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    Hello -- it's been a couple of years since the FAQs on using system restore when upgrading/replacing the system drive on a WHS.

    Are there any other perhaps more effcient ways to do this at this point? I'd like to be able to configure WHS wothh all acounts, users, customizatoin/addins etc then take a snapshot that I can restore to a new drive should the system fail. (Much as you cna do with a single PC with a complete drive backup/restore).

    Are there any new recommendations for how to do this, or do we still need to recover using teh install disc then reconfigure?

    THanks -- Richard.
    Friday, July 3, 2009 5:38 PM

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    Hello -- it's been a couple of years since the FAQs on using system restore when upgrading/replacing the system drive on a WHS.

    Are there any other perhaps more effcient ways to do this at this point? I'd like to be able to configure WHS wothh all acounts, users, customizatoin/addins etc then take a snapshot that I can restore to a new drive should the system fail. (Much as you cna do with a single PC with a complete drive backup/restore).

    Are there any new recommendations for how to do this, or do we still need to recover using teh install disc then reconfigure?

    THanks -- Richard.

    Server Reinstallation is still the only supported method.  Also, I doubt you will never be successful with cloning because of all of the "moving parts" that occur with WHS (unless you cloned your system drive after each and every time you add/change/delete any file on your server, and that's simply not practical).
    Friday, July 3, 2009 5:52 PM
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    OK thanks -- and there's still no protection for the system drive, is there (in the form of hot-swap or something)?

    No.

    AM I right in thinkng that if I put a WHS-basd appliance in my netowrk, the only thing I can;t protect is the WHS system itself?

    To clarify what I said: you can backup your network shares to an external drive and take that off-site.  You can also backup your backup database by using an add-in called BDBB or doing it yourself by following the Backup and Restore Technical Brief.  The only part that isn't "protected" is the WHS OS, but you can just reinstall the OS anyway.
    Friday, July 3, 2009 7:02 PM
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    ...
    so that you could so as you mention -- clone the system drive once you have it set up and slap in the clone in the event of system failure.
    ...
    Cloning the system drive is unsupported. Replacing a system drive with an old cloned copy is almost certain to cause serious issues, so it isn't recommended.
    I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)
    Friday, July 3, 2009 7:58 PM
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    In a standard Windows Home Server environment, the only data requiring recreation that exists on the system drive is users, the computers that have the connector installed, and the add-ins that you install. All of that will take a few minutes to an hour to recreate, so it's considered sacrifical. Customizations outside of the console are unsupported, and so aren't part of the server recovery plan.
    I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)
    Saturday, July 4, 2009 3:09 AM
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    Hello -- it's been a couple of years since the FAQs on using system restore when upgrading/replacing the system drive on a WHS.

    Are there any other perhaps more effcient ways to do this at this point? I'd like to be able to configure WHS wothh all acounts, users, customizatoin/addins etc then take a snapshot that I can restore to a new drive should the system fail. (Much as you cna do with a single PC with a complete drive backup/restore).

    Are there any new recommendations for how to do this, or do we still need to recover using teh install disc then reconfigure?

    THanks -- Richard.

    Server Reinstallation is still the only supported method.  Also, I doubt you will never be successful with cloning because of all of the "moving parts" that occur with WHS (unless you cloned your system drive after each and every time you add/change/delete any file on your server, and that's simply not practical).
    Friday, July 3, 2009 5:52 PM
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    OK thanks -- and there's still no protection for the system drive, is there (in the form of hot-swap or something)? AM I right in thinkng that if I put a WHS-basd appliance in my netowrk, the only thing I can;t protect is the WHS system itself?
    Friday, July 3, 2009 6:26 PM
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    OK thanks -- and there's still no protection for the system drive, is there (in the form of hot-swap or something)?

    No.

    AM I right in thinkng that if I put a WHS-basd appliance in my netowrk, the only thing I can;t protect is the WHS system itself?

    To clarify what I said: you can backup your network shares to an external drive and take that off-site.  You can also backup your backup database by using an add-in called BDBB or doing it yourself by following the Backup and Restore Technical Brief.  The only part that isn't "protected" is the WHS OS, but you can just reinstall the OS anyway.
    Friday, July 3, 2009 7:02 PM
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    AH ok -- looks like BDBB saves time if you have many client PCs then. Just a case of reinstalling the OS and any add-ins etc. Sounds like physically isolating the OS from the data/configuration would be a great feature in a device like this  so that you could so as you mention -- clone the system drive once you have it set up and slap in the clone in the event of system failure.

    I'm thinking system fdailure is more likely than data loss if you use the 'raid' and external drive features carefully.

    Thanks for your help! -- Richard.
    Friday, July 3, 2009 7:13 PM
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    ...
    so that you could so as you mention -- clone the system drive once you have it set up and slap in the clone in the event of system failure.
    ...
    Cloning the system drive is unsupported. Replacing a system drive with an old cloned copy is almost certain to cause serious issues, so it isn't recommended.
    I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)
    Friday, July 3, 2009 7:58 PM
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    I understand - seems like it would be a great feature though -- recover the 'known good' server, along with all its customizations etc,  rather than reinstall it. (Especially appropriate for a backup solution!)
    Saturday, July 4, 2009 12:08 AM
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    In a standard Windows Home Server environment, the only data requiring recreation that exists on the system drive is users, the computers that have the connector installed, and the add-ins that you install. All of that will take a few minutes to an hour to recreate, so it's considered sacrifical. Customizations outside of the console are unsupported, and so aren't part of the server recovery plan.
    I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)
    Saturday, July 4, 2009 3:09 AM
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    I just installed a Fujitsu Scaleo home server. This has 2 x 1tb drives. One drive seems to be partitioned into a system partition and the rest for storage pool. What happens if this partitioned disk failes? Will I still be able to restore my duplicated and files on the other disks by using System Reinstallation?

    Monday, July 27, 2009 8:31 PM
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    Yes, Bruno. Fujitsu may refer to the process as "server recovery" and "factory reset" rather than as "server reinstallation" and "new installation". You should consult your manuals for more details.
    I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)
    Monday, July 27, 2009 8:55 PM
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    Thanks for the quick response!

    Strange the manual seems to indicate that when the system drive is broken all data on the server is lost.

    Manual snippet:
    If only the operating system is being restored but the hard disk drive itself is not defective then all of the remaining contents of the main hard disk generally remain intact.
    In contrast, if the complete hardisk No.1 (see "Hard disk sequence", Page 32) is changed, on which the operating system is installed, then all the data on the server is lost.
    Monday, July 27, 2009 9:00 PM
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    How do Ken -- I understand now how it works, I'm just thinking it would be useful for WHS to backup user, computer and add-ins to a non-system disk. I still don't understand why the designers thought this data either too hard to replicate or simply 'sacrificial' when there really is no need to make users go through these steps no matter how simple it seems -- it's always better to go even simpler!

    That would be my feedback to the PMs, that's all.

    Thanks -- Richard.
    Tuesday, July 28, 2009 2:35 AM
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    It may be that F-S implemented the recovery options in that way; the Scaleo server isn't available in the US so there would be no way to find out. But I'd be surprised.
    I'm not on the WHS team, I just post a lot. :)
    Tuesday, July 28, 2009 2:55 AM
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    Does F-S mean with what they say in the manual that all data on the server, also what is duplicated, is lost if the disk 1, the system disk, is broken? If so why should I use the duplicate function? I can live with having to re-install the OS and user settings etc but losing data that is only stored on the server and duplicated is kind of not acceptable if the "wrong" disk breaks!

    Thanks

    /Hans
    Friday, August 28, 2009 8:31 AM