guide to replacing WHS system disk?

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

The server is off for the time being. I freed up a disk to replace it, but I can't seem to find the detailed guides in how to do this.

While I'm at it, would it be worth just redoing the system (adding a new motherboard) and taking hard drives off of the RAID controller and put them on the motherboard so as to free up the RAID controller? I believe that swapping out the motherboard will require a new purchase of the OS, since it's OEM and thus tied to the motherboard.

I have been doing some searching, but this started this morning on the way to work, so I haven't been able to do a lot of searching as of yet.

Now to start searching for SATA2 cards with 4+ ports... Fun.

EDIT: I think I'm going to put the system disk in RAID 1 this time around.

 

[rasczak]

if youre getting a new board, just do an full backup now, load up the new os on a new drive and restore from the full backup, make sure to capture the system state as well. I don't think you have to purchase a new OS for a mobo exchange, when you activate, just tell them your mobo died. as for raid, i think it's a good idea to place it on raid 1

or is the disk completely gone already? (i.e. unable to boot)

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Originally posted by: rasczak
if youre getting a new board, just do an full backup now, load up the new os on a new drive and restore from the full backup, make sure to capture the system state as well. I don't think you have to purchase a new OS for a mobo exchange, when you activate, just tell them your mobo died. as for raid, i think it's a good idea to place it on raid 1

or is the disk completely gone already? (i.e. unable to boot)

No, it boots and runs just fine. It's giving me errors that the system disk is failing. Not sure why, but I'll worry about that part later. How are you loading from a full backup on the server if WHS doesn't backup the system partition?

The system is shut down to prevent any further damage and to preserve the current state.

 

[mc866]

Is the drive you are getting an error on a running on a PATA connection by chance? Not sure why but with my WHS install it only seemed to like drives connected via SATA. I tool the same PATA drive I was receiving errors on and put it in a USB enclosure and hooked it up, haven't had an issue since.

There is a process to uninstalling a drive, I've been using the WHS disk management add-in and it's been great. If you go to the disk management tab of the management console you can right click on the drive that is giving you issues and select remove. The only stipulation is that you have enough free disk space with that drive removed or it won't allow you to remove it.

 

[RebateMonger]

AFAIK, there's no real tricks. If the System disk is failing, you'll need to:

a) Back up your file shares.
b) Back up the "backup data base" (if you don't want to lose your archival backups). The procedure is simple (turning off two services and copying a (large) folder
c) Re-install WHS on the new system disk
d) Start adding back your data disks. They will be reformatted when you add them.
e) Copy back your data. If you have redundant folders enabled and time, you can have WHS remove some of your data disks (emptyinng them in the process) and use them for making backups of your data.

The good news is that installing WHS doesn't require any attention. Neither do the data backups and restores. It just takes time.

Doing RAID 1 for your system disk might make sense. Especially if you have many Terabytes of data to backup/restore.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Originally posted by: mc866
Is the drive you are getting an error on a running on a PATA connection by chance? Not sure why but with my WHS install it only seemed to like drives connected via SATA. I tool the same PATA drive I was receiving errors on and put it in a USB enclosure and hooked it up, haven't had an issue since.

There is a process to uninstalling a drive, I've been using the WHS disk management add-in and it's been great. If you go to the disk management tab of the management console you can right click on the drive that is giving you issues and select remove. The only stipulation is that you have enough free disk space with that drive removed or it won't allow you to remove it.

Negative. Everything is connected to either motherboard or RAID controller (Areca 1220).

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger
AFAIK, there's no real tricks. If the System disk is failing, you'll need to:

a) Back up your file shares.
b) Back up the "backup data base" (if you don't want to lose your archival backups). The procedure is simple (turning off two services and copying a (large) folder
c) Re-install WHS on the new system disk
d) Start adding back your data disks. They will be reformatted when you add them.
e) Copy back your data. If you have redundant folders enabled and time, you can have WHS remove some of your data disks (emptyinng them in the process) and use them for making backups of your data.

The good news is that installing WHS doesn't require any attention. Neither do the data backups and restores. It just takes time.

Doing RAID 1 for your system disk might make sense. Especially if you have many Terabytes of data to backup/restore.

If he still can it would be better to image the system drive to the new drive, avoiding all the reinstall...

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger
AFAIK, there's no real tricks. If the System disk is failing, you'll need to:

a) Back up your file shares.
b) Back up the "backup data base" (if you don't want to lose your archival backups). The procedure is simple (turning off two services and copying a (large) folder
c) Re-install WHS on the new system disk
d) Start adding back your data disks. They will be reformatted when you add them.
e) Copy back your data. If you have redundant folders enabled and time, you can have WHS remove some of your data disks (emptyinng them in the process) and use them for making backups of your data.

