Use Acronis SBS 2011 to move server to bigger raid?

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truwrikodrorowrelupicugojestutroclulachosaswunuhospikigawakijosaswenomaruclojeueclikaspedrubewidebrisubrohutrurifruuagothunugekedrumucisiuobrobrecrupeslapuswosluprothethibakaslechurathikucli
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Hi all,
Here is my plan, just wanted to get some input on if acronis will work for me as I plan for it to.
I have 3 SAS drives 140GB each configured in raid 5, the raid has two partitions one 25GB the other something like 200GB. Server has Windows SBS 2003 installed, running a network shared database. I want to use Acronis Back up and Recovery 11 advanced server SBS edition (with universal restore pack) to image my drives, remove the drives, install 3 new 300GB drives, create new raid 5 with 3 drives, reapply image, boot my server up, work like new.
1 main questions is what will happen to the extra space when I apply the image to the new raid? Will it be evenly distributed between the two current partions? Will it be left as unallocated space?

Another questions is would my database be affected in any way.

Thank you for any info or comments in advanced, and I hope I placed this in the correct location on forum.

Thu, 04/12/2012 - 23:50
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truwrikodrorowrelupicugojestutroclulachosaswunuhospikigawakijosaswenomaruclojeueclikaspedrubewidebrisubrohutrurifruuagothunugekedrumucisiuobrobrecrupeslapuswosluprothethibakaslechurathikucli
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1) You can manually resize the partitions during the restore operation. But check that bootable media sees your raid with the new disks.
2) If you take the backup using VSS, and the database is VSS aware (it's not a MySQL, right?) it will not be affected. However i'm not sure about 'network shared database' - what exactly is it?
ps - '11' in B&R 11 SBS is not a year.

Fri, 04/13/2012 - 03:57
truwrikodrorowrelupicugojestutroclulachosaswunuhospikigawakijosaswenomaruclojeueclikaspedrubewidebrisubrohutrurifruuagothunugekedrumucisiuobrobrecrupeslapuswosluprothethibakaslechurathikucli
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Thanks for the info, and the year error.
The database is client information shared to all workstations on network. We use a simple application installed on all clients to access, and enter info into the database.

Will I have to provide the drivers of the raid controller in order for acronis to recognize the, raid if no available disk appear? Is there a section during the restoration to provide the drivers?

Fri, 04/13/2012 - 12:11
truwrikodrorowrelupicugojestutroclulachosaswunuhospikigawakijosaswenomaruclojeueclikaspedrubewidebrisubrohutrurifruuagothunugekedrumucisiuobrobrecrupeslapuswosluprothethibakaslechurathikucli
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You are kind of opening up a can of worms here. Acronis, for reasons unknown, doesn't keep the drivers on the bootable media at all up to date. I have been bugging them for months about supporting the latest Adaptec 6G controllers and it has fallen on deaf ears. There is a whole topic area for people requesting updated drivers on the bootable media nothing ever seems to gets done. Anyway..... you are going to have two senarios:

1) The bootable media recognizes the raid controlller and in turn the drives. This is the best case senation. All you have to do is backup and resize the partitions when restoring. You will not need to supply any drivers or use Universal Restore when restoring. You are simply moving to a bigger raid.

2) If the bootable media doesn't recognize the raid controller you will have to "roll your own" and build a Win PE bootable media with drivers you supply for the raid controller. Even in this senario you will not need to supply any drivers or use Universal Restore when restoring. You are simply moving to a bigger raid.

Fri, 04/13/2012 - 13:58
truwrikodrorowrelupicugojestutroclulachosaswunuhospikigawakijosaswenomaruclojeueclikaspedrubewidebrisubrohutrurifruuagothunugekedrumucisiuobrobrecrupeslapuswosluprothethibakaslechurathikucli
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Does the 2nd option apply if I am using windows SBS 2003? Are there any articles on this that you know of?
Thanks a ton for your information!

Fri, 04/13/2012 - 16:23
truwrikodrorowrelupicugojestutroclulachosaswunuhospikigawakijosaswenomaruclojeueclikaspedrubewidebrisubrohutrurifruuagothunugekedrumucisiuobrobrecrupeslapuswosluprothethibakaslechurathikucli
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Yes the second option applies for any server OS (or workstation OS for that fact). You are not changing any hardware just hard drive size hence when you restore all you need to do is mess with the partition sizes when you do the restore. The only real problem is if the boot CD doesn't recognize the raid controller. Then it is on to roll your own...

Fri, 04/13/2012 - 21:37
truwrikodrorowrelupicugojestutroclulachosaswunuhospikigawakijosaswenomaruclojeueclikaspedrubewidebrisubrohutrurifruuagothunugekedrumucisiuobrobrecrupeslapuswosluprothethibakaslechurathikucli
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**Follow up**

Everything went perfectly with this project. Installed acronis, created bootable media windows PE. Not sure if I needed to or if it even applied, but there was an option to inject any drivers for bootable media, I entered raid controller drivers. Created Full disk backup (300GB), on backup options I set the backup to high priority (not sure if that helps speed it up.), entire backup took 2.5hrs. Installed new drives, created new raid 5, booted to acrnois bootable media, recovered image to new disk, took 2.5 hrs. Booted server. Everything up and running.

Acronis is a great product. I am 100% sure this was an easy and smooth transition because of it.

Thanks all for information help.

Sun, 04/22/2012 - 12:55