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restore nt to a different hard disk

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15 replies

by laotzu

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How can the existing state of my pdc server (c:) be restored to a new hard disk should all my drives (and bdc) get toasted? I'd love to avoid reloading and rebuilding drivers, the sam db, the wins db, etc.

Any links to whitepapers, KB's on the subject?

Can ARCServe 6.5 do the trick? NT TBU?

This seems to be a primary b/u task (vs. data file b/u's) yet I never see it directly addressed by MS or CA.

Living in California and expect imminent earthquakes, black outs and powersurges.

15 replies

by shmaltz

Use hardware controlled RAID 5 disks and you will never have a problem.
if you want to change computers for the PDC then first set up the new computer as a BDC and make sure the sync the sams and also set it up as a secondery wins server and then shut down the origenal PDC and premote the new one to BDC.

by laotzu

I already know about promotions. And I believe RAID 1 is for the system disk,not RAID 5. I'm concerned about losing all disks to a powersurge post blackout.

by shmaltz

Thats why I pointed out HARDWARE LEVEL CONTROLLED RAID 5 because if you use hardware level you can use RAID 5 on the system partition also.

by shmaltz

I never heard that you should loose 3 harddrives in one day.
If you did I think it can go into guiness world records.

by shmaltz

I'm sorry of cource you can loose all disks in one day but only if its dirctly pluged in in an outlet I assumed you are using UPS.

by todd

You could use a program such as ghost, and create a HD image as it stands today, and you could restore off of that. Of course any changes in the users, or permissions, and such would require another image to be made.

by laotzu

Well, you may be right. And this may be an acceptable PDC back up plan, but somehow I suspect the job is a bit more complicated.

And how is it that no one seems to know about any indepth Microsoft discussion on the subject? Is it possible that MS is silent on what to do when the PDC is lost?

by msgtray

I will probably annoy you with this answer, but it sounds like you are looking for the "Magic Pill" that will cover you in any emergency situation. Bad news, it doesn't exist.
Network Associates, Computer Associates, and Veritas all make good products for disaster preparation and recovery. If you link to their web site, each one will have KB information that will, of course, indicate that they are the best. I believe that Veritas makes a solution that does not require reinstallation of NT to restore a system. The limiting factor is "How deep are your pockets?. Microsoft does not write White papers or support KB on third-party software/solutions.
Two of the disasters that you mentioned in your question can be covered with a good UPS system and properly configured software for unattended shutdown. Disk systems should be fault-tolerant (a HARDWARE implementation of RAID-5 can protect the system/boot partition), and you should consider off-site storage for tape media. If you prepare for everything and California falls into the Pacific, nobody will blame you.

by pknoles

Arcserve enterprise edition will do this you will only have to Load NT server no service pack with the same Name as the server you are restoring then restore from tape. Select "restore registry" as one of the options!

by laotzu

But does this bring back the device drivers that the registry will now point to? Do I have to be careful to reinstall exactly the same nt components? I presume that when you say "load NT server" you mean reinstall?

Not very clean.

by estebandelatorre

Use Ghost 8.0 or better
Set up the two hd (OLD and new) Partition the new 50% / 50%
Format both partitions as D: and e:
Issue an image (ghost) from disk c: to partition e:
Remove old disk, the new disk will became c: and d:, and issue a restore partition from image, picking iamge file from d: and destination c:, then extend the partition with partition manager to the 100% of the HD

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