The good news is that installing WHS doesn't require any attention. Neither do the data backups and restores. It just takes time.

Doing RAID 1 for your system disk might make sense. Especially if you have many Terabytes of data to backup/restore.

Back up files shares... I don't have a spare 7 terabytes to put the data. That was the whole point of the WHS box. And I just tested and confirmed that I can't pull the drives off the RAID controller and put them on the mobo. Oiy, this is going to be interesting.

 

[bsobel]

Is the system disk on the raid controller now, can you add a mirror?

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Originally posted by: bsobel
Is the system disk on the raid controller now, can you add a mirror?

Negative. System disk is off of the motherboard. Not to mention, I don't know if any data is corrupted yet or not, so it wouldn't be a valid source to mirror.

I remember seeing a relatively 'official' method to doing this, but damned if I can find it anywhere. I'm juggling disks right now, pulling off RAID array, and putting on mobo. Worst come to worst, I'll do this shit one disk at a time, or copy to another config altogether before I risk losing the data that's on there.

I've calculated I have approx. 6 terabytes of actual data that needs to be migrated.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: Fullmetal Chocobo

Originally posted by: bsobel
Is the system disk on the raid controller now, can you add a mirror?

Negative. System disk is off of the motherboard. Not to mention, I don't know if any data is corrupted yet or not, so it wouldn't be a valid source to mirror.

I remember seeing a relatively 'official' method to doing this, but damned if I can find it anywhere. I'm juggling disks right now, pulling off RAID array, and putting on mobo. Worst come to worst, I'll do this shit one disk at a time, or copy to another config altogether before I risk losing the data that's on there.

I've calculated I have approx. 6 terabytes of actual data that needs to be migrated.

The 'official' way has to do with recovering a failed OS partition but presumes the D: drive (tombstones) are intact... I think imaging the drive can't hurt at this point, see how much data you can get from it...

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: Fullmetal Chocobo

Originally posted by: bsobel
Is the system disk on the raid controller now, can you add a mirror?

Negative. System disk is off of the motherboard. Not to mention, I don't know if any data is corrupted yet or not, so it wouldn't be a valid source to mirror.

I remember seeing a relatively 'official' method to doing this, but damned if I can find it anywhere. I'm juggling disks right now, pulling off RAID array, and putting on mobo. Worst come to worst, I'll do this shit one disk at a time, or copy to another config altogether before I risk losing the data that's on there.

I've calculated I have approx. 6 terabytes of actual data that needs to be migrated.

The 'official' way has to do with recovering a failed OS partition but presumes the D: drive (tombstones) are intact... I think imaging the drive can't hurt at this point, see how much data you can get from it...

I will try to do that as well. I'm also looking at swapping out the mobo (for something that has more onboard SATA ports) as well, in which a image won't work as well though.

EDIT: I wish I could rent 5 Western Digital 2tb drives for 2 weeks. :laugh:. *sigh*

 

[bsobel]

I will try to do that as well. I'm also looking at swapping out the mobo (for something that has more onboard SATA ports) as well, in which a image won't work as well though.

True, but it will let you do a reinstall on top with the tombstones instact and thus 'recover' your current config...

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: Fullmetal Chocobo
Back up files shares... I don't have a spare 7 terabytes to put the data. That was the whole point of the WHS box.

You aren't using Folder Duplication nor backups with 7 TB of data?

As bsobel suggests, you MIGHT get away with a disk image of the system disk to a new one. But imaging the system disk is NOT supported by Microsoft.

Also, as bsobel says, the "official" recovery was only if you need to rebuild the system partition on a "good" drive. It'll see the tombstones and find the data on the other disks. Won't work on a "failed" disk. If the actual system disk has failed, then you are looking at a fresh WHS install. Unless a clone-job-plus-Reinstall works.

Good news is that whatever data is on the non-system disks should be fine and recoverable. If you end up copying the data disk-by-disk, you could get away with only enough space to temporarily store one disk's-worth at a time). And the data on the system disk would also be recoverable unless the disk itself trashed the files.

 

[RebateMonger]

Microsoft MVP: How to recover data after WHS server failure.

"We can consider following scenarios:

* The system does not boot any more, but the disks are all ok. Recommended method: Server Reinstall.

* The system disk is broken, the data disks are ok. Recommended method: Server Reinstall after replacing the disk. If you can still access the DATA volume of the disk, proceed as described below to copy eventually stored files.

* The system disk is ok, but one or more data disks fail, or Windows Home Server Console reports disks as missing. Recommended method: Data recovery has priority. Try to get the data out as described below."

