WHS: PP1 - Anyone try a PC restore yet ?

[WT]

So after investing some hard earned cash into an HP MediaSmart 475 server, and claiming that I was now, for the first time in 18+ years of PC use, fully backed up, I still had not tested, nor even looked into how, I could test my backups.

I picked up a few PCs from work that were getting dumpsterized and installed a clean XP Pro with all relevant patches plus all of the third party plugins necessary these days, then tossed an image onto the WHS.

I then used an identical system and popped the Restore CD into that, booted to it and made an exact copy of that original system on the second PC. Worked perfectly, and done in under 30 minutes ! I am now suitable impressed, and I can at least verify that this thing is working as expected.

Now I do need to change the XP product key, as the imaged second PC now has a duplicate key, but that's easy enough to correct with Magic Jelly Bean, and saves me 2+ hours of reloading the OS onto any other PCs.

So what say you, WHS users ? Have you tested or toyed with the restore feature ? Its very much Vista-like in its appearance, and was easier to use than I expected it to be.

:thumbsup:

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

I have used the restore fature on my laptop, and it worked great. Took a bit due to te fact that i had to get the correct version of the restoration CD, but other than it, went absolutely wonderful.

 

[Smilin]

I've done some restores of individual files from mine. Works well, very painless.

 

[blackangst1]

I've used Vista's imager and it saved me hours of work.

 

[WT]

Ahh crap .. I guess I cursed myself by posting of my love for the WHS restore ... I tried yet another identical PC last night and got as far as actually dumping the image onto the drive, at which point I got a message "unexpected error occurred during PS restore". I looked it up, and sure enough my wife's PC had hung during a manual backup that was started, so I killed that and restarted the PC, but still was unable to get past the unexpected error on a return visit to to be imaged PC.

I'll assume that WHS wasn't quite recovered from the locked up manual backup, so I'll try again tonight. Failing that, I have identical PC #3 to image, so I'll try another PC and see if it images.

 

[RebateMonger]

I believe there's three versions of the PC Restore CD. One RTM, one "improved" (I don't recall the changes) and the latest one that comes with PP1. You might want to be sure you have PP1 installed and make a new Restore CD (available from the WHS "Software" folder when you've installed PP1).

I've only restored some files and one complete client PC so far. That worked fine, except that MS Office SBE 2003 insisted on "re-installing" Excel 2003. And the client had no install disks and no MSOCache on his PC, so it complicated matters. He insists that Excel was working perfectly before the Restore.

I don't know why MS Office wanted a re-install. And the accompanying MS Word was working fine. It was just Excel that didn't work right. Weird.

 

[WT]

Yea, using the latest PP1 ISO available. I always make sure that is updated before trying a restore. Oddly enough, I'm still getting the error, so I then tried to wipe the drive and image it. Gotta go check on it and see if it works. If not, then I'll set it aside and hook up another rig and test that one.

 

[RebateMonger]

I'd also check with the two main WHS forums:

http://wegotserved.co.uk

http://forums.microsoft.com/wi...default.aspx?siteid=50

 

[WT]

Ughh, no luck ! I am STILL getting the error on PC #3, an identical config other than it has a different MAC address, obviously. I've been looking for a fix for this, but had nothing that applied under my circumstances.
I am starting to officially get paranoid that MS has flubbed up something in the restore process if the MAC address of the NIC does not match the one on record for the image.



Edit: Hmmm, after rebooting the WHS, I checked on the status of the formerly fine backup for my first PC, and it now shows as 'unknown', so I am doing a manual backup with that PC hooked up, assuming something went sour with its image for whatever reason.

 

[WT]

Success !! OK, I'm officially happy again. After creating a fresh backup of the image (even tho nothing had changed from my former 'clean' image) I was able to dump it onto another clone PC, so it looks like that dilemma was solved.

I had doubts for months on the purchase of my WHS, and reasoned that I could have bought two higher end vid cards to SLI instead of it, but its done a great job covering my @ss when things go sour, so it was worth it when I look back and do not have to worry about losing important files, or in this case, making a painful job somewhat painfree (almost, that is).

 

[XBoxLPU]

WHS can be very picky about its backups. I have had old Ethernet drivers and Kaspersky AV throw off daily back ups. So I have been doing a weekly restart and doing a disk check on all of my computers hooked to my WHS box

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: XBoxLPU
WHS can be very picky about its backups. I have had old Ethernet drivers and Kaspersky AV throw off daily back ups. So I have been doing a weekly restart and doing a disk check on all of my computers hooked to my WHS box

The backup system (in fact, the whole storage system) is new stuff and hopefully improved with PP1. The WHS storage system has been described as "fragile" by some. I hope that's not really the case. The features are great. We all hope that the reliability will become a bit better.