4 replies to this topic

[Gary Berg]

I've been using an HP X510 with 2 1Tb drives in it (one came from HP) for about 18 months. Recently it stopped working, after some prodding and work with HP support the conclusion was that the system drive was dead. They were happy when I got an error running Seatools on the drive. HP has shipped me a replacement drive which should arrive shortly. I'm trying to figure out the process...
The tech I worked with told me that I could place my second drive, the one that didn't fail, in a USB case/dock and I should be able to pull back files from that drive to my local PC. Most of those files are already backups of my local PC, I'm not too worried, but there are a few things I'd like to check. Is he correct, that I can just turn on hidden/system folders and follow the structure? I know on the failed drive I could see the 20Gb system partition, but my Win7 box claimed the rest of the drive was partitioned but was RAW...
I tried the restore from the server recovery disk, using TFTP, enough times that I'm pretty sure I've got the procedure down pat. But this will essentially be a clean server, won't it? Do I recover with the second drive in the system too, or pull it and install it later? It would be nice if WHS recognizes that it needs to duplicate the data from that drive instead of my having to shovel it through a network port.
My PC backups were not duplicated, although everything else was. However, every week I backed up the PC backup database to an external e-SATA drive using WHS BDBB 1.0.3.3. I'm trying to figure out the order to do things in. I assume first is to recover the server as I mentioned in the paragraph above. I'll have to uninstall/re-install the WHS connector on each machine. At what time do I restore the PC backup database, do I need to do anything to prepare for doing that (like have WHS BDBB delete the  PC backup database)? Will my re-installed PCs connect up with their backup databases and continue on as the same PCs that they were before?
Anyway, I was hoping that someone who's gone through this whole process, including restoring the PC Backup databases would be able to fill in some of the gaps in my knowledge...
Thanks in advance,
Gary Berg

[Dave Marchant (WGS)]

Having 'recovered' my X510 4 times over Xmas before resorting to a Microserver, I can take you through the steps. With all folders duplicated, the real data is in a hidden 'DE' folder in the root of the drive. In a two disk system, one copy is on the D: partition of the boot drive and the other is on the non-boot drive. With your D: partition looking unusable, you need to recover your data from the second drive before proceeding.

Once you have your data safe, you need to rebiuld the server using the Recovery DVD and a PC / laptop DIRECTLY connected to the server. Just run up the DVD and follow the instructions to the letter.

As you have all your data safely off the server, you can go for a full, fresh install. I tried the recovery install which is supposed to keep the data on the data drive safe, but had issues so if you can get all your data off, go for the full re-install.

Get the server running and fully patched up with both Windows and HP patches. Then install the BDBB add-in, attach the e-SATA drive with the PC backups and restore that. You will then have all the correct PC ID's back on the server. Rather than reinstalling the connector on each PC (you may need to do the one that you used for the server recovery), you should just be able to run Discovery.exe in the C:\Program Files\Windows Home Server Folder to re-attach the PC's to the server, proving you have got the server up to the same build level as it was before.

Finally, put the data back into the respective shared folders, re-add the users and install any other add-ins you had.

I too had issues with the 1TB disk as shipped from HP - wonder if they were using some suspect batches.

[Gary Berg]

The data in the DE folder; this is the duplicated data or do you mean it is configuration data? I do recall that the HP tech said to "hurry" the patches thru, so I would have done that. I assume that the PCs reconnect to their backups because the guid in the registry matches the I'd for the database?

Thanks for the tip about the recovery program; that should save me some time.

[Dave Marchant (WGS)]

The DE Folder contains the 'real' shared data. If you have duplication on, a file will appear in the respective folder on two disks. Don't want to swamp you with information though.

[Gary Berg]

Dave,

Got it all backs together this weekend. I did a factory reset on the server and only. Manually restored files I pulled off the still-living drive. Then I formatted that drive so I didn't have to worry about any remnants.

Thanks for hints that pointed me on the right directions. Backups seemed to reconnect since all the systems being backed up were still intact.

Gary