I have a problem. A Windows server had a hardware failure on a controller. We are currently building an identical server to replace it (not my decision). A certain part of the system doesn't have a current backup (namely my code, plus other things).
(I have backups of my code, but there are things important to my code that weren't backed up at the time of the crash.)
The server uses a RAID configuration. I don't have the details, not my department, this is a client's machine. I can get them if it helps in giving an answer.
We believe the drives are fine. (Although I have my doubts as to the integrity of the data.)
I've use Trinity Rescue kit to salvage NTFS drives and partitions without problem.
Can System Rescue CD or any of the Linux rescue distros back up a Windows RAID configuration of drives?
My assumption is as long as you define the RAID configuration correctly it should be just like any other backup in Linux?
Thanks, Jack D
The type of RAID controller is important. You will certainly want to image the disks before attempting a recovery. Your best bet is an identical raid controller. If it isn't, you'll probably end up with a corrupted volume and no data. If it is an older device or integrated onto the mb, hit ebay to try to find the same make/model.
good luck!
-S
Thanks Stephen.
They finally got back to me, on my questions. They don't yet have an identical RAID controller. It had been my understanding they had gotten that on Friday. So my question is really moot at this point.
But once they have one, it should be fairly easy frome a Linux rescue distro to back up that data, or ghost the drives, right?
Although another twist is the server is set up as VMs, using Microsoft's VMM. There are at least 5 VMs, of which two are my desktops for them.
Jack D
________________________________ From: Stephen Spencer gladiatr72@gmail.com To: Cc: "kclug@kclug.org" kclug@kclug.org Sent: Monday, January 28, 2013 9:01 AM Subject: Re: Windows RAID backup via System Rescue CD, et al
The type of RAID controller is important. You will certainly want to image the disks before attempting a recovery. Your best bet is an identical raid controller. If it isn't, you'll probably end up with a corrupted volume and no data. If it is an older device or integrated onto the mb, hit ebay to try to find the same make/model. good luck! -S _______________________________________________ KCLUG mailing list KCLUG@kclug.org http://kclug.org/mailman/listinfo/kclug
Mostly correct. Linux has extensive support for various types of hardware RAID devices. This device will most likely be one of those supported devices, so that being the case, you'll be able to recover your data without issue. I have no experience with MS virtualization, but I imagine they use file-backed devices. If you can recover those files, there is probably a utility somewhere that will convert them to VMDK or some other useful format for loading with VirtualBox or KVM. If they are device-backed (think LVM-backed volumes), you'll need to first identify which partition is used by which guest and dd the image.
-S
Thanks. I also, have no idea how the VMs have been set up. They weren't very enthusiastic
with my suggestion anyway. Linux scares the, I think. Although I've used TRK numerous times to rescue systems, both Linux and Windows.
Jack D
________________________________ From: Stephen Spencer gladiatr72@gmail.com To: "kclug@kclug.org" kclug@kclug.org Sent: Monday, January 28, 2013 9:51 AM Subject: Re: Windows RAID backup via System Rescue CD, et al
Mostly correct. Linux has extensive support for various types of hardware RAID devices. This device will most likely be one of those supported devices, so that being the case, you'll be able to recover your data without issue. I have no experience with MS virtualization, but I imagine they use file-backed devices. If you can recover those files, there is probably a utility somewhere that will convert them to VMDK or some other useful format for loading with VirtualBox or KVM. If they are device-backed (think LVM-backed volumes), you'll need to first identify which partition is used by which guest and dd the image.
-S
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Jack -
Stephen Spencer