asked on 3/29/2013

recovering MS Server 2008 that had Truecrypt whole disk encryption

I have a IBM xSeries server that had 8 - 300GB drives set up in RAID 5. The RAID went out and we were left with an error message that stated "the following arrays have missing members and cannot be configured". I worked with IBM and Adaptec to no avail in an attempt to bring the RAID array back online. It looks like I will be forced to rebuild the RAID array and system (losing all data on the RAID). We do have backups that were done by Server 2008 backup manager to external hard drives.

The system had full disk encryption (FDE) with Truecrypt (required an initial password before booting into MS Server 2008). We do have a Truecrypt recovery cd. There is very little info on the Truecrypt site as to how to go about recovering an entire operating system with FDE and I want to be sure of the process before proceding. Does anyone have a procedural handle on how to go about rebuilding this machine? Not sure if Truecrypt encrypts the backups... Any help appreciated!
Thanks!

Microsoft Legacy OS Microsoft Server OS Windows Server 2008

Last Comment

212Kelvin

4/19/2013

David

3/29/2013

You'll need to work with somebody who can manually reconstruct the RAID and present it to true crypt code the right way. You can pretty much forget using any off-the-shelf reconstruction software since the algorithms that reconstruct data are based on finding recognizable text strings.

So this means you'll need to pay somebody to do this. Lots of variables here from full config details to manually reconstruct the RAID to learning how your system is set up.

This isn't the type of process anybody could walk you through as you need to get the HDDs in the hands of the right company or party to do the job, and be prepared to spend several thousand dollars bare minimum. Don't even think of messing with the RAID yourself, it will make it worse.

Better first look at the backups and see if data is encrypted. It depends on how you set things up .If you can restore, then that will cost you least amount of money. If you can't, then be prepared for some sticker shock.

212Kelvin

3/30/2013

ASKER

Hi dlethe,

Thanks for the reply. The RAID is toast and I have (presumably) good backups performed by windows on external hard drives. Additionally all data files are backed up offsite via an online provider (but my guess is that those files are encrypted since they are literally 'copies'). Sending the RAID off to a recovery house is not an option...

So restoring is my only option - but with encryption catches...

With Truecrypt being fairly popular I was hoping that somebody might have some insight in how to do a full system recovery on a system that had previously been set up with TC Full Disk Encryption.

Thanks!

David

3/30/2013

Fair enough ... but ask yourself if people outside of TC had this capability, then why would anybody want to use TC in the first place ;)

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

212Kelvin

4/14/2013

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212Kelvin

4/19/2013

ASKER

No other intervention was concisely helpful or demonstrated an actual solution strategy for the problem.