Windows Home Server question

Read a good review on the Windows Home Server today, but one of the comments left has me a tad worried.

Is it true that you will be unable to restore to a different machine to the one you backed up from?

I can't imagine this being a case, because if the machine was lost or damaged, then it would be impossible to do the restore!

Ray6 wrote:

Read a good review on the Windows Home Server today, but one of the comments left has me a tad worried.

Is it true that you will be unable to restore to a different machine to the one you backed up from?

I can't imagine this being a case, because if the machine was lost or damaged, then it would be impossible to do the restore!

Officially, restoring to a different computer than was backed up is not supported.

This is due to the fact that the underlying hardware may have changed to the point where core drivers are not available in the restored image...your restored system won't boot.

There are ways of addressing this technically and we are considering our options for doing this in future versions.

In the short term, however, don't fret.  You can easily access individual files/folders in the backups at any time. 

You can also restore a volume to an actual hard drive on another machine:

- Machine A has a 80GB C: drive. WHS is backing it up
- Machine A goes bye-bye.
- In comes Machine B. It has a C: drive and a >= 80GB D: drive.
- Boot Machine B using the Restore CD, pick Machine A to restore and tell the wizard to restore Machine A's C: drive to the D: drive on Machine B.
- Boot into Machine B and access all of A's old stuff on B's D: drive.

-cek
(General Manager, Windows Home Server)

ckindel wrote:



Ray6 wrote: Read a good review on the Windows Home Server today, but one of the comments left has me a tad worried. Is it true that you will be unable to restore to a different machine to the one you backed up from? I can't imagine this being a case, because if the machine was lost or damaged, then it would be impossible to do the restore!

Officially, restoring to a different computer than was backed up is not supported.

This is due to the fact that the underlying hardware may have changed to the point where core drivers are not available in the restored image...your restored system won't boot.

There are ways of addressing this technically and we are considering our options for doing this in future versions.

In the short term, however, don't fret.  You can easily access individual files/folders in the backups at any time. 

You can also restore a volume to an actual hard drive on another machine:

- Machine A has a 80GB C: drive. WHS is backing it up
- Machine A goes bye-bye.
- In comes Machine B. It has a C: drive and a >= 80GB D: drive.
- Boot Machine B using the Restore CD, pick Machine A to restore and tell the wizard to restore Machine A's C: drive to the D: drive on Machine B.
- Boot into Machine B and access all of A's old stuff on B's D: drive.

-cek
(General Manager, Windows Home Server)

Actually, that's all good. I was only really concerned about the data, not the OS.

Thanks for replying.