How do you recommended to carry out a hard disk upgrade? Having failed
to use a cloning tool to copy the drive, I am now considering using
software mirroring to duplicate the OS on to the new disk, then removing
the old disk from the mirror and extending the partition.

Because software mirroring actually changes the partition, I'd recommend
against this process. If something goes wrong then moving back could be
very cumbersome.

What cloning tool did you try and how did it fail? That would still be the
best approach if we can find the problem.

-Cliff


"Neil Rashbrook" <neil@newsgroup> wrote in message
news:elVADez#KHA.5476@newsgroup

> How do you recommended to carry out a hard disk upgrade? Having failed to
> use a cloning tool to copy the drive, I am now considering using software
> mirroring to duplicate the OS on to the new disk, then removing the old
> disk from the mirror and extending the partition.

Cliff Galiher - MVP wrote:

> What cloning tool did you try and how did it fail? That would still
> be the best approach if we can find the problem.

The cloning tool I tried was Ghost 2003 and the cloned disk would not
boot correctly. It boots in Safe Mode with Networking, but when I tried
to boot normally I found that none of the SQL Express instances would
start and the server would reboot before the Ctrl+Alt+Del screen could
appear.

If you do this you need to be very careful to copy the MBR to the new disk.
Mirroring won't automatically do this, at least not in 2003.

"Neil Rashbrook" wrote:

> How do you recommended to carry out a hard disk upgrade? Having failed
> to use a cloning tool to copy the drive, I am now considering using
> software mirroring to duplicate the OS on to the new disk, then removing
> the old disk from the mirror and extending the partition.
> .
>

The only Officially Supported way to do this in Server 2003, including SBS
2003 is to backup, remove the old drive, install the new drive, install a
base OS, update the OS service pack to whatever was on the box, and restore
from backup.

Cloning tools exist for this. Some are found on the internet for free (gparted),
some cost hundreds of Currency Units. Shadow Protect, Acronis, others.


-
Larry
Please post the resolution to your
issue so others may benefit
-
Get Your SBS Health Check at
www.sbsbpa.com

> Cliff Galiher - MVP wrote:
>

>> What cloning tool did you try and how did it fail? That would still
>> be the best approach if we can find the problem.
>>

> The cloning tool I tried was Ghost 2003 and the cloned disk would not
> boot correctly. It boots in Safe Mode with Networking, but when I
> tried to boot normally I found that none of the SQL Express instances
> would start and the server would reboot before the Ctrl+Alt+Del screen
> could appear.
>

In article <ebStYd0#KHA.148@newsgroup>, neil@newsgroup
says...

>
> Cliff Galiher - MVP wrote:
>

> > What cloning tool did you try and how did it fail? That would still
> > be the best approach if we can find the problem.

>
> The cloning tool I tried was Ghost 2003 and the cloned disk would not
> boot correctly. It boots in Safe Mode with Networking, but when I tried
> to boot normally I found that none of the SQL Express instances would
> start and the server would reboot before the Ctrl+Alt+Del screen could
> appear.

You make a ghost boot disk, boot to dos, the run the ghost tool to clone
DISK TO DISK, remove the old disk before you reboot, make sure the new
(cloned) disk is in the same location as the old disk.

--
You can't trust your best friends, your five senses, only the little
voice inside you that most civilians don't even hear -- Listen to that.
Trust yourself.
spam999free@newsgroup (remove 999 for proper email address)

A reboot outside of safemode sounds like a HAL issue. These usually only
occur if the cloning tool tried to be "smart" and leave your system in a
"fresh install" state. Although I have not used Ghost in some years, there
should be an option to do an *exact* clone without reprepping the server.
If you can't find that option in Ghost, as Larry mentioned, there are
others.

-Cliff


"Neil Rashbrook" <neil@newsgroup> wrote in message
news:ebStYd0#KHA.148@newsgroup

> Cliff Galiher - MVP wrote:
>

>> What cloning tool did you try and how did it fail? That would still be
>> the best approach if we can find the problem.

>
> The cloning tool I tried was Ghost 2003 and the cloned disk would not boot
> correctly. It boots in Safe Mode with Networking, but when I tried to boot
> normally I found that none of the SQL Express instances would start and
> the server would reboot before the Ctrl+Alt+Del screen could appear.

In article <28063D74-FE06-4581-ABD6-81FDAC8D95AA@newsgroup>,
cgaliher@newsgroup says...

>
> A reboot outside of safemode sounds like a HAL issue. These usually only
> occur if the cloning tool tried to be "smart" and leave your system in a
> "fresh install" state. Although I have not used Ghost in some years, there
> should be an option to do an *exact* clone without reprepping the server.
> If you can't find that option in Ghost, as Larry mentioned, there are
> others.
>

by default, a dos boot Ghost, disk-disk, using Ghost 2003, not inside
Windows, will do a full clone of a disk and also allow you to change the
size (increase the drive size if the new drive is larger) - you must
have the proper drivers for both disk so that ghost can see both disks.

DO NOT RUN THIS IN A WINDOWS SHELL, it has to run using a ghost boot
diskette or CD for this to work exactly.

--
You can't trust your best friends, your five senses, only the little
voice inside you that most civilians don't even hear -- Listen to that.
Trust yourself.
spam999free@newsgroup (remove 999 for proper email address)

Leythos wrote:

>In article <28063D74-FE06-4581-ABD6-81FDAC8D95AA@newsgroup>, cgaliher@newsgroup says...
>
>

>>A reboot outside of safemode sounds like a HAL issue. These usually only occur if the cloning tool tried to be "smart" and leave your system in a "fresh install" state. Although I have not used Ghost in some years, there should be an option to do an *exact* clone without reprepping the server. If you can't find that option in Ghost, as Larry mentioned, there are others.
>>

>by default, a dos boot Ghost, disk-disk, using Ghost 2003, not inside Windows, will do a full clone of a disk and also allow you to change the size (increase the drive size if the new drive is larger) - you must have the proper drivers for both disk so that ghost can see both disks.
>
>DO NOT RUN THIS IN A WINDOWS SHELL, it has to run using a ghost boot diskette or CD for this to work exactly.
>
>

Yes, I was booting into DOS, but I was concerned that although Ghost
offered to increase the size, it didn't suggest the entire capacity of
the new disk, and overriding the size may have been a mistake.

Larry Struckmeyer[SBS-MVP] wrote:

> The only Officially Supported way to do this in Server 2003, including
> SBS 2003 is to backup, remove the old drive, install the new drive,
> install a base OS, update the OS service pack to whatever was on the
> box, and restore from backup.

Yes, well given that the (local disk) backup itself takes over 50%
longer than the clone, this is going to be the last resort option.