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README if you want to re-use WHS drives!
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Author:  BigBloke [ Tue Jul 29, 2008 2:44 am ]
Post subject: 

A certain small wild cat has just done this...

....okay it's COUGAR!!!!

He was performing some backup and restore testing for me whilst I was waiting for my drive. He has put in the disk we restored to back in and was going to use it as a backup drive.

His words "server shafted"

He even remembers this original post :oops:

hindsight and all that :roll:

Author:  Cougar [ Tue Jul 29, 2008 6:59 am ]
Post subject: 

I've just been an unfortunate victim of this issue. I added a drive to the system yesterday to look at GregH's problem with removing backup drives, and forgot it used to contain a WHS system on it. Server was very hosed this morning, backup service wouldnt start etc etc etc.

However, last week I was testing out an OS drive restore process using NTBACKUP and System State restore, which kind of worked, but didnt like restoring to a different drive. I thought as I had nothing to lose, and didnt fancy a Server Restore, I'd try the NTBACKUP System State restore.

Pleased to say, it worked like a charm (I only performed the system state restore).

Definately worth that extra bit of protection, I backed the OS partition up to the \\HPSERVER\Software share. My theory (and a colleagues) was that whilst we can do a recovery, adding the users etc back was a pain that we could probably get around.

Author:  sygyzy [ Mon Oct 27, 2008 10:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: README if you want to re-use WHS drives!

Can this (replacing the system drive) be done on a system that already has multiple drives in place, all with data on them? In other words, a not-new system.

Author:  yakuza [ Tue Oct 28, 2008 11:17 am ]
Post subject:  Re: README if you want to re-use WHS drives!

sygyzy wrote:
Can this (replacing the system drive) be done on a system that already has multiple drives in place, all with data on them? In other words, a not-new system.


No, this issue has nothing to do with new vs not-new systems. Any attempt to add a system drive to the WHS storage pool will most likely result in a corrupt system. I recommend you delete the partitions on the old system drive prior to adding it to the WHS pool.

Author:  sygyzy [ Tue Oct 28, 2008 12:24 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: README if you want to re-use WHS drives!

yakuza wrote:
sygyzy wrote:
Can this (replacing the system drive) be done on a system that already has multiple drives in place, all with data on them? In other words, a not-new system.


No, this issue has nothing to do with new vs not-new systems. Any attempt to add a system drive to the WHS storage pool will most likely result in a corrupt system. I recommend you delete the partitions on the old system drive prior to adding it to the WHS pool.


Sorry, I didn't make myself clear. I realize the problem with adding system disks. What I was asking is if I am already using my WHS (I have data on drives), and then I decide to replace the system disk with a larger one (using repair? restore?) will the new system (with new upgraded system drive), still function? I assume all tombstones / indexes are gone so it won't recognize the data on the other drives.

Author:  yakuza [ Tue Oct 28, 2008 1:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: README if you want to re-use WHS drives!

Yes, that is called "Server Recovery" and the system will rebuild the tombstones and indexes, you should not lose any data.

Author:  sygyzy [ Tue Oct 28, 2008 6:05 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: README if you want to re-use WHS drives!

yakuza wrote:
Yes, that is called "Server Recovery" and the system will rebuild the tombstones and indexes, you should not lose any data.


If all the indexes and information about the files is stored on the system drive and you completely remove it, what would the system repair it using? Is there "parity" information stored on the other drives? That's amazing

Author:  yakuza [ Wed Oct 29, 2008 1:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: README if you want to re-use WHS drives!

It's a known organization and structure on the other drives plus a file with some metadata, predictable to rebuild.

Author:  JohnBick [ Thu Oct 30, 2008 2:04 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: README if you want to re-use WHS drives!

yakuza wrote:
It's a known organization and structure on the other drives plus a file with some metadata, predictable to rebuild.

(In other words: "magic".)

