PC Hard Drive Restore from Windows Home Server to a USB Drive
20. Jan, 2010 | by Timothy Daleo |
18 Comments
What do you do if your PC cannot connect to your network or server during a PC Restore from Windows Home Server? If you have another PC on the network and a USB enclosure you can remove the drive and Restore from outside the PC.
Background
My moms Inspiron 15 was having a conflict with SlingPlayer and simply removing the program did not solve the issue. Her work tech had made some changes and the laptop turned into a brick after Windows started.
I had a clean backup from a few weeks ago and told her I would Restore it last night. My plan was to stop by the parents, start the Restore and go home. I have done this a dozen times. Easy right?
Not tonight.
Video of the Error
Every time I got to the Server connection screen it would NOT find the Server. What’s a boy to do? (insert Google rejected curse word here)
Restore to a USB Drive?
Yes, you can put the existing drive in a USB Enclosure and Restore your PC to that drive. This also means if you want to upgrade your drive for example, you can do it outside your existing system and just swap the drives out when you are done. How cool is that? I love Windows Home Server. Seriously.
Remove Drive
Pull the drive out of the Inspiron 15. Two screws.
Remove the drive from the tray. Two more screws.
Hold drive in hand. Take picture with phone.
Author Info
That’s neat. It reminds me of an article by Drashna http://www.wegotserved.com/2009/11/17/how-to-restore-a-client-computer-without-using-the-client-restore-disk/
he adds a 3-1/2″ drive directly to the server. Your using a USB enclosure, it’s cleaner.
Most likely the network drivers are not on the restore disk. I would use the x files restore disk.
I had the Dell drivers on a separate USB stick and they WERE found during the configure process. In the video it shows the Marvell and WLAN drivers as installed. I was also checking my router during this Restore and the Inspiron 15 did not connect so I knew it was an issue with the laptop itself and NOT the network. Since I had no other alternative I HAD to do a USB type Restore.
The other laptop (older XP) on the network was the one I used for the USB Restore.
I will have another article out soon on possible solutions for the network driver issue.
Stay tuned.
HI Timothy,
Much like Diehard pointed out there is a simpler, to me, way to do this kind of restore. I do it directly in Windows on my client so there is no need to boot from the USB flash drive and run the restore that way. Just run Client Restore Wizard in C:\Program Files\Windows Home Server and you can restore the drive right inside of your Windows client.
fasthair
The PC was a brick so I was out of luck. I did try it last night on my test machine and it saved a lot of steps. I plan on upgrading the drive soon so I will document the times. I can see the set up was faster but was the Restore?
Timothy,
The Restore in this fashion using a USB drive will always be kind of slow because of the slow USB speeds. If you can hook the drive direct to the SATA port on the mother board it will go much fast. This is of course provided you are not connected wirelessly to your WHS which will also make it slow but not any slower than if you booted off the Restore CD/USB disk/stick. The external USB drive is a slick way to do this kind of restore though because you don’t have to open up the client machine.
Just thought of something. A eSTAT external drive and port on the PC would be the really trick fast way to do this kind of restore. Wonder if they make your extrenal encloser with a eSATA connection? Hum, off to Newegg to find out.
But let’s face it either way, direct to the mother board or via external USB drive, is still faster than a fresh install and all of the headaches that includes. Yup, WHS still kicks ass! Seriously
fasthair
If I was at home I would have been able to do it faster. Since it was a laptop drive, and remote site, the USB was the easiest.
If it was a 3.5″ drive I could just insert it into my test case 5.25 SATA bay adapter and run it from there.
I was at Frys last weekend and bought this model:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371028&cm_re=5.25_sata-_-17-371-028-_-Product
It is cool and I will have a quickie write up on it. I am also going to get the 2.5″ version next paycheck. Of course these only work when I can do the Restore and images at home.
Tim
Just went looking at the ‘Egg and found this which does both 2.5 & 3.5 drives.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817801059
Of course it requires that you have an external eSATA port on your PC (I do). I’ve also got something very similar to your removable drive bay. Mine is a 3×2 3.5″ drive model where I put three 3.5″ hdd in the space of 2×5.25″ drive slots and is hot swappable too.
The above product would make for nice mobile unit if your laptop has an eSATA port. If not just buy a PCM/CIA eSATA card for the laptop and you have it whipped.
