Is it possible to backup the shadow copy repository (diff area) ?
Updated: 21 May 2010 | 5 comments
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I maintain a W2003R2 file server in which the shadow copy service performs snapshots 3x daily. The shadow copy repository (diff area) resides on a different physical disk to the main file system and O/S disk. Tape backups are maintained (Backup Exec 12) on a weekly basis and include System State and Shadow Copy Components,.
Does this mean the shadow copy repository (diff area) is being archived to tape by Backup Exec? I have not specifically selected the disk that the shadow copies are written to.
- If true, how would I go about restoring selected files from that shadow set? Is it still possible if the original drive has been restored from tape itself?
- If not, is it possible to backup the shadow copy repository using Backup Exec?
Thanks,
Jason
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Shadow copy is managed by VSS
Shadow copy is managed by VSS and in our backups, we dont really need to backup, the snapshot created. We just backup the data selected, snapshots are written against the disk after the backup. So, restores are really not an issue, even if you have your snapshots stored on alternate disk. Our backups contain only the data selected, and in restore we restore that data.
Regarding your second question, i do not understand why you would like to backup shadow copy repository?, which i assume you mean "system volume information" folder. There is nothing in here that needs to be backed up. It is excluded by default by Microsoft from all backups. So, all you need is to backup file system, system state and Shadow copy components, in order to setup complete disaster recovery plan.
Please mark it a solution, if this is useful.
Thanks
Lets assume I have backed up
Lets assume I have backed up the file system, system state and Shadow copy components and subsequently suffer a catastrophic failure of the file system. After I've completed the restore of the file system, will I see my previous versions history for the file system?
The reason I'm interested is we had a situation where our tape backup was not backing up open PST files. However the Shadow copy service was successfully backing up these PST's using VSS. The file server recently died and and caused all of the shadow copy history to be deleted. If I can restore the shadow copy then there's a chance we can recover the PST files.
Please note that shadow copy
Please note that shadow copy feature developed by MS to get back to previous version, was never intended to be a disaster recovery solution. It is only useful, if you would like to get back to an old version of a file, if the file already exists. In your case, you never backed up the file, using a backup solution, so you cannot recover the file, and hence previous version would not make any sense. Please note that when you take a shadow copy, you just start monitoring file changes and the deltat goes to system volume information. Actual file is not a part of shadow copy. So, backup has to be done always.
So, i would suggest you to look into an option of backup of pst file, instead of backup of shadow copy, which is just delta. In this case, i would recommend using Advanced Open File option, which now is a free option. It can be used to perform backup of open files like pst.
Please mark it a solution, if this is useful.
Thanks
We are now using the Advanced
We are now using the Advanced Open File option that comes with BE12 and it works successfully for the PST's. It is not the intention to rely on shadow copy for a disaster recovery, however I would still like to be able to backup and restore the volume shadow area. Our users have come to appreciate the ease of use offered by previous versions.
If I only lost the disk containing the shadow copy history, how could Symantec Backup Exec 12 be used help me to recover the previous versions history? Or doesn't it support this?
Current release of Backup
Current release of Backup Exec cannot do much about this, because of system volume information being excluded from backups by Microsoft. This is a limitation from Microsoft, you might consider looking into some documentation from Microsoft, for a fix related to this. Take a look at following document about this particular issue:
http://support.veritas.com/docs/323344
Thanks
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