- Jun 30, 2004
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So here's an interesting development five years or so after I'd "set up" my Windows 2012 R2 Essentials [home] Server system.
I thought, because I'd implemented scheduled Client Computer Backups that now no longer ever fail to succeed, that I could always do a bare-metal restore of a client-system boot drive, and any other drives I chose to back up along with the boot-system disk. This feature had saved my ass about three times before I replaced Home Server 2011 with Win 2012 R2 Essentials. [And, yes, my server OS is a bit "dated", but check around and you will see that small businesses continue to use something that works for them, and the price of even the Essentials version sort of discourages frequent upgrade.]
Then, while tweaking the server and the clients for more perfection, I tried to create a USB flash drive for client restoration. WEll, you see, I had never completed the "set up restore" feature within the server Dashboard. And then I discovered that I actually had to DOWNLOAD -- DOWNLOAD! -- a Win PE add-in, which, in various versions, always accompanies any number of local and other backup programs.
And -- guess what? If you had clicked the "set up Restore" feature in the Dashboard soon after installing the 2012 R2 Essentials OS, there would've been no problem. You would've successfully installed the Win-PE add-in, presenting you with all things wonderful for knowing you could do bare-metal client restores with only an 8GB USB 2.0 flash drive stuck into the Server.
Well, Win 2012 R2 Essentials, like all Windows versions, has periodic "Windows Updates". These Updates, at some point, make it impossible to install the version of Win PE that works with the OS. Blogs and forums all over the internet show IT Techs and IT-savvy Users with their panties in a twist offering up "work-arounds" for getting the Win PE add-in installed successfully. It seemed as though the most workable solution was to set up the OS on a separate piece of hardware -- a separate computer -- then -- install the OS and copy a certain folder to disk after setting up the Restoration feature. Then, transfer the folder to the working server with the problem.
And so I discovered that I had perfect client backups on my server, but I'd be in a helluva pickle if the boot drive for one of my (as many as 5) PCs -- up and freaking DIED.
Are you KIDDING?! I'M NOT kidding! What is it worth -- to me -- to avoid freeing up a PC, going through the win 2012 R2 Essentials installation, and fiddling with file-folders to transfer to my REAL server?
It's worth $200 to me, for buying AOMEI Centralized Backupper "custom" version that defaults to 5 clients and 1 Server.
So far, I'm impressed. The default server Windows backup that controls clients for that purpose puts all the system-disk backups in the same folder, and you can't identify with File Explorer which of those files are for the boot-system disk, which are for other "data" disks or selectively-chosen folders on all of it. But AOMEI does it automatically by each computer name for creation of subfolders in your carefully-created "AOMEI Client Backups" folder that appears on client systems as "\Shared Folders\AOMEI Client Backups\" after you've configured the folder and sharing on the server.
The restore feature is a bit obscured in the AOMEI server software, but it is there, and AOMEI -- not to fear! -- bundles a Win PE version of their own for the creation of USB rescue disks.
WHO ELSE IS USING AOMEI? WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT IT? IS IT "COOL"? DO YOU LIKE IT? Tell me about scheduling backup tasks, for which I am confident but yet to arrange in the configuration.
I think there is a free version of AOMEI that many use, just as many use the Macrium Free version of Reflect. But it's a local backup solution, and doesn't work with the server OS.
I thought, because I'd implemented scheduled Client Computer Backups that now no longer ever fail to succeed, that I could always do a bare-metal restore of a client-system boot drive, and any other drives I chose to back up along with the boot-system disk. This feature had saved my ass about three times before I replaced Home Server 2011 with Win 2012 R2 Essentials. [And, yes, my server OS is a bit "dated", but check around and you will see that small businesses continue to use something that works for them, and the price of even the Essentials version sort of discourages frequent upgrade.]
Then, while tweaking the server and the clients for more perfection, I tried to create a USB flash drive for client restoration. WEll, you see, I had never completed the "set up restore" feature within the server Dashboard. And then I discovered that I actually had to DOWNLOAD -- DOWNLOAD! -- a Win PE add-in, which, in various versions, always accompanies any number of local and other backup programs.
And -- guess what? If you had clicked the "set up Restore" feature in the Dashboard soon after installing the 2012 R2 Essentials OS, there would've been no problem. You would've successfully installed the Win-PE add-in, presenting you with all things wonderful for knowing you could do bare-metal client restores with only an 8GB USB 2.0 flash drive stuck into the Server.
Well, Win 2012 R2 Essentials, like all Windows versions, has periodic "Windows Updates". These Updates, at some point, make it impossible to install the version of Win PE that works with the OS. Blogs and forums all over the internet show IT Techs and IT-savvy Users with their panties in a twist offering up "work-arounds" for getting the Win PE add-in installed successfully. It seemed as though the most workable solution was to set up the OS on a separate piece of hardware -- a separate computer -- then -- install the OS and copy a certain folder to disk after setting up the Restoration feature. Then, transfer the folder to the working server with the problem.
And so I discovered that I had perfect client backups on my server, but I'd be in a helluva pickle if the boot drive for one of my (as many as 5) PCs -- up and freaking DIED.
Are you KIDDING?! I'M NOT kidding! What is it worth -- to me -- to avoid freeing up a PC, going through the win 2012 R2 Essentials installation, and fiddling with file-folders to transfer to my REAL server?
It's worth $200 to me, for buying AOMEI Centralized Backupper "custom" version that defaults to 5 clients and 1 Server.
So far, I'm impressed. The default server Windows backup that controls clients for that purpose puts all the system-disk backups in the same folder, and you can't identify with File Explorer which of those files are for the boot-system disk, which are for other "data" disks or selectively-chosen folders on all of it. But AOMEI does it automatically by each computer name for creation of subfolders in your carefully-created "AOMEI Client Backups" folder that appears on client systems as "\Shared Folders\AOMEI Client Backups\" after you've configured the folder and sharing on the server.
The restore feature is a bit obscured in the AOMEI server software, but it is there, and AOMEI -- not to fear! -- bundles a Win PE version of their own for the creation of USB rescue disks.
WHO ELSE IS USING AOMEI? WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT IT? IS IT "COOL"? DO YOU LIKE IT? Tell me about scheduling backup tasks, for which I am confident but yet to arrange in the configuration.
I think there is a free version of AOMEI that many use, just as many use the Macrium Free version of Reflect. But it's a local backup solution, and doesn't work with the server OS.
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