Moving Win2K Server to new hard drive

[Nat]

I'm looking for a recommendation here (or a pointer to
additional info) and am a novice so please be kind ...
Our Win2K server installation has outgrown the original
harddrive it was on and I want to move it to a more
spacious one. My question is: what is the best way to
transport a Win2k implementation without having to
reinstall everything, rebuild DA etc. I was thinking
about just backing up the current C drive to another hard
disk, then reinstalling it on the new drive, disabling
the original drive ... however, I noticed that
Backup "skips" many files in the process -- I'd hate to
have to trouble shoot how to get all these skipped files
back. (I'm asssuming those "skipped" files are ones that
are actively being used by W2K -- so they have to be
inportant) Also I thought about booting from some DOS -
like utility and copying the C drive to the New Drive.
If this is a better course, how do I boot a W2K machine
into DOS?

I'm running Win2k, IIS, Active Directory and the machine
is a Domain Controller.

Thanks

Nat

 

[Wolf Kirchmeir]

I'm looking for a recommendation here (or a pointer to
additional info) and am a novice so please be kind ...
Our Win2K server installation has outgrown the original
harddrive it was on and I want to move it to a more
spacious one. My question is: what is the best way to
transport a Win2k implementation without having to
reinstall everything, rebuild DA etc

Look on support.microsoft.com for the articles that describe Moving Windows
2000 to New Hardware.

An alternative might be to add one or more additional hard drives, and
reconfigure the whole thing as a RAID array, which AFAIK can be done without
disturbing what you have. RAID not only increases available space, it also
reduces the risk of losing data. Ask for help and opinions on this option
before you decide what to do.

 

[Jetro]

Just clone HDD: Symantec or Norton Ghost
http://www.symantec.com/sabu/ghost/ghost_personal, Powerquest (already
Symantec) DriveCopy http://www.powerquest.com/drivecopy, Acronis TrueImage
or MigrateEasy http://www.acronis.com/products, Paragon DriveBackup
http://www.paragon-gmbh.com.

 

[Paul Hopwood]

I'm looking for a recommendation here (or a pointer to
additional info) and am a novice so please be kind ...

Our Win2K server installation has outgrown the original
harddrive it was on and I want to move it to a more
spacious one. My question is: what is the best way to
transport a Win2k implementation without having to
reinstall everything, rebuild DA etc.

Use a tool such as Norton Ghost or DriveImage. I've moved numerous
Windows builds using the former of these. Easier, more reliable and
*much* quicker than using file copies or backup/restore.

I was thinking
about just backing up the current C drive to another hard
disk, then reinstalling it on the new drive, disabling
the original drive ... however, I noticed that
Backup "skips" many files in the process -- I'd hate to
have to trouble shoot how to get all these skipped files
back. (I'm asssuming those "skipped" files are ones that
are actively being used by W2K -- so they have to be
inportant)

You assume correctly. It won't be able to copy files which are in
use. You can minimise this by shutting down processes and/or booting
into safe mode, but the OS will also use some files while running.

One alternative is to load a *second* copy of Windows 2000 into a
different partition or folder, boot into that and use it to copy your
"main" installation. Unfortunately it gets a bit messy and you'll
perpetually have a redundant copy of Windows 2000 on the new drive.

Also I thought about booting from some DOS -
like utility and copying the C drive to the New Drive.
If this is a better course, how do I boot a W2K machine
into DOS?

You can use a bootable floppy disk but it needs to be a fairly recent
version of Windows 9x to support long file names. It won't be able to
see NTFS volumes without the use of third party tools. If you're
going to end up buying a tool to do it might as well purchase Norton
Ghost, which is cheaper and more useful.


--

iv< Paul >iv<

[ Mail: (e-mail address removed) ]
[ WWW: http://www.hopwood.org.uk/ ]

 

[Wolf Kirchmeir]

You can use a bootable floppy disk but it needs to be a fairly recent
version of Windows 9x to support long file names. It won't be able to
see NTFS volumes without the use of third party tools. If you're
going to end up buying a tool to do it might as well purchase Norton
Ghost, which is cheaper and more useful.

I was under the impression that W2K emergency diskettes loaded W2K without
touching the HD? In which case you should be able to Ghost the whole thing
w/o worrying about locked files. Or is the problem that even so, Ghost would
use some files on the HD itself to run, and thus lock them?

 

[Spooman]

What you guys are not addressing is how does he get to use
the extra gigs? The methods you describe will give him a
copy of the original but no additional room on the drive.
What does he do next?