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Post by [-44-] Hue Jorgan on Oct 30, 2015 7:26:54 GMT
ALWAYS ALWAYS make regular backups of your data!
The work PC/Server went pair shaped yesterday the RAID basically went tits up and now it will not boot to windows
we do have backups of some things which are up to date, but our main job archive is a few *coughs* months out of date which is a bit of a bugger
anyway as of this morning the new server IS up and running and the data we do have is being restored, but we need to find a way today to try and rescue the data from the 4 raid drive on the old server other wise theres about 6 months worth of jobs errr vanished into the ether!
Thanks to pen for the help yesterday it did confirm we are heading in the right direction cheers bud I will keep you posted.
fingers crossed chaps
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Post by [-44-] Pendragon on Oct 30, 2015 8:30:54 GMT
You need the back up to be automatic and off site! The ghetto way would be to set it up using some system like Onedrive, Dropbox or Google Drive. There are commercial solution out there, Mary might be the best one to talk to about that type of thing.
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Post by [-44-] Hue Jorgan on Oct 30, 2015 14:54:08 GMT
OK quick update
our new server is on and the data we had saved is back (we still need to rescue the last 6 months files from the dead server later, so if anyone has any ideas?)
the new PC's are back on the network too
the printers and plotters are pretty much all back on and working
So the only thing now is to try and rescue the data from the dead server.
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Post by [-44-] MaryPoppins on Oct 30, 2015 22:16:19 GMT
There are numerous makes of small (4tb mirrored) nas boxes which can be used on site or remotely. Even a 2 bay device is likey to have raid 1 and come with its own backup software.
A somewhat older method is to just attach a series of external drives and rotate them taking one home every night, it is still a popular method to provide off site backups.
Cloud storage is ok but industry standards would suggest you use 2 cloud providers. Also as weird as it is although they cannot see your data as it is probably encrypted, it is technically no longer yours but the property of the cloud provider. The reason for using 2 providers is just in case one goes tits up. This happened to a large provider a couple of years ago and they only gave users 2 days to download their data which for a high proportion of the users was insufficient time for retrieval.
I take it that by saying your server is up and running again you are running something like small business software, a second server as a file server would help spread the load, enabling it to be changed without affecting the dc.
As to retrieval of your original data from the raid drives, that depends on what broke. If the integrity of the drives is still ok then I would suggest fixing the server however temporary that is. If the raid was raid 5 then it should have been ok with one failed drive, swapping out the failed drive for a new one should rebuild the array and you should be able to retrieve your data. My nas has just rebuilt its array after a drive error and it took 16 hours. In theory if it is a hardware array controller, it the drives and the enclosure could be installed in another machine but arrays have a habit of not working well once they have failed or moved.
If windows is corrupted (what version), then you may be able to do a repair. It is possible that although the os is not running that the file integrity is still intact and that the files could be accessed across the network, too many unknowns to have a definitive answer.
If the information is worth it there are numerous firms who will at a price retrieve the data but they are not cheap
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Post by [-44-] pip on Oct 31, 2015 7:32:08 GMT
What he said
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Post by [-44-] Hue Jorgan on Nov 3, 2015 17:22:28 GMT
Thanks for those points mary and pen
OK so the update, our quote software on the new server is proving to be a right mission to get it working even though we had a backup that was only a couple of days old, we do however have a 'support' cuntract with the software company, and so far they have been sketchy to say the least, but fingers crossed.
On the data recovery point the dead PC has gone off to a data recovery company in Wales who have excellent reviews online, they estimate free of charge with a detailed no obligation quote
Their success rate is in excess of 95% data recovery and the chap sounded very confident in fixing our problem! which is refreshing
the kicker is the cost will START at £1000+vat yes you read read ONE THOUSAND English pounds and this is likely to rise to approx £1500, oh and its plus VAT
is it worth it? well those missing files would take weeks to recreate and a lot of wages and time so I guess yes it is worth it, on a plus note looks like we may be able to claim on our Insurance fingers crossed
so if you have ANY important data back the f**ker up NOW! you have been warned - lol
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Post by [-44-] MaryPoppins on Nov 3, 2015 20:33:02 GMT
The obvious backup choice is now the cloud. As the new snooping charter will allow the government to see everything you do, you might as well back it up to them because at least they will keep a copy for you. Its a simple process just add a few choice words and phrases about bombs and guns etc and you are guaranteed that everything you want to keep they will hold for you. Simples
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