server 03 ntfs disc clone

[TiziteLayinLow]

i have a 80g in my win server... hdd is full.

i bought a 120g.. i only want the 120g in there.. so i want to clone the hdd over to the new one..

any ideas.. im running ntfs so a reg boot disc running xxcopy wont work.

 

[djdrastic]

Acronis
Norton
Linux Boot Disc with dd and gparted

 

[imported_Phil]

Norton Ghost would be the best bet. Acronis is also good.

 

[TonyRic]

download ubuntu or knoppix and dd. It is free and the syntax is simple. A quick tutorial on dd and others are at http://www.rajeevnet.com/hacks_hints/os_clone/os_cloning.html

 

[TiziteLayinLow]

ok i actually used partition magic 8 and copied the partition.. now when i try to boot to the drive it gets into server 03.. however has an issue starting the active directory services... when i plug the original back in.. everything is ok

win server told me it was going to reboot.. and i should start directory services repair mode.. so i did F8 and went into that mode.. when I put the admin password it just logs in adn right back out? it was telling me to go into that mode and view event viewer to see what was going on. but i cant get into it..lol

any ideas?

thanks

 

[djdrastic]

Need exact error message , have you perhaps tried to reclone your os wityh any of the tools that we have recommended ?

 

[TiziteLayinLow]

no.. i know dd is bit for bit.. but apparently so is partition magic.. i basically deleted the 120g partition.. copied bit for bit to new HDD.. then resized partition to 120g.. put as master in server and booted.. the os booted so i figured no need for fix mbr/boot in recovery console..

do you honestly think it will make that much difference? I have the data copied.. it seems like now its a windows issue?

thanks for your time/advice.. its greatly appreciated.

 

[TiziteLayinLow]

ok well I tried 'dd' in knoppix..

dd if=/dev/hda1 of=/dev/hdb1 [enter]...

i dont know if it was doing anything.. it didn't seem like it.. but I let it sit for several hours and I didnt see any progress bars or anything.

The exact win server 2003 error message is:

"Security Accounts Manager initialization failed because of the following error: Directory Service cannot start. Error Status: 0x00002e1. Please click OK to shutdown this system and reboot into Directory Services Restore Mode, check the event log for more detailed information."

once again, thanks!

 

[ShellGuy]

use acronis will work great


Will G.

 

[djdrastic]

0x00002e1 errors tend to be a pain in the ass

With dd when you canelled the clone , did dd report how many bytes it has written ?

 

[TiziteLayinLow]

no.. and both hard drives didnt seem like they had any activity going on. there was no information from dd at all..after hours.. knoppix had mounted both hdd i checked.

im going to try norton ghost today here in about a hour or so.. ill let you know, any ideas what was wrong with my dd?

thanks everyone

 

[redbeard1]

Find a copy of Hiren's Boot CD, version 6 or 7. It has a copy of Corporate Ghost 8, and it should clone the drive successfully.

 

[Smilin]

I would not recommend any 3rd party software for a domain controller short of backup software.

Make a backup, take out the old drive, put the new one in.
Install Windows, bring it up to the same service pack, put the same version and patch level of backup software on then do a full restore including system state.

 

[TiziteLayinLow]

well I already gave the other pc the 120g..lol wasnt worth the time and effort.. but for future reference.. if I did it the method you are describing.. it would restore the system with all the settings.. vpn, iis, rdp, etc?

it seemed like it was having an issue.. or realized the hdd driver was different and crashed the security accounts for a safety measure?

thanks guys

 

[EatSpam]

I have used Ghost successfully with domain controllers.

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: TiziteLayinLow
well I already gave the other pc the 120g..lol wasnt worth the time and effort.. but for future reference.. if I did it the method you are describing.. it would restore the system with all the settings.. vpn, iis, rdp, etc?

it seemed like it was having an issue.. or realized the hdd driver was different and crashed the security accounts for a safety measure?

thanks guys

Mmm, need more info but a guess as to what you were seeing: Mounting both drives could cause a drive letter shift. On a domain controller this will manifest itself as lsass not being able to start since it can't find the NTDS database. You could maybe boot in AD restore mode at that point but you might bump into a logon screen loop since winlogon is looking for userinit on the wrong drive. There are ways to correct this (whack mounteddevices registry key for instance) if you must. Best just to do the backup/restore instead.

Using the method I described would indeed restore EVERYTHING. They key is the same SP level and the exact same patch level of backup software. We can backup/restore all open files except for about 4 that are used by the backup restore process itself. Being at the same sp and patch level ensures those files remain at the right version when they can't be restored.

Yeah, you can use ghost or something and that's great for workstations but for a DC I would stick with Microsoft supported methods like this.

 

[GreyMittens]

Could you not just mirror the drives, break the mirror, boot with new drive and extend the partition?

 

[Smilin]

You would be extending the boot partition which isn't supported by the diskpart extend command. It only works with data partitions and contiguous freespace.

Although using ghost on a DC isn't the best idea, using partition havoc on a DC is downright dumb