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CloudDrive as Essentials backup disk


servonix

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I was just wondering what the recovery scenario would be when using a CloudDrive drive as the server backup target disk under Windows Server 2016 Essentials, particularly with regards to doing a bare metal restore. My assumption is that the CloudDrive would have to be mounted on another system, along with the disk being restored to, do the recovery, then boot off of the restored disk. Someone please confirm or deny whether my assumption is correct. Furthermore, if that is the recovery scenario, would it theoretically be possible to have a WinPE based boot disk that has a version of CloudDrive baked in that would allow a more seamless recovery, and if so is that something someone with a little more skill working with images would be willing to make?

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To clarify, you mean using the CloudDrive disk as the target for the Server backup? 

 

It would work, sure. But the problem is when you want to do the bare metal restore.  There is no way to do this. Period. 

 

We've looked into creating WinPE images that will handle this.  Getting the drives installed properly was the biggest issue we've run into.

 

StableBit Scanner works great, but StableBit DrivePool.... did not want to work.  And I haven't even bothered trying with CloudDrive ... because there is no browser supported for WinPE, IIRC. And that's absolutely required for login and authentication of the account (assuming it's a cloud based one and not a local disk, file share, or ftp based drive).

 

 

 

 

If you really wanted to do this, my recommendation would be to set up a physical disk *and* a CloudDrive disk to do this.  That way, WIndows Server Backup will actually backup to both.   That way, you can have that offsite backup, as well as a local, BMR friendly backup, as well.

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I appreciate the fact that you've already looked into it, I figured you might would have. I could see a Scanner WinPE disk as useful though, so that is some good news. In theory I think you could do the restore from another machine mounted to the cloud drive and with the target disk inside using the Server Backup console. Is that something you've personally tested? The end goal is to have the backups on a network share on a separate machine rather than an external HD. My pool is actually full and I have no single spare drive large enough for the server backups, and due to budget constraints I can't buy another drive just yet.

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Well, a WinPE image of StableBit Scanner is fantastic.I have a working copy of it, and it's loaded into my WIndows Deployment Server list (PXE booting). The biggest issue is distribution of it.  It's a licensing issue.  Otherwise, it has to be built each time, on a client system.   It's something we've talked about internally.  

 

 

As for the backups, using the built in Server Backup isn't going to work well for what you want here. Period.

 

 

And yes, you can do that. But that's a lot more work, than simply popping in the install disk and selecting the repair option.  Especially, if your machine isn't easy to open (Mine's all rack mounted stuff, so this would literally be a nightmare).

 

To be honest, you'd be better off with iSCSI stuff here, or using a 3rd party backup solution that handles this better. 

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