Windows Srv reboots all the time after restore to another server

Hi,

Software: Acronis*True*Image*Server® version 9.1 (build*3,832)

We use a Dell 2850 server with 3x73Gb HDs non-raided as our main SBS server.

For disaster recovery (DR), we have bought another Dell 2850 with 2x73GB drives mirrored and 2x300Gb drives mirrored using PERC 4DI embedded RAID controller.

I have backed up the first drive on the live server (partitions Dell, C & E) and have restored it to the mirrored 73GB drive, to test wether we can get an effective recovery using Acronis.

Is this because the drives are mirrored on the DR server? They are the same model servers, with same memory and System drive size.

I'd appreciate any help.

Cheers
John

 

hi,

As Far as i know, non raid perc driver is different from raid perc driver.
I would use Universal Restore plugin to inject Perc4DI driver and modify boot order.

Make sure btw that you have the same order in partitions :

DELL / C / E or C / E... if you change order you're going to reboot till the end of time.

Another good test for DR is to prepare a P2V conversion with VMWare Converter (FREE) on VMWare Server (FREE too)

Good luck... you should think about moving to new hardware, 2850 is soon out of warranty... if it is 3 years

Jaycee

 

I'm not an expert on raids or servers. But I will provide what information I know.

My advice is to verify your "partition ID drive letters". If the "partition ID" drive letter doesn't match the "mounted device" drive letter you will get a restored drive that will bootup and hang or goes into an endless loop. That's the only time I have seen the symptoms you describe.

I've never worked with server2003 but it's core is similar to w2k and windows xp, and they suffer similar problems when restored.

You can use the free "savepart" utility, it is now available as a standalone ISO file. Just download the file that says "spartiso.zip" and use nero or imgburn to burn the ISO to a CD.

1.)bootup with the savepart cd, type savepart at command prompt.
2.)next choose "update windows2000/xp/vista registry" doubleclick on it.
3.)next doubleclick on the "disk number 0" this is usually the hard drive that has your partitions.
4.)next click on the partition that has your system (make a note of the drive letter, this is your mounted device drive letter) most default installations it will be "c".
5.)the next screen is blue and has directorys, here choose the "WINDOWS" directory and doubleclick on it.
6.)On next screen just double click on the partition shown.
7.)It'll take you back to the screen on step 4, doubleclick on the "C" partition.
8.)Finally your in the "drive letter to affect this partition" box. This is where it will show you the "partition ID drive letter" it should be the same as the "mounted device drive letter".

If these 2 drive letters don't match, then your hard drive will not boot.
http://www.partition-saving.com/

If you do have a drive letter problem, other people here in the forum can show you how to prevent the problem from occuring by using "proper technique" when backing up or restoring with true image. I on the other hand always fix the incorrect drive letters and get the drive to boot, it's a quick fix.

 

OK. Yep the controllers are different, but I'm not sure if that is the problem or not....


IT could be the Drive letters. C: goes to C: OK, but the old servers E: drive end up without a drive letter as E: on the new server is the USB HD I'm getting the backup from!


Old server
A:
C: system
D: CD
E: Exchange partition
F: Data

C&E are on one HD and that's what I'm trying to restore.


New Server when using Acronis to restore...
Acronis says
C: Sys
D: CD
E: USB drive

Does it only matter, (as far as the OS is concerned) wehter C: drive is right or is it important for the OD for the other drives to have letters?

Yes, the 2850 is old, that's why we've got another one (cheap) just in case...


Cheers
John

 

HI JonyJoe,

Thanks for the info. I've done as you say and it looks like the main partition C: is right, but the second partition on the drive E: is incorrect. Should this make a difference?

Could I ask you to point me in the direction of the "proper technique"?!

Many thanks
John

 

On the drive letters that you point out, those are probably the "mounted device" drive letters. The only one that you need to concentrate on is the system drive partition. The "mounted device" drive letters will always be the same, Example "C" will show up as "C" on the restored drive. Your "mounted device" drive letters checks good.

What you need to check now is the "Partition ID" drive letter, that is the one that sometimes gets changed around during restoration. In your computer it needs to be "C", if it's anything else, the system will hang or loop during bootup.

My advice is to see if the demo of the "justboot corrector" can bootup your computer. It's a boot utility thats obsolete on newer computers but might boot up an older computer. When it boots up the computer it will read the registry of the non-booting drive. On the system partition the drive letter needs to be "C". It's a quick way to verify the "partition ID" drive letter. Let us know what the "partition ID" drive letter is.

http://www.freedownloadmanager.org/downloads/JustBoot_Boot_Corrector_38938_p/

you can also use the "savepart" bootcd to check the "partition ID" drive letter, but you need to know how to interpret the results. But if the "boot corrector" doesn't work it's the only other option.

My "proper technique" is using the latest build of a "boot corrector" to fix "drive letters" and get the restored drive to bootup. It always works for me. It doesn't work for everyone, but I have never encountered a "drive letter" problem I couldn't fix in less than 5 minutes. That's why I always tell everyone to verify the "partition ID" drive letters first when a restored drive doesn't bootup. People can spend hours/days troubleshooting a simple "drive letter" problem.

 

I think instead that you are sending poor unsuspecting people off on wild goose chases and causing them to spend hours/days chasing after "problems" that don't exist. People come here for help and they deserve an accurate diagnosis of their problem and sound advice for fixing it. I don't detect either from your advice. Instead you always jump to the conclusion that every computer problem known to man must be a "drive letter problem" no matter what the symptom.

It's not like me to criticize like this but for heaven's sake, your advice lately has been so far off-target that I'm afraid you are doing more harm than good. While I admire your willingness to be helpful, quite honestly, you are not.

My apologies, John. You deserve better advice than you're getting from the previous poster. I wish I could be helpful but I'm unfamiliar with TI Server and your Dell hardware. I only volunteer technical advice when I understand the problem and feel that I can contribute something useful. I only wish the previous poster could do the same.

 

John,

I second k0lo's comments. I think time wasting information is being posted.

"Proper technique" may be doing the opposite of what jonyjoe81 does because he seems to be the only person with frequent drive letter issues. Unfortunately, he declines invitations for help.

 

Until you verify the "drive letters", which is quick thing to check you won't know what the problem is.. I did not say that this was the problem in this case, but the symptoms look very similar to a "drive letter" problem. Maybe it's something else, but it doesn't hurt to check the "drive letters" and rule that out as a problem.

 

HI,

Just for info, eventually I purchased Universal restore and tried restoring the disk image again.

This also failed until I went into Safe mode and gave the Server NIC an IP address. For some reason the restore failed to give it one.

Seems to work ok now.

CHeers
John