Full Disk Backup
Abigail Tyrie
Hi @Neil Cooper I have a few questions. Are these media agents physical or virtual? Would you be able to get one VM using the stable vmtools version (please make sure you are not using version 11269 issue reported here ( -Tools/11.0/rn/VMware-Tools-1105-Release-Notes.html)
Hi Neil,
Have you checked that Automount is disabled and the SAN policy is OfflineShared on the affected Media Agents?
Is there any AV on the Media Agents that could be scanning the attached disks or interfering with the CV Processes?
As I navigate down the internet researching this issue I sure see some other very similar cases. So what I`m about to share it may (not) be totally connected to your issue, so take all of this with some grain of salt.
So again, Im not an expert in Dell Compellent, but after reading some of these docs I do wonder if you have the software configured with the VSS on your media agents. Would you be able to review the links and confirm here?
This is an old document from Dell on their - CommVault Simpana 10 Best Practices for the Dell Compellent Storage Center and though the articles in my previous post do mention the requirement Compellent Replay Manager Service on Hyper-V - it raises the question as to whether or not you have Dell Compellent Software Replay or any other software that may be interfering with the way Intellisnap works when it takes the snaps and mounts on your Media Agent during an snapmount.
In any case, if you do have it installed, check out the version as some older versions may not support integrate well (or integrate at all) with Commvault. From what I could find, it seems version 8.0.1 is the latest.
If you do have replay manager, make sure to be using the latest version as it fixes issues with the VSS Provider, if you have the latest version and still does not work, try removing it completely and retry the operation.
Hi, to me the fact that you see multiple LUNs and dead paths has a lot to do with the MPIO software and the Dell Compellent Software I mentioned above. Check it out and let us know when you have a chance. Enjoy your weekend.
I`m quite unsure as to what your thought process is here or even at what your questions are. Previously shared some links that points to best practices as well as a software for the Media Agents, did you have a chance to look at that?
And is something to consider, when i work with Windows and Linux (Dual-Boot on Disk1) and want to make backups - sometimes from Windows and sometimes from Linux? (Both times the same directories from the second hard drive to the same repo.)
An old saying in IT goes like this: \"You never realize how important backups are until you need one and don't have it.\" Unfortunately, this is true even today. While consumers are more tech-savvy than ever, many computer users still neglect to create copies of their hard drives to protect their data from potentially permanent loss.
Backups have a reputation for being\ncumbersome to create, maintain and manage, sometimes resulting in users\nneglecting to perform them. While backups can be tedious without the right\ntools, modern hard disk backup software and methods make the process much\neasier and faster. This article will discuss how to back up a computer and perform a hard disk recovery if your data is ever lost.
As mentioned above, a backup is a\ncopy of data created from a computer or device. Nonetheless, a backup is just a\ncopy of data at a particular point in time. A backup must be repeated or\nrecreated to preserve or record any changes to the data since the last copy was\nmade. While many backups are automated processes that create copies of existing\ndata on your hard disk, even automation requires effective scheduling to keep\nsaved or backed-up data current. If a manual or scheduled backup is not run,\nnew or changed files are not saved or archived to external storage.
There are many ways to approach hard\ndisk backup. For instance, you can copy data from one drive to another, which\nwould be considered a backup for all intents and purposes. Likewise, you can\nstore a copy of your data online or in the cloud, which is also a type of\nbackup. Finally, if you save important files to a USB drive or an external hard drive, that would also be a backup,\nalthough the backup process for USB drives grants limited results.
It's common knowledge that hard disk\nbackup is important for protecting valuable data and files stored on the\nmachine. Yet, countless people still fail to realize just how important it is\nto keep good backups and why. Thus, it's important to understand why backups\nare crucial.
In many computers, the hard disk is\nthe only mechanical device in the entire system (traditional hard drives have\nmotors and platters). And just like any other mechanical device, a hard disk\nwill fail eventually. Even if you've never experienced a hard disk crash,\nchances are you know someone who has.
