Can I backup share information?

[MicrodigitUK]

I have a server that has a small main HDD with all of the server drive partitions set up on it including c: which I am planning to upgrade to a new bigger HDD. I am using Ghost to pull off an image of the c: partition and put it on the new bigger HDD. The other partitions have windows server 2000 soft RAID so I can’t use Ghost to move them. Instead I was going to recreate the other partitions but slightly bigger on the new HDD and use BackupExec 11d to restore the data.

 

Is there a way to backup and restore share settings so I don’t have go through all the shares again and recreate shared folders? Or will this be covered by the system state restore in BackupExec 11d with my new partitions setup?

[Michael]

To my knowledge unless there's a third party application out there, this isn't possible. Windows doesn't backup shares by standard.

 

However, if you backup all your data and restore it to another server, it should keep its permissions (if you choose to). I know for a fact NTBackup gives you this option when restoring data.

[eean]

Information about shares are held in the registry.

See this kb article:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/125996

[Michael]

Interesting link eean. I have to ask though, if you performed a System State restore, (which does include the registry), why then doesn't it restore shares in the first place? It doesn't make sense!?

[eean]

It should do.

Are your folders on the same location (in terms of drive letter names?)

[MicrodigitUK]

So to sum up if the new partitions have the same drive letters as the original partitions on the old drive, a Backup Exec system restore will do the trick?

[Michael]

Generally speaking in 99% of cases I restore data to their original locations. I do use NTBackup if that makes any difference?

[m2d2]

If you're really stuck you could always do

NET SHARE > share-backup.txt

[MicrodigitUK]

Just a quick update.

 

I have now finished restoring the data to my new partitions on the new drive and after a system restore the shares came back on without a problem.

 

So if anybody is thinking of replacing all of your server hard drives using this method it worked fine without a hitch.

[Michael]

I will have to re-explore this when it comes to restoring data! I found a good article and it does highlight two requirements:

 

Make sure that you have a backup of the data files and the registry system hive.

 

The new server must have the same partition scheme as the problem server.

 

The partition scheme (presumably) is referring to NTFS and whether it's Simple or Dynamic (along with software RAID).

[JamesC]

Hi MicrodigitUK, have you tried the Windows File Server Migration Toolkit? Its available here and will do everything you need:

 

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/upgrading/nt4/tooldocs/msfsc.mspx

 

More info on its use can be found here:

 

http://thelazyadmin.com/blogs/thelazyadmin/archive/2005/09/26/Using-the-File-Server-Migration-Toolkit.aspx

 

James