Good post Timothy! It led to lots of creative ideas and ways to do this kind of restore.
fasthair
If we did this for a living I am sure we would have all sorts of mobile gadgetry. I think most of what I have is bolted to a bench or stand!
I am glad you like the posts.
Now if I just had the money to buy an old ambulance and convert it to a mobile PC repair WHS rig…
Dude, have you done the Restore from the C:\Program Files\Windows Home Server on your own machine? Did it need additional steps? There was just a new post saying that the Win7 installation DVD was required along with multiple restarts. The process I listed with the USB maybe slower but seems less complicated, does not require the Win7 DVD and did not require any restarts.
Let me know.
We may have to do some additional testing!
http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/whssoftware/thread/95e9f037-d21e-4027-a217-9c15cda3644e
Here is a thread I started at MS WHS forums when I did my first test restore using this method. Windows 7 takes this extra step and because of it makes a bit of a pain. Because of that pesky little 100MB partition 7 makes and the fact you can’t choose where to put it really screws it up. Note I haven’t tried the fix in that post yet.
My first attempt at this I just let the Restore do its thing for this 100MB partition. Result = Messed up my main desktop and got the BOOTMGR error. Booting off the Win 7 install disc fixed it up. Second attempt I didn’t let the Restore install the 100MB partition and again when I went to boot off of the restored drive got the BOOTMGR error. Mind you both attempts was on a spare drive I had and I was Restoring an image from a different machine. But in any case all it took was booting off of the Win7 DVD again to fix the problem and then it booted and the Restore was fine.
So in short every time I did this kind of Restore of a Win 7 PC using a Win 7 PC the 100MB partition got screwed up. However in all cases all it took to fix it was booting off the Win 7 DVD and let it repair the boot partition to get the machine up and running. The only time I have run into the multi-reboots is when I was using a different image of a Win 7 install other than the one that was made for machine I was using.
fasthair
I think I am just going to to stick with the CD Restore for now. I mean either way you still have to insert a CD, right?
Tim
I just happen to think of something Timothy. Your mom’s PC wasn’t a Windows 7 machine was it? The reason I say that is because even if you do boot from the Restore disc with a Windows 7 PC you would have got this BOOTMGR error. How do I know? Because I’ve done this Restore booting from USB Restore drive from a Windows 7 machine and every time still had the BOOTMGR error. The reason is you cannot pick what drive to point that pesky 100MB partition to what drive you want it on. WHS doesn’t give you the option of where to point it. Windows 7 is the only OS that has this 100MB partition. Otherwise this type of restore is a no brainer for XP or Vista.
Now I’m going to have to try that work around in that MS WHS forum post.
fasthair
Her Inspiron 15 is a 64-bit Win7 machine. When I ran the PP3 Restore disk everything worked fine until I tried to connect to the server. Server not found. Since the drivers loaded (and showed) but the machine was not connected the network router I assumed it was an issue with the laptop (or Dell settings) and pulled the drive.
I then put the laptop drive in the USB and connected it to a D610 Dell XP (already on the network) on a dock hardwired. I booted from the CD and the process worked fine. Since the Inspiron was a brick I had no other option at that time.
The current question is whether I need to Restore from the CD image (which worked fine but a little slow) or if I could just Restore to USB from the Restore exe file on the D610.
I am giving myself a headache.
And now you are making my head hurt too…crap. That’s what I get for ASSuming!!! Now I’m really cornfused!!! Time for some more testing (read playing) and see if I can get to the bottom of this. I think I see already what’s going on. Ugh… this means I’m going to have to load XP om some drive for testing. Damn.
None the less this all started with the fact you couldn’t get the CORRECT drivers loaded for the Restore to work like it is designed to. This NIC drivers issue has to be the biggest bone with the otherwise great WHS.
As Mr. Baker said Drashna’s X:files works very well and MIGHT (most likely) have loaded the correct drivers for the NIC. I’ll bet you first round that if you could find Vista 32bit drivers for that NIC the Restore would have worked like it is suppose to. And they wonder why we drink
fasthair
I think it may be an issue with 32-bit CD vs. 64-bit PC. Will forward an article I have in draft so you can check it out.
Check your email in a few.