Automating Image Backups of Windows Boot Devices

W

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Oct 28, 2009, 5:05:52 AM10/28/09

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Is there any Windows backup software that will boot a server on a schedule,
and then take control *before Windows boots* to make an image backup of the
boot device, prior to handing off control to Windows? We want to bypass
any possibility of a file being locked during use while Windows is booted.

--
W

Maxim S. Shatskih

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Oct 28, 2009, 6:47:14 PM10/28/09

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All modern and decent Windows backup software products use snapshots and thus are free from issues with locked files.

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Maxim S. Shatskih
Windows DDK MVP
ma...@storagecraft.com
http://www.storagecraft.com

"W" <persis...@spamarrest.com> wrote in message news:mo6dnaHiXZDrlHXX...@giganews.com...

robert...@yahoo.com

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Oct 28, 2009, 6:48:24 PM10/28/09

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If you can automate the reboot (presumably with shutdown), you should
be able to boot to an alternate partition. You'll need to install an
appropriate OS in the alternate partition, and one of the many boot
loaders. You can even do it with diskpart (IOW, reassign which
partition is active), but that's a bit manual.

One the alternate partition is booted, you should be able to image
backup the WS partition without trouble.

W

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Oct 28, 2009, 10:57:32 PM10/28/09

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"Maxim S. Shatskih" <ma...@storagecraft.com.no.spam> wrote in message
news:hcahln$141p$1...@news.mtu.ru...

All modern and decent Windows backup software products use snapshots and
thus are free from issues with locked files.

When you restore registry files to a boot Windows system, or try to restore
a database file to a working database, you inevitably do run into those
issues. Yes, there are APIs that can be used to take safe snapshots, but
inevitably there are some things on a drive that don't get backed up
correctly.

Booting from a separate OS and imaging the disk is 99.99% reliable and you
never run into those kinds of issues.

--
W

W

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Oct 28, 2009, 10:58:35 PM10/28/09

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Installing and maintaning a new OS for every computer you want to backup is
a lot of extra work.

We typically have been booting from a bootable CD to do image backups, and
were were just hoping to better automate the whole process.

--
W

<robert...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
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robert...@yahoo.com

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Oct 29, 2009, 1:24:30 AM10/29/09

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On Oct 28, 9:58 pm, "W" <persistent...@spamarrest.com> wrote:
> Installing and maintaning a new OS for every computer you want to backup is
> a lot of extra work.
>
> We typically have been booting from a bootable CD to do image backups, and
> were were just hoping to better automate the whole process.

Please don't top-post.

You could install whatever's on the bootable CD onto the "backup OS"
partition.

Maxim S. Shatskih

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Oct 29, 2009, 11:20:46 AM10/29/09

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> issues. Yes, there are APIs that can be used to take safe snapshots, but
> inevitably there are some things on a drive that don't get backed up
> correctly.

Not in my experience. OS itself, NTDS, Ex's EDB databases - all is fine if using VSS even under heavy load.

I routinely "reinstall" Windows by restoring the image backup, Windows - with its registry - works fine after it.

> Booting from a separate OS and imaging the disk is 99.99% reliable and you

Do you know that with modern (Vista+) OS you will _nearly inevitably_ have some exclusively locked files, even on volumes other them SystemRoot. The VolSnap.sys driver opens some files in the \System Volume Information\{guid} directory immediately at volume mount and hold them open forever.

W

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Oct 30, 2009, 1:26:26 AM10/30/09

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"Maxim S. Shatskih" <ma...@storagecraft.com.no.spam> wrote in message

news:hccbsh$1s7q$1...@news.mtu.ru...

<Do you know that with modern (Vista+) OS you will _nearly inevitably_ have
some exclusively locked files, even on volumes other <them SystemRoot. The
VolSnap.sys driver opens some files in the \System Volume Information\{guid}
directory immediately at <volume mount and hold them open forever.

That's exactly why we like to boot from a different partition (or boot CD)
so that *no files* on the target partition are locked.

--
W

Maxim S. Shatskih

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Oct 30, 2009, 6:32:28 AM10/30/09

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> <Do you know that with modern (Vista+) OS you will _nearly inevitably_ have
> some exclusively locked files, even on volumes other <them SystemRoot. The
> VolSnap.sys driver opens some files in the \System Volume Information\{guid}
> directory immediately at <volume mount and hold them open forever.
>
> That's exactly why we like to boot from a different partition (or boot CD)
> so that *no files* on the target partition are locked.

Note the above: "even on volumes other then SystemRoot". Separate partition will not solve all your problems.

With modern Windows, snapshots (i.e. VSS) are the _only reliable_ mean of backup. And, with VSS, no need to reboot the server, causing downtime.

There are products like ShadowProtect IT Edition which even do not require _installation_ on the server, not to say reboot. You insert the CD, you ensure that the backup storage is connected and OK, and you run an app off the CD which does not require installation. Done.

There are several such products on the market, all working without a downtime to the server.