WHS readding data drives after failed upgrade

[Snooper]

What a pain...

Short summary: I setup a WHS server using the trial software and four disks:
disk0: 1T disk: 20GB system and remaining DATA
disk1: 1T disk: DATA
disk2: 250GB disk: backup one
disk3: 250GB disk: backup two

During the upgrade from trial to OEM, the system hung after it had deleted the original installation, so I was not able to use the "reinstall" option during subsequent attempts at the upgrade. 6 slipstreamed DVDs later, I was FINALLY able to get the OEM version of WHS installed (I had to disconnect the other three drives during the installation, even though it was trying to install on the correct disk).

After getting WHS installed, DATA on disk0 is gone (as would be expected by the full format WHS did during the installation). The data on disk1/2/3 is all good. Of course, WHS has no clue the data is there as I have not added those disks to WHS via the console.

Anyway, here is the question: now that I have finally got WHS back up and running on one disk (1T), if I add the second 1T data disk to it through the WHS console, will it find the tombstones know where the existing data belongs, will it just ignore the existing data, or will it wipe the disk?

Probably my safest best would be to copy the data back to disk0 and into the correct folders than add the disks back and set it up for duplication and backup like I had it before.

Any thoughts?

 

[heymrdj]

From my knowledge, the tombstones are on the system disk, which is why MS says use your largest disk as the system disk. I don't think it can know where your files are and you'll have to reintegrate everything.

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: Snooper
Anyway, here is the question: now that I have finally got WHS back up and running on one disk (1T), if I add the second 1T data disk to it through the WHS console, will it find the tombstones know where the existing data belongs, will it just ignore the existing data, or will it wipe the disk?

Probably my safest best would be to copy the data back to disk0 and into the correct folders than add the disks back and set it up for duplication and backup like I had it before.

Any thoughts?

Server Reinstallation should still be an option. The only difference between it and a "clean" install is that the Reinstallation option looks at the other disks and scans them to rebuild the shares and tombstones rather than wiping them clean. You should not have had to use a clean installation.

If you must continue as you have, then you have pointed out how to do it. Get the files off the drive then add it to the pool. Drives added to the pool are always wiped.

 

[Snooper]

ViRGE,

When I was doing the "other" reinstallations (including the final and successful one!), it did not give me the option of doing a reinstallation, only a new installation. Of course, the last one was only sucessful because I unplugged the other three drives before I started it, so WHS couldn't have scanned those disks if it wanted to.

Oh well. The copy method worked and the second data disk has been added to the installation.

One curious note: Both of the 250GB backup disks WHERE eventually added to the system in the WHS console automatically. Of course, it still doesn't have a clue about the backups that are on the disks, but at least it did find the disks.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: Snooper
When I was doing the "other" reinstallations (including the final and successful one!), it did not give me the option of doing a reinstallation, only a new installation.

This can be caused by not having the original "System" disk as the FIRST bootable hard drive in your system. WHS' Install routine is "dumb" in this respect. If it doesn't see a WHS System disk on the FIRST hard drive listed in the BIOS boot order, it stops looking and only offers a "New" install of WHS.

Note that WHS will FUNCTION fine when the System disk isn't the first one in the Boot list. That's because the BIOS doesn't find any bootable partitions on the other disks, so it keeps looking until it gets to your System disk.

So, be sure to change the order of the boot list before trying to do a Re-Installation of WHS on top of an old WHS install.

 

[Raduque]

Are you sure it actually froze the first time you did "Reinstallation"? I've read that it does take a VERY long time to re-integrate the filesystem and build new tombstones and can appear to be frozen.

As for adding the existing drives into the new install, it's going to format them. You'll need to backup the data on the drives, add them to the storage pool, and then re-copy your data back over.