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Problem restoring Win Server 2008
Hello all,
I'm having trouble of restoring win server 2008, can anyone help me.
First of all, i got the Power Edge 2900 running raid 1 with 3 disk. Power outage happened, and 2 disks are gone -slot0 and slot1 (both flash yellow led), and controller shows lost configuration, no VD configuration found.
Then I changed the survive disk(slot2) to slot0, plugin into slot1 a new disk, clear foreign, create new raid 1 (no init) and let the background init running. After 12 hours, all shows online, no error, but server stop at "strike f1 to continue, f2 to...", it wont boot into windows.
I got the full server backup image, so i removed both disk, install 2 new disk, create new raid, fast init, trying to do a full system restore using a boot USB created by rufus (newest version). When it came to the selection "choose system image to restore", i got the msg: "To restore this computer Windows needs to format the drive that the Windows Recovery environment is currently running on"
What i used to restore: usb boot, an external hdd with the windows image.
What i tried:
- Using diskpart to format the drive, same error
- Using format utilizi from the installation itself, same
- Install new win 2008 and try restore from the boot USB again, same
- Creating new System recovery USB by Windows 7 USB/DVD download tool but got the error: not compatible USB to select. Tried steps in this guide but not work: https://www.rodneybeede.com/computer%20problems/windows_7_usb_and_no_compatible_usb_devices_detected.html
I'm almost as dead end, any advice would be very appreciated, thank you.
I just need a way to get the pc on again, it is a DC, either by system restore, or by rebuilding the raid, still have 1 disk working the in the old raid (slot2 as described) left intact.
Hoang Pham
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April 28th, 2022 02:00
I managed to get the server back by restoring from my image using DVD. Tried alot of way using USB boot but jumped into errors after errors.
So for anyone jumps into my situation, this is what I do:
- Create CD boot from your windows version iso. Always keep a version of CD boot by your side.
- Remove all USB from your server, only plug-in your external hdd containing the image after your setup shows "found no image to restore"
Just like that and continue with normal restoring process, took me whole 2 days.
DELL-Chris H
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April 27th, 2022 09:00
Hoang Pham,
At this point you may want to consider a 3rd party data recover company, as the Virtual Disk is likely corrupted now. What you would have wanted to do previously, in this instance, is that when you saw the VD config gone you should have immediately tried to import the foreign configuration, if that didn't allow it to boot then you would have then needed to delete and recreate the Virtual Disk, (without init, as you stated) and then see if you could boot.
The reason I am thinking it is corrupted is that you moved the location of drive 2, to the location on drive 0, and then recreated. Meaning that the parity is out of location for where it thinks it is in the VD.
So I think the best chance at saving the data is through data recovery, as anything we do can destroy the data.
Let me know if this helps.
Hoang Pham
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April 27th, 2022 10:00
Hello Chris,
"when you saw the VD config gone you should have immediately tried to import the foreign configuration": because i got 2 new disk, so i think i should keep the slot, put 2 disk in and clear foreign? why import? Just asking this for future used.
And in my current case, can you suggest any good 3rd party company, im in Cali, USA.
And what about restoring from system image not working, do you have any advice on creating recovery usb to make it work?
DELL-Chris H
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April 27th, 2022 11:00
You would look at the foreign first, as those 2 drives may not have been failed physically.
If you have a foreign on the virtual disk, and it is not able to boot, normally you would import the foreign. If you had a foreign configuration and the VD was able to boot, then you would want to clear the foreign.
Hoang Pham
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April 27th, 2022 19:00
Chris,
Lets say i want to try recovering from 2 failed disks, what process should i follow?
Plugin all 3 disk as before, then try consistency check? or just 2 failed disk?
I wanna try even there is just a small chance, pls show me what is the best way to go.
DELL-Joey C
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April 27th, 2022 23:00
Hi @Hoang Pham,
I read from the previous post you wrote, you said you are running on RAID1 with 3 disk. Can you confirm 3 or 2 disk are involved? Usually RAID1 only required 2 disk, RAID5 require 3 disk configuration. Can you confirm this?
It is not recommended to try any other methods, as it may cause permanent data lost. As Chris said, it would be better to seek help from 3rd party data recovery vendor around your region.
Hoang Pham
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April 28th, 2022 02:00
Joey,
It is raid 1 with hotspare.
I managed to restore the server with new raid 1 - 2 drives (post updated below), should i insert 1 more disk and configure hotspare as before?