 

[Gooberlx2]

Couldn't you just do something like this?:

- boot with something like Acronis Rescue, UBCD4Win (DriveImage XML) or something with CloneZilla
- image the system disk to a backup disk (external USB perhaps)
- replace the failing disk
- restore the image to the new disk

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

I'm also looking at this method (essentially manual copy of everything) and also the WHS BDBB add-on.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger
You aren't using Folder Duplication nor backups with 7 TB of data?

All of the folders are duplicated except the largest (video). Backups of essential data is on other machines / drives / thumbdrives, but I don't have the capacity to backup all 7tb of data off of the server to do a simple wipe & restore.

 

[Raduque]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger
Microsoft MVP: How to recover data after WHS server failure.

"We can consider following scenarios:

* The system does not boot any more, but the disks are all ok. Recommended method: Server Reinstall.

* The system disk is broken, the data disks are ok. Recommended method: Server Reinstall after replacing the disk. If you can still access the DATA volume of the disk, proceed as described below to copy eventually stored files.

* The system disk is ok, but one or more data disks fail, or Windows Home Server Console reports disks as missing. Recommended method: Data recovery has priority. Try to get the data out as described below."

Server re-install is the way to go. Simply swap out the bad drive with the new one (make sure you use the same port on the motherboard!) and make sure it's listed as "Drive 0" in the WHS setup. On the next screen after the drive listing choose "Server Reinstall" and go from there.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: Raduque

Originally posted by: RebateMonger
Microsoft MVP: How to recover data after WHS server failure.

"We can consider following scenarios:

* The system does not boot any more, but the disks are all ok. Recommended method: Server Reinstall.

* The system disk is broken, the data disks are ok. Recommended method: Server Reinstall after replacing the disk. If you can still access the DATA volume of the disk, proceed as described below to copy eventually stored files.

* The system disk is ok, but one or more data disks fail, or Windows Home Server Console reports disks as missing. Recommended method: Data recovery has priority. Try to get the data out as described below."

Server re-install is the way to go. Simply swap out the bad drive with the new one (make sure you use the same port on the motherboard!) and make sure it's listed as "Drive 0" in the WHS setup. On the next screen after the drive listing choose "Server Reinstall" and go from there.

That option isn't available unless the system disk is intact, it isn't in this case so not an option.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: bsobel

Originally posted by: Raduque
Server re-install is the way to go. Simply swap out the bad drive with the new one (make sure you use the same port on the motherboard!) and make sure it's listed as "Drive 0" in the WHS setup. On the next screen after the drive listing choose "Server Reinstall" and go from there.

That option isn't available unless the system disk is intact, it isn't in this case so not an option.

I'm trying to figure out what the MS MVP meant in the link I posted earlier:

Stickied post by MS MVP on recovering a failing WHS server.

When I posted that, I assumed he didn't REALLY mean to "replace the system disk" and then do a "Server Reinstall'. As you noted, WHS won't offer the option to "Reinstall" if it doesn't see the old System disk. Not unless it has some magic that I don't know about. Even if it did, all the data tombstones would be lost, so you might as well start over anyway.

Heck, you can't even do a "Server Reinstall" onto a perfectly good WHS System disk unless that disk is listed first in your BIOS boot order.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

I'm going to have to manually copy everything one way or another, since I'm doing a new motherboard and all as well. So I'll be doing either a RAID 1 or RAID 5 array off of the Areca controller for the system disk to avoid this issue again, and I'll add data to the new drives, then to the storage pool.

 

[bsobel]

I'm trying to figure out what the MS MVP meant in the link I posted earlier:

The key is "If you can still access the DATA volume of the disk, proceed as described below to copy eventually stored files."

So it means if your c drive is corrupt beyond repair but somehow your d: partition isn't, you can do a reinstall. But unless you have the data drive (d availale for the tombstones to be recovered your stuck.

 

[Raduque]

Originally posted by: bsobel


That option isn't available unless the system disk is intact, it isn't in this case so not an option.

http://social.microsoft.com/fo...4ae3-a74b-ff351dc1c0bf

According to this, it IS available if the system disk is replaced.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: Raduque

Originally posted by: bsobel


That option isn't available unless the system disk is intact, it isn't in this case so not an option.

http://social.microsoft.com/fo...4ae3-a74b-ff351dc1c0bf

According to this, it IS available if the system disk is replaced.

Ooops, your right. He'll still lose users/groups and existing backups but a reasonable price to pay. Looks like the key is to ensure all your data drives ARE connected during install AND your install target is the first bios seen drive. If both those are true, then you should see the server reinstall option.