Comments on: Add-In Review: WHS BDBB

By: Jacob Weltz

Jacob Weltz — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 18:25:04 +0000

it support and services – there are a lot of good companies out there, you just have to shop around

By: JohnnyD

JohnnyD — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 00:54:54 +0000

Alex Kuretz told us that in the case of a server reinstall with WHS Backup Database loss, one can manually restore the manually created backup of the WHS Backup Database.

What if one has only enabled "duplication For WHS Backups"? How does the just re-installed WHS behave in that case?

By: RMCYPRESS

RMCYPRESS — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 18:05:44 +0000

I was wondering, can the Backup database be restored to a different home server? I originally purchased an EX475 when they came out, and have recently gotten a great deal on an EX485 that I plan to replace the old with. I'd like to migrate everything to the new server so that I don't miss a beat during the migration.

By: Hands On: ioSafe Solo External Hard Drive with Disaster Protection | We Got Served

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 06:15:09 +0000

[...] not an automated backup. You do have to remember to perform this function. Please refer to my review of this add-in on how to setup and [...]

By: Alex Kuretz

Alex Kuretz — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 06:15:11 +0000

Hi David,

Interesting, I’m not sure what would have caused the Console to close, perhaps did your Client go to sleep? That should not have mattered, though, as the Console is an RDP process running on the server and displayed on the client.

You should see any log entries in the Application Event Viewer.

Thanks,
Alex

By: DK

DK — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 19:13:17 +0000

My problem is that I opened the WHS Console on one machine – started WHSDBB and left it running, locked my screen and went out.

On my return, the Console had closed (seems maybe to have a timer?) – said that it had lost network connection – don’t know why. I opened the Console again and the Backup service was down and the external USB disk seemed to have only half the expected data.

So:
1. Is there a log of what it did, whether it was successful, any errors etc.?
2. Is it OK to use the console from a guest or must one use a Remote Desktop Connection to connect that will not time out?
3. I would like incrementaks as well please.

David

By: Backing Up the Windows Home Server Backup Database and Files | We Got Served

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 12:25:53 +0000

[...] has a solution to back up your Shares folder. Alex Kuretz created a WHS add-in to backup your WHS backup database. Nicky Murphy has created an automated method to backup both [...]

By: Jim Clark

Jim Clark — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 13:52:19 +0000

@Alex Kuretz – That is excellent news to hear that. One of the questions I have regarding backing up the backups (not just with your program) is how does one recover them when the worst happens.

Good to know that BDBB automatically finds the database on a reinstall.

By: Alex Kuretz

Alex Kuretz — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 03:41:49 +0000

Hi Jim, thanks for the review and suggestions for improvements. I’d like to address the topic of a full restore of the WHS DB in the scenario you describe. Suppose you lose your system drive, replace it with a new one, and run the Server Recovery process. All your data was preserved in duplicated shares, but your WHS Backup DB was lost. In this case, all you have to do is install WHS BDBB and connect your drive that contains the BDBB backup and it will appear in the list of available backups. Select the backup you wish to restore, and click “Restore”. Wait a while, and your brand new empty backup DB will be replaced by your backup DB from prior to the loss of your system drive. Note that this will delete the new, empty DB.

fredrik, my Add-In does exactly what it says it does – automate the manual steps documented by Microsoft to back up the Client backup DB. I suppose if you sit at your WHS Console and constantly fiddle with it, then yes, copying the entire DB would be a waste of time. Most users I’ve heard simply fire off a backup and go to bed or to work and leave BDBB to do it’s thing. Are you able to definitively state that only a small set of the 4GB files used to store the backup DB change whenever a new backup or cleanup occurs, to warrant an incremental file copy process? I haven’t watched them closely enough to know for sure.

I welcome all feedback and suggestions, and will consider them for a future release. Thanks for the review!
Alex

By: GaryLW

GaryLW — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 03:50:07 +0000

@GaryLW - Oh, I forgot. By just clicking the first checkbox in the settings it does it all automatically with NO intervention. The duplicate backup database is always up-to-date.

By: GaryLW

GaryLW — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 03:48:10 +0000

WHS doesn’t do the old full/incremental backups that everyone is used to. The new system is cluster backups that only copy the changed clusters. It also combines ALL the client backups into one database. This means that ALL the files are mixed together and NO duplicates are needed for any file. This keeps the database small. So, by duplicating the WHS daily backups, this add-in does indeed do an “incremental” backup in the same way that WHS does. And it can save the backup to an outside disk for off-site safety storage. All your client PCs save and secure.

By: Jim Clark

Jim Clark — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 19:54:59 +0000

A feature enhancement request, then! And that is a good request/needed enhancement.