If your hard drive fails, there is a\nchance that you can recover your data. Depending on the type of drive problem\n(such as a drive failure or deleted partitions), you may be able to use hard drive recovery tools and software or enlist a data recovery service. It's\nimportant to note that good hard disk recovery software is not cheap, and a\nrecovery service can cost you hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars. A\nreliable hard disk backup could save you considerably if your drive does fail.
To avoid a costly hard drive\nrecovery, you can back data to an external hard drive. Even if that sounds like\na simple backup task, there are some guidelines to follow and ensure a healthy\nbackup scheme.
If you want to create a full backup rather than a partial disk image, you'd go for a \"system\nimage\". This backup scheme will comprise your entire Windows system -\nfiles, folders, operating system settings, and more.
You can also wait for the automatic backup to kick in. This will be every hour for the last 24 hours, with daily\nbackups for the past month and weekly copies for previous months. Once the\nstorage space is full, Time Machine will delete the oldest data copies.
However, you may wonder what files\non your computer hard drive you need to back up. In a perfect world, you would\nback up everything on your PC whenever you create a new file or change your\ndata. In most cases, though, this is neither practical nor necessary.
In some cases, creating complete\nsystem backups of your computer's hard disk may not be practical or even\nfeasible. If you have limited space for your backups, or need to store data\ncopies online with a slow internet connection, creating complete system backups\nmay not be convenient or possible. When full-system is not an option, regularly\ncreating an incremental backup of important files and folders is wise. If you\nget in the habit of saving important data files in a few select folders,\ncreating quick backups of your essential data should be relatively quick and\npainless. When determining which files to back up, select crucial documents,\nphotos, or any other files that would be difficult or impossible to reproduce\nor replace.
When creating a hard disk backup, a\nquick Google search will reveal that you have countless options and\npossibilities for applications, platforms, and storage media. However, not all\nbackups are created equal, and some are definitely easier to work with than\nothers. To help you understand some of the options you have, let's cover a few\nof the most popular hard drive backup methods.
One of the easiest and quickest ways\nto protect your data is to back it up to another hard disk. If you have\nmultiple drives in or attached to your system, you can back up data to a\nsecondary drive, a USB flash, or external drives or even to a drive in a PC\nconnected to the same network. Depending on the type of local drive you use,\nthe steps used to back up the device may vary. But local hard disk backup\nusually requires little more than moving files from your primary drive to a\nbackup hard drive or a recovery partition.
Creating a local hard disk backup is\nvery convenient because you always have backup data nearby and can restore it\nanytime, quickly and easily. A problem with local backups is that backup data\ncan be lost if a disaster, theft, or other event renders the local backup drive\ninaccessible.
Although not used as commonly as\nexternal hard drives or cloud backups, disk cloning is another effective method\nof ensuring you always have access to the data on your hard drive. A clone hard drive is essentially a second drive\nthat contains an exact mirror disk image of the original (or source) drive.\nYears ago, disk image cloning was only possible using expensive hard drive\nduplicators. However, in recent years, leading backup software companies like\nAcronis have developed desktop cloning software that makes creating exact\nduplicates of the system drive (or other local drives) as easy as a few mouse\nclicks. With Acronis True Image, you can create a mirror-image copy of any hard drive. With partitioning backup software such as Acronis Disk Director,\nor Windows Disk Management, you can even create a clone partition on the same\nhard drive (as long as you use two different drive letters and volumes).
With many backup options and choices\navailable, you may wonder which one is right for you. The truth is that you\nshould never settle on just one type of backup. An excellent backup approach\nshould include multiple backup options and storage locations. At Acronis, we\nrefer to this wise, efficient backup method as the 3-2-1 rule. The 3-2-1 rule\nstates that you should:
With some backup software,\nconfiguring, running, and managing backups can be tedious and time-consuming.\nBut with Acronis True Image, creating a backup couldn't be\neasier. Check out the quick tutorial below to see how easy it is to create a\nbackup using our backup software.
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