Better Backup solution then WHS?

J

Justintoxicated

[H]F Junkie
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I hate WHS. I have found it to be completely unreliable and have had to re-install several times, worked around the AHCI issues etc.

Is there a better option out there for doing backups?
 
Every other time I go to use it it does not work. After restoring a disk I can no longer backup the PC it fails when trying to configure the backup says it cannot access the computer disks, or the computer is not connected to the network.

The other issue I went through was lack of AHCI support. I have had to re-install so many times, and then the problems today with it not even wanting to boot after failing to build a volume so I could grab some data.

It just never seems to work when I want it to...

I have it semi working again (Can't backup still). It was able to boot up after a failed attempt to completely re-install it.
Since I don't really need it for a server is there some simple more reliable software that can provide the same backup services I hate WHS.
 
How much data are we looking at, is it mission critical, what's your budget, how many systems?

More information on your requirements/setup would be helpful too.
 
Since you're talking WHS I presume you're doing this as a fairly small setup. I am currently using a DLink DNS-323 and it works well. Gigabit ethernet, 2xSATA 3gbps, Linux and a fairly active modding community. I am running Transmission BT client and the speeds on it are great. Using some software called NTI backup, it's simple and effective.
 
I hate WHS. I have found it to be completely unreliable and have had to re-install several times, worked around the AHCI issues etc.
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I know where you're comin' from but I think we're the only two guys that feel like this! :)

My last complete install was last week and when/if this one fails, I'll be throwing in the towel. I only have 1 1/2 TBs on there but restoring from a backup takes 6 hrs.

I used the new X-Files edition this time and this is the best it's run since my first trial install last Feb. Everything except AHCI, actually works and works well! I've turned off the updates and won't be touching it! :D

AAR, I'll be watching this thread for alternatives!
 
Justintoxicated said:
Every other time I go to use it it does not work. After restoring a disk I can no longer backup the PC it fails when trying to configure the backup says it cannot access the computer disks, or the computer is not connected to the network.
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That's not a bug. After you restore a computer it's considered a new computer. You delete the old one and start a new backup.

I don't know of any other server software that will backup all your PC's. You can use software to make image based backups to restore from such as acronis. But those images on another drive in the same PC. I don't know if it will backup that image across a network as i've never done that. But you can look into it.
 
yea I have acronis and Ghost but its not automated enough. I also have ViceVersa which is a great program but not what I am looking for.

I do have AHCI working and removed the computer and backed it up again. It does seem to be booting up and working fine after my FAILED re-install attempt. Which is kinda awesome that it works fine now hah.

Honestly that is a TERRIBLE design decision to force you to REMOVE YOUR OLD BACKUPS PRIOR TO MAKING A NEW ONE. What would happen if I lost a drive while re-backing up 5-10 TB of data? I would say the probability is high and since you lose your old backups when removing the computer, your would be totally F'ed if something were to happen. A new hard drive SHOULD CERTAINLY NOT define the machine as a new computer, especially if you use WHS to restore the data from the dead drive. This is the same reason Raid 5 is dangerous for redundancy, SHTF if you lose another drive or have an error while rebuilding the array. If WHS's specialty is backups, then I think one should admit that this is a HUGE flaw in the OS.
 
Justintoxicated said:
yea I have acronis and Ghost but its not automated enough. I also have ViceVersa which is a great program but not what I am looking for.

I do have AHCI working and removed the computer and backed it up again. It does seem to be booting up and working fine after my FAILED re-install attempt. Which is kinda awesome that it works fine now hah.

Honestly that is a TERRIBLE design decision to force you to REMOVE YOUR OLD BACKUPS PRIOR TO MAKING A NEW ONE. What would happen if I lost a drive while re-backing up 5-10 TB of data? I would say the probability is high and since you lose your old backups when removing the computer, your would be totally F'ed if something were to happen. A new hard drive SHOULD CERTAINLY NOT define the machine as a new computer, especially if you use WHS to restore the data from the dead drive. This is the same reason Raid 5 is dangerous for redundancy, SHTF if you lose another drive or have an error while rebuilding the array. If WHS's specialty is backups, then I think one should admit that this is a HUGE flaw in the OS.
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You don't have to remove your old backups. WHS will recognize your computer as a new machine and back it up. The old backups are still there under the old machine name. Which is likely the same name.
 
Have you run full on hardware diagnostics?


These days, most of the WHS problems I have seen have been hardware related -- undervolted memory, bad sectors on hard drives, etc.
 
I'm tired of WHS already too. I can only get 6.5MB/s on file transfers with good Intel pro network cards and Cat6. I cant get X-files edition to install right on mine, It can't find the cd rom after it's first reboot and fails the install at the very end.
 
SKiZZ said:
I'm tired of WHS already too. I can only get 6.5MB/s on file transfers with good Intel pro network cards and Cat6. I cant get X-files edition to install right on mine, It can't find the cd rom after it's first reboot and fails the install at the very end.
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Sounds like you have hardware problems. Or your network cards aren't connecting at gigabit speeds. You don't have jumbo frames enabled. If you are only getting 6.5MB/s you will have that problem no matter what you switch to.

I get a solid 50MB/s transfer. Gigabit router and network cards with jumbo frames enabled. Yesterday when transferring a movie I hit 70MB/s.
 
Likewise,Marvell Yukon 88E8056 pcie nic on the desktop and a realtek 8111 on the server both with jumbo frames at 9K and a dlink DIR655 in the middle and most of the time transfers are above 60 MB/s.
 
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