Windows Home Server question

[Dari]

Someone remotely deleted some files I downloaded off of one of the personal folders. Is it possible to get it back considering I have folder duplication on or is it gone forever?

 

[RebateMonger]

Folder duplication is like RAID 1. If you delete a file, the copy gets deleted, too. This is one reason that backups are "safer" than RAID.

Standard Server 2003 (which WHS is built on), has Volume Shadow Copy Service running, which makes "backups" of shared volumes. On SOME WHS servers, this service may be running. You can see if it's available by right-mouse-clicking on the personal shared folder, clicking on "Properties" and see if the "Prevous Versions" tab contains anything.

If the data is valuable, you might be able to use data recovery software to restore the files elsewhere. The best chance would be to shut down the WHS server ASAP and attach the data drives to another PC where the recovery software is running. Recovery software is usually Read-Only, so this process shouldn't damage your server in the process. Hopefully.

 

[Dari]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger
Folder duplication is like RAID 1. If you delete a file, the copy gets deleted, too. This is one reason that backups are "safer" than RAID.

Standard Server 2003 (which WHS is built on), has Volume Shadow Copy Service running, which makes "backups" of shared volumes. On SOME WHS servers, this service may be running. You can see if it's available by right-mouse-clicking on the personal shared folder, clicking on "Properties" and see if the "Prevous Versions" tab contains anything.

If the data is valuable, you might be able to use data recovery software to restore the files elsewhere. The best chance would be to shut down the WHS server ASAP and attach the data drives to another PC where the recovery software is running. Recovery software is usually Read-Only, so this process shouldn't damage your server in the process. Hopefully.

Thanks a lot. It was enabled and now everything is being restored. However, WHS says it's going to take 40 days:shocked:

EDIT: I've narrowed it down to 4 days and counting

 

[ViRGE]

Unfortunately you shouldn't be surprised if it doesn't restore correctly. VSS was disabled on WHS for a reason - it's not stable when used in conjunction with the WHS storage layer.

 

[Dari]

Originally posted by: ViRGE
Unfortunately you shouldn't be surprised if it doesn't restore correctly. VSS was disabled on WHS for a reason - it's not stable when used in conjunction with the WHS storage layer.

If it was disabled why is it enabled in my WHS? I never enabled it. BTW, it worked out well. However, a server like this really should have a network recycle bin cause once you delete something remotely it is permanently deleted. I hope I don't make the same mistake again.

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: Dari

Originally posted by: ViRGE
Unfortunately you shouldn't be surprised if it doesn't restore correctly. VSS was disabled on WHS for a reason - it's not stable when used in conjunction with the WHS storage layer.

If it was disabled why is it enabled in my WHS? I never enabled it. BTW, it worked out well. However, a server like this really should have a network recycle bin cause once you delete something remotely it is permanently deleted. I hope I don't make the same mistake again.

As far as I know, it's a bug. It's not supposed to be enabled.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: Dari
If it was disabled why is it enabled in my WHS? I never enabled it. BTW, it worked out well. However, a server like this really should have a network recycle bin cause once you delete something remotely it is permanently deleted.

That service was enabled for a while in WHS, but was supposed to have been disabled by the various updates. As Virge notes, there are potential conflicts with the Drive Extender technology. It's great that you got your data back. You can search Microsoft and the various WHS forums and read about why Volume Shadowcopy Services was disabled.

Microsoft's file handling has never put remotely-deleted data in the Recycle Bin. Yeah, it would be nice if WHS had this feature. The solution in MS' servers since 2003 and with some versions of Vista has been the VSS function. That and backups.

 

[Dari]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger

Originally posted by: Dari
If it was disabled why is it enabled in my WHS? I never enabled it. BTW, it worked out well. However, a server like this really should have a network recycle bin cause once you delete something remotely it is permanently deleted.

That service was enabled for a while in WHS, but was supposed to have been disabled by the various updates. As Virge notes, there are potential conflicts with the Drive Extender technology. It's great that you got your data back. You can search Microsoft and the various WHS forums and read about why Volume Shadowcopy Services was disabled.

Microsoft's file handling has never put remotely-deleted data in the Recycle Bin. Yeah, it would be nice if WHS had this feature. The solution in MS' servers since 2003 and with some versions of Vista has been the VSS function. That and backups.

So how do I disable it?

 

[Raduque]

I imagine you'd disable it like any other service. Login to the server's desktop (remote desktop in using admin account) and disable it from the services.msc console.

On my server, VSS is always crashing anyway.