Germany
    Olaf
    Thursday, April 23, 2009 9:45 AM
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    If you have an external disk, at least Power Pack 1 installed and the server is still running  you can declare that external disk as backup disk and manually perform a backup of data in shared folders to that disk via console.
    Other than that, you can replace the broken disk with an empty one and perform a server reinstall (which is a special installation mode, which should preserve your data).
    This may or may not work (depends from hardware, drivers, etc.). 
    If data is been lost in case of a successfull server reinstall is depending from the damage level, the fact if duplication is enabled on shares or not, and where the backup database is stored. (At least the client backups usually can be redone from the still existing clients.)

    You may also wish to read the FAQ How to recover data after server failure.

    Best greetings from Germany
    Olaf
    Thursday, April 23, 2009 9:45 AM
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    You can replace your system drive and do a server reinstallation; this is a special installation mode offered in addition to a new installation, and it will normally preserve the data in your shares and your backup database. You will boot from the Windows Home Server installation media with all of the drives in your storage pool connected. If needed, supply drivers at the hardware detection screen so that all of your drives are visible, and on the screen where you're asked what kind of installation you want to perform you'll be given the option for a server reinstallation.

    In this particular case (you say there are files on your system drive) you could potentially lose files in your shares, if you didn't have duplication turned on for all your shares. But anything that's on a different drive will still be fine.


    I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)
    Thursday, April 23, 2009 12:33 PM
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    I am quite confused trying to prepare my mind for replacing both harddrives in my home built WHS.  I get a "primary drive is failing" notice every few days and temporarily "fix" it with a server reboot.  I want to replace both drives with larger capacity drives while I am at it.  (I have a 320 GB primary drive and a 250 GB second drive.  I have folder duplication enabled)  Once I get the primary drive replaced and running, I know how to prepare the server to remove the second drive then install a new second drive.  The confusion comes with how to preserve the nightly backups on the primary drive and transfer them to the new one.  There will then be enough space on the new primary drive to hold everything from the second drive so I can remove it and replace with the larger new one.  Contrary to the concern that most users have; I have my saved files backed up and secure so it will not be a problem to lose them.  Sync Toy will take care of all of that at the appropriate time.  It is the nightly backups that I need to preserve.

    It seems in your post here that all I need to do is: 1)shut down the server,  2)remove the old primary hard drive (failing but still working with all function and information intact),  3) install the new blank primary drive,  4)connect keyboard mouse and monitor,  5)insert WHS installation DVD,  6) press "start".     At some point during installation I would be asked about type of installation, at which time I would select "server reinstallation".   This all sounds too easy.  What am I missing?
    John Shelton
    Monday, May 18, 2009 12:46 AM
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    Hi John,
    well a server reinstallation to a new harddrive will not warrant, that the Backup database is still intact after that (also non duplicated shared folders may go missing).
    Given you can perform backups from all clients after the server reinstall, this is not a huge problem.
    If it is, you can try to backup the backup database. This can be done manually or with the Add-In WHS BDBB.
    For recovery of not duplicated files in shared folders on the original system disk read the FAQ How to recover data after server failure.
    Best greetings from Germany
    Olaf
    Monday, May 18, 2009 8:34 AM
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    "Given you can perform backups from all clients after the server reinstall, this is not a huge problem."

    Ahh, nicht mein fruend. (Ignore any mis-spellings or improper grammer here.  My "GI German" from the early 60's is getting quite rusty.  Mainz 1961-1962)  Performing backups from clients AFTER reinstall IS my problem; I need to preserve some of my old backups.

    I currently have Windows 7 installed on one of my computers and have the old OS with all its applications, etc. saved on the server (as a backup).  I wish to retain that if at all possible so I can flip back to XP when Windows 7 RC expires.  I have that, and a couple other "special" configurations from another connector computer that I really want to preserve.  The saved music, documents, pictures, etc are safely stored various other places and therefore present no problem.  I have about 6 or so backups "locked" so I can reinstall them (onto the same computer that they came from) at some time in the future.  This is the condition that is frustrating me about the drive replacement.  I have downloaded WHS BDBB, unzipped it, and moved to server add-ins but I have not installed it yet.  I have not yet had time to study through that item yet.  Is this going to be what I need to save my nightly backups?

    John Shelton
    Monday, May 18, 2009 11:00 PM
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    "Given you can perform backups from all clients after the server reinstall, this is not a huge problem."

    Ahh, nicht mein fruend. (Ignore any mis-spellings or improper grammer here.  My "GI German" from the early 60's is getting quite rusty.  Mainz 1961-1962)  Performing backups from clients AFTER reinstall IS my problem; I need to preserve some of my old backups.

    I currently have Windows 7 installed on one of my computers and have the old OS with all its applications, etc. saved on the server (as a backup).  I wish to retain that if at all possible so I can flip back to XP when Windows 7 RC expires.  I have that, and a couple other "special" configurations from another connector computer that I really want to preserve.  The saved music, documents, pictures, etc are safely stored various other places and therefore present no problem.  I have about 6 or so backups "locked" so I can reinstall them (onto the same computer that they came from) at some time in the future.  This is the ____ that is frustrating me about the drive replacement.  I have downloaded WHS BDBB, unzipped it, and moved to server add-ins but I have not installed it yet.  I have not yet had time to study through that item yet.  Is this going to be what I need to save my nightly backups?

    John Shelton
    As Olaf said, you can do it manually (follow the WHS Backup and Restore Technical Brief) or use the add-in (which is really the same thing as the Technical Brief, just automated).

    FYI, WHS is not designed to be an archival tool for your client PC backups (any single drive failure in your server could cause the entire backup database to be lost).  It's designed to be an easy-to-use restore tool to restore your client to last night's backup in case of a drive failure on your client.
    Monday, May 18, 2009 11:06 PM
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