Windows Home Server - Backup Question

J

jazzman161

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 6, 2004
Messages
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Hey everyone! Question for all those well versed in WHS. Does the backup system in WHS not work like Windows System Restore? I tried to revert to an old backup and when I "opened" the backup, according to Windows Help, I was supposed to copy+paste the files from the backup to the current session?

I understand I can reload a backup from a fresh OS install of backed-up computer but is there no way go back in time, like Windows System Restore?

Thanks!
 
I don't believe so, and there really isn't much of a need to do so, once your actual data is backed up. WHS isn't like a desktop OS that has tons of customizations and 3rd party apps, so a reinstall isn't a big deal.
 
Sorry Deacon, let me clarify.

The issue is with my HTPC (Running Windows 7). I would like to go back to back-up I created a few months ago without having to re-install Windows. I am not trying to restore anything on the WHS machine.
 
I'm not versed at all in WHS, but I have done quite a bit of reading.

It would depend on the type of backup WHS did of the HTPC machine. If a standard file backup, then it would be iffy.

But if WHS created a system image, I thought there was a boot disk or something you could create with WHS to boot the other machine off of, and have the WHS box push the image to the other box over the network.

Windows Home Server Computer Backup automatically backs up all of the computers in a home to the server using an image-based system that ensures point-in-time-based restoration of either entire PCs or specific files and folders. Complete computer restores are initiated through a restore bootable CD, file based restores are initiated through the WHS client software which allows the users to open a backup and "drag and drop" files from it.
Click to expand...

here's a link to the WHS Blog on WHS backups and restores.
http://blogs.technet.com/b/homeserver/archive/2007/02/08/home-computer-backup.aspx
 
I'll walk you through restoring a computer from WHS according to how I remember it from a couple months ago.

1. Download the restore CD .iso

2. Burn the restore CD .iso to a disc

3. Boot from the restore CD on the PC you want to restore, i.e. put the restore CD in your HTPC and boot from the disc

4. Provide drivers for NIC or HDD/RAID if necessary (drivers must be 32 bit as the restore program is 32 bit, even if you're restoring a 64-bit PC)

5. Provide the name/IP address of your WHS

6. Select the volume you want to restore to

7. Select the backup that you want to restore from

8. Wait patiently

9. Reboot, take the restore CD out, and you should be good to go

It's not a hard process. Just make sure that you have a WHS backup of the PC you want to restore for the date you want. This goes without saying, but you can't restore to last month if you only started backing up the HTPC this month. Also, I would force a backup of the HTPC before you try restoring just in case anything goes wrong. Worst case, you can use the restore CD to get back to the way you were before you started fiddling.
 
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