Confusion Reigns Over Fujitsu-Siemens SCALEO Server Restore

What happened during the actual Server Repair ?

The recovery program deletes BOTH the system partition (C:\) AND the data partition (D:\) of the primary disk, and rebuilds them from the ground up. In normal circumstances the recovery program does NOT touch the files stored on all the other disks in the server (which are not assigned drive letters, as per WHS’s disk management system). This course of events is confirmed by a Fujitsu employee on the official support forum in this post (in German). I have no idea of the exact scope of “in normal circumstances” (German “i.d.R.” or “in der Regel”). But I would suspect a different course of events (i.e. choosing “Home Server Repair” but ending up with ALL disks being wiped) is very rare, otherwise you would find much more complaints about this on Scaleo-related websites (including this one).

What are the implications for the data on the server ?

1. You lose all files that are stored on the D-partition AND belong to a share that has not been duplicated. If you have several disks and given WHS’s default behaviour, most users will not lose much files because of this. But some users will, especially if all their data disks are nearly full and they have duplication turned off.

2. WHS has to rebuild the D-partition, including all the tombstones, based on a systematic scan of the files in the data disks. This happens during the “Recovering your data” phase of the WHS Setup, which may take several hours because of this (in my case it took almost 4 hours).

3. Because the D-partition is rebuilt, some “minor” user data is lost in the server repair. In particular:

• a. Original folder “date created” and “date modified” values are replaced by the date of the server repair.
• b. Empty files and folders are lost, because they only exist in the folder structure on the D-partition (i.e. there is no actual data stored on one of the data disks).

4. Some other data may be present on the D-partition, and therefore get lost in the server repair. In particular:

• a. Some add-ins (e.g. WHS Disk Management) store their settings on the D-partition, so they can survive a re-installation of the system partition. Obviously this doesn’t happen in Fujitsu’s implementation, and those settings are lost.
• b. The backups of the client PC’s may also be stored on the D-partition. In a standard multi-disk setup, the PC Backup database is stored on a data disk, not on the D-partition. However, there may be some exceptions to this situation, so I’m not 100% sure. Obviously, if you have somehow turned on duplication of the PC Backup database, this should not be an issue.

So, did Fujitsu’s warning make sense after all ?

Let’s look back at the warning FSC’s Server Recovery program gives in step 4. This warning may be correct or incorrect depending on the situation. Let me explain that: if a user has only a single disk in his/her Scaleo, wiping the D-partition obviously means that all data stored on the server will be lost. On the other hand, if a user has a multi-disk system with all folders duplicated, he/she shouldn’t lose any data at all, except for the “minor” data outlined above. And in other configurations, a user may lose anything between 1 and 99% of files (i.e. the percentage of unduplicated files stored on the D-partition). The very least we can say is that “this process will result in all data saved on your Home Server being lost” is highly inaccurate, and as an unqualified blanket statement, it is simply wrong.

What has Fujitsu done about this problem ?

Fujitsu has since realized their existing recovery process is flawed (again, see this post), and has revised their Server Recovery CD to include a re-installation option that only wipes the system partition (which is the option most users would prefer, as this scenario preserves the D-partition, such that truly no data is lost). The options on this new CD are illustrated here:

(image courtesy of home-server-blog.de, for more screenshots see this blog post)

I am led to believe that this this is the CD that is supplied with newer Scaleo-models (2105, 2205, etc.), although it would be nice if someone could confirm this. Unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, Fujitsu has not published an updated CD for the older Scaleo’s (1500, 1900). I’m also not sure a new CD would work with an older Scaleo,as this would depend on whether the new routine is compatible with the emergency OS that runs on the recovery DOM-module inside the Scaleo.

What is the bottom line for users of Scaleo 1500 and 1900 ?

1. If WHS is still functioning but you want / need to do a Server Repair, first make sure you have a backup of your important files on an external device (USB-hard disk, another NAS, the cloud, …). In addition to (but NOT in lieu of) an external backup, duplicate as many shares as possible (and/or the PC Backup database). Perform the Server Repair, ignore the warning and let WHS rebuild the D-partition. In a most standard usage scenarios, you should not have lost any physical files, but you may suffer some “minor” data loss as described above. You may want to do a “restoration” from your external backup if you want to restore missing empty files/folders (this shouldn’t take very long, as there is virtually no data transfer) and/or if you are missing physical files (may take longer, depending on the amount of data to be transferred).

2. If you need to do a Server Repair because WHS is no longer functioning (e.g. because WHS has lost network connectivity), grab your latest external backup. [ If you don’t have one and if you suspect there may be important unduplicated data on the D-partition, pull out your WHS system disk. Using another computer, make a backup of the D-partition. If you are not thoroughly familiar with WHS’s Drive Extender technology, please read up on it first (including Microsoft's own "Technical Brief for Windows Home Server Drive Extender"), otherwise you risk backing up the wrong data. ]

If you are confident my write-up is correct (look at the comments below for confirmation from other users) AND you understand the consequences for your data, proceed as in 1, i.e. perform the Server Repair, ignore the warning, let WHS rebuild the D-partition, etc. If you don’t have that confidence, you’ll need to pull out all your data disks and you’re in for a much more tedious data restoration process that goes beyond the intended scope of this thread.

3. As stated many times before on WGS and other sites: don’t store important data on any device (including a Windows Home Server) without making regular backups on a different (type of) device. WHS’s duplication feature is great for protection against a HDD crashing, but is absolutely irrelevant regarding situations were you get locked out of WHS altogether. Don’t rely blindly on any hard- or software to keep your data safe, as there might be flaws in any of them.

4. Be strong. Conquer your fear. Laugh Fujitsu’s recovery program in the face when it warns it will kill all your data. Don’t let them get to you. You like to live dangerously, anyway.

One final piece of information: my experience and my own screenshots are from a Scaleo 1900 I ordered in August of 2008. The Scaleo Server Recovery CD carries the following version number: < FSP: 550001103 >. I can’t exclude the possibility that some Scaleo 1500 or 1900′s were delivered with different CD versions, which might qualify some of what I have written.

Discuss: WGS Forums