Author:  SeaRay33 [ Fri Dec 05, 2008 10:21 am ]
Post subject:  Re: README if you want to re-use WHS drives!

yakuza wrote:
If you were a Windows Home Server beta tester or are planning to replace your 500GB system drive with a larger one, there is a critical bit of information for you. Bad things will happen if you try to add a HDD to your system that previously had WHS on it.

1. If you add a "dirty" drive (one that previously had WHS on it) prior to the Out Of Box Experience (OOBE), then during your Client Install you'll be prompted to enter a password, which you have not yet configured. The workaround is to remove the "dirty" drive and re-run the Client Install.

2. If you insert a "dirty" drive into the system and try to add it to the volume, very strange and bad things will occur. Symptoms include red LEDs on the HDD indicators, missing drives listed in the WHS Server Console, and generally your install is just damaged. The only way to resolve this is with a Factory Reset.

3. This situation could also occur if you chose to upgrade your system drive from the default 500GB drive to a larger system drive. If you ran Server Recovery, and then tried to use the old 500GB system drive in another slot on your MediaSmart Server, you would encounter the 2nd failure listed above.

The best way to avoid these failures is by deleting the partitions/formatting those "dirty" drives in another system before trying to use them in your MediaSmart Server.


Alex or others,
Could this also apply to drives that had been used in another WHS computer (home made) but these drives in question were not system drives but rather dirves used for Share Folders?

Author:  JohnBick [ Fri Dec 05, 2008 11:57 am ]
Post subject:  Re: README if you want to re-use WHS drives!

This applies to SYSTEM drives from any WHS system although, as a matter of practice, I generaly "quick format" any drive about to be added to my MSS/WHS.

Author:  SeaRay33 [ Sat Jan 03, 2009 4:24 am ]
Post subject:  Re: README if you want to re-use WHS drives!

JohnBick wrote:
This applies to SYSTEM drives from any WHS system although, as a matter of practice, I generaly "quick format" any drive about to be added to my MSS/WHS.


Thanks John. I have quick formated the drive and replaced it in the MSS.

Author:  RedSun [ Sun Mar 01, 2015 9:46 am ]
Post subject:  Re: README if you want to re-use WHS drives!

This is the benefit of the DE. When you add a new HD pulled from another WHSv1, which is part of the DE, the WHS can get confused since you have two WHSv1 starting drives.

You would not have any problem if the new HD has no volume, or not from another WHSv1.

Author:  TCayer [ Mon Mar 06, 2017 7:20 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: README if you want to re-use WHS drives!

Hi! Maybe I'm on the wrong page, but my server appears to have died after a good run. I've had for more than a decade. I replaced the power supply a couple of years back. Other than adding drives and replacing the system drive, no mods have been made. Here's MY question: Can I get another one that is working, and just plug in all my drives and start up as if nothing happened? Has anyone done this? Any thoughts are appreciated!

Author:  Gardian [ Tue Mar 07, 2017 7:54 am ]
Post subject:  Re: README if you want to re-use WHS drives!

Hello, sorry to hear your having problems after such a long run.
Your post would have been better in the trouble shooting sub-threads areas, depending on what server you have, but I watch for new posts in all the threads and will try to help. The re-use drives was made because once a drive has been (pooled formatted) to try and re-use it somewhere else it has to be re-formatted on a client to wipe all the server formatting off of it. But to your question:

As far as I know the only way to swap drives into a new case and use them is to:
1) Make sure you get the bottom drive in the bottom bay, it is the OS drive.
2) Hopefully you have duplication turned on for your shared folders, it is not on by default.
3) Hopefully you have an (out of the server) backup of the data you can't lose because sometimes things go bad.
4) Lastly you would need to perform a recovery with one of the 3 cd's that came with the system (server recovery disc) and all the drives in place.

That is the only way I know of to swap drives into a new case. Recovery. You could try it (again, mark the bottom drive so it can stay in a bottom bay) but I don't believe it is as plug n play as we would like it to be.

Hope this helps. What server do you have? One of the admins might move you to the correct thread.
Either way, shout back if you need help or are having problems.
Good Luck

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