Transferring SBS 2003 to a new controller and drives with ShadowProtect
I am working on getting a project done with ShadowProtect, and am having substantially unimpressive results. I'd like to hear from people with experience using that product.
I am trying to move from one RAID controller and set of disks to another in the same server. At this point both controllers are installed with drivers, and all disks are visible.
I downloaded an eval of the SBS product, installed it, and then booted their CD into their 'recovery environment'. After providing the drivers via F6, I was able to see all of the disks, create backups of the original volumes, and restore them to volumes on the new disks. HOWEVER, when I booted the machine from the new controller and disks, and attempted to log in (Windows does start and give me the login dialog), Windows logs me right back out.
The ShadowProtect folks have no idea of what's wrong, or how to go about resolving it. As far as I'm concerned, this is a product that DOES NOT WORK.
I discussed this application with their tech people several times in advance, and was assured by them that it would work.
Any ideas out there ?
I am trying to move from one RAID controller and set of disks to another in the same server. At this point both controllers are installed with drivers, and all disks are visible.
I downloaded an eval of the SBS product, installed it, and then booted their CD into their 'recovery environment'. After providing the drivers via F6, I was able to see all of the disks, create backups of the original volumes, and restore them to volumes on the new disks. HOWEVER, when I booted the machine from the new controller and disks, and attempted to log in (Windows does start and give me the login dialog), Windows logs me right back out.
The ShadowProtect folks have no idea of what's wrong, or how to go about resolving it. As far as I'm concerned, this is a product that DOES NOT WORK.
I discussed this application with their tech people several times in advance, and was assured by them that it would work.
Any ideas out there ?
ASKER
Thanks for the reply, noxcho.
My setup is that I already have both controllers installed, together with their drivers.
When you perform the two steps in the adaptive wizard, do you delete the old controller and drivers ?
What does "adjust the OS" consist of ?
My setup is that I already have both controllers installed, together with their drivers.
When you perform the two steps in the adaptive wizard, do you delete the old controller and drivers ?
What does "adjust the OS" consist of ?
Hello Joshua,
both scenarios are possible, with two controllers and without of them. Adjust OS as I understand it disables the drivers for old controller and leave generic drivers only. Next step that comes right after Adjust OS in one wizard is - Load Drivers for controller you want to boot from.
both scenarios are possible, with two controllers and without of them. Adjust OS as I understand it disables the drivers for old controller and leave generic drivers only. Next step that comes right after Adjust OS in one wizard is - Load Drivers for controller you want to boot from.
ASKER
My situation is that I can't remove the old controller without risking loss of data. I was told by Dell that the CERC 1.5/6ch controller that they sold me with a Dell PE830 server is not reliable, and might lose data if I remove it from the machine, and that there is no way to back up the RAID config on the card. Add that to terrible performance reviews for that card, and it makes you wonder why anyone would trust them for the most important hardware in the shop.
I will try your solution today.
I will try your solution today.
Sometimes the vendors say what they don't know. If Windows is running from this controller and data + system are using File Systems such as FAT or NTFS then you can migrate from the server.
As a test I would take backup of this configuration to external drive and restore it to test machine. That would definitely increase your system and data migration skills and give more self assurance that you can do it with your working server too.
As a test I would take backup of this configuration to external drive and restore it to test machine. That would definitely increase your system and data migration skills and give more self assurance that you can do it with your working server too.
ASKER
I am having trouble with the WinPE boot disk. It presents me with the menu, but when I lauch the driver loader and point it to either the C: or A: drives, it returns: "Driver load has failed with error: The system cannot find the path specified", even though it has no trouble browsing both the disk and the floppy, and showing all of the files.
Any ideas ?
Any ideas ?
Where are your drivers located? Internal HDD or external USB flash drive? The last one is most convenient.
ASKER
I have tried both the C: drive and the A: drive, which is a floppy, as I mentioned above. The program sees both drives, and displays the file names, but when I select them and click OK, I get the error message, as though it didn't see them at all.
Can you give me the drivers? Or give the link to the page you downloaded them from? I can try to see on my test environment if I get same error.
And as far as I understood you are trying to restore from backup at the moment, is it correct?
And as far as I understood you are trying to restore from backup at the moment, is it correct?
ASKER
I need to be able to boot to the CD, create the backup, restore it to new drives, and boot into the drives on the new controller.
Right now, I'm working with a test machine. I can't play with the production server.
I'm not sure how you can test this without the hardware. One controller is the HP ProLiant ML110.G3 embedded Adaptec SATA HostRAID controller, and the other is a SIL1324 SATA RAID card. I have successfully loaded the drivers for both into Windows 2003 Server, so the drivers themselves are not the issue.
Right now, I'm working with a test machine. I can't play with the production server.
I'm not sure how you can test this without the hardware. One controller is the HP ProLiant ML110.G3 embedded Adaptec SATA HostRAID controller, and the other is a SIL1324 SATA RAID card. I have successfully loaded the drivers for both into Windows 2003 Server, so the drivers themselves are not the issue.
Ok. Then describe the sequence of your steps. You boot from WinPE - select Add Drivers - point it to CD or USB drive (don't try to find the drivers on internal drive) - point it to .INF file. Does it give the error on this step?
Or are you using P2P Adaptive already?
Or are you using P2P Adaptive already?
I would like still to have a look on the driver pack you point the Add Driver wizard to. No difference if I have exact same controller. Driver must be loaded in any case.
The only important thing is that this WinPE is based on Windows 7 and you need to provide drivers for Windows Vista - Windows 2008 to detect the hardware successfully.
The only important thing is that this WinPE is based on Windows 7 and you need to provide drivers for Windows Vista - Windows 2008 to detect the hardware successfully.
ASKER
That could be the problem right there. Neither driver is for Vista, one is highly unlikely to be available for it, and I will need to inquire about the other. Is there an earlier version not based on Windows 7 ?
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I have provided necessary instructions and efforts to help here and suggest accept noxcho's comment http:#26121691 as solution.
With Bart PE and drivers for it the Adaptive Restore will work for sure.
With Bart PE and drivers for it the Adaptive Restore will work for sure.
It has one important feature you need - Adaptive Restore.
Simply took backup of existing configuration.
Reconfigured RAID with new controller. Booted from WinPE Recovery CD - loaded drivers for new RAID controller and restored the image.
After that moved to main menu of WinPE and run P2P Adaptive Wizard. That allowed:
1)Adjust the OS to new hardware
2)Install drivers (inject) for new controller to OS.
Restart and vualya, that worked.