DivePool and "System Restore" or OS Backup will cause data lost

AndreasLwg

Hi,

i think in a worse situation like you need to restore your OS (Drive C,D by Default ) using Windows Backup or a Snapshot Tool ( Comodo Time Machine - Like System Restore in XP,Vista or Win7) the old folder will be but pack
C:\ServerPool (including the old entries ) and this will cause directly after OS is Restored the deleting of all your files in the pool with are add after the "Snapshot" taken

Is this by Design ?

Many Thx
Andreas

Shane

I'm not sure I'm following this. Are you saying that "I backed up my WHS drive (C and D), added some files to the pool (which was using drives E and F), I then restored my WHS drive (C and D) and my pool files were gone"?

AndreasLwg

Correct , have done a repro twice

So if you have a valid backup or image from the OS ( Default C,D ) and to a restore all files add after the image will be gone

Greets
Andreas

SDWolf

This doesn't really surprise me, considering DrivePool creates something akin to a directory junction on your OS drive that redirects to the pool.  Most drive tools (and most of Windows' internals, for that matter) don't even realize that a redirect is taking place.  So, when System Restore or (insert favorite backup/recovery app here) does its thing, it treats the redirects in C:\ServerPool as if they were simply subfolders, rather than redirects, and proceeds to mess with their contents accordingly.

For now, the safest way to work around this would be to disable DrivePool services before doing any kind of restore operation.  This would break the redirect so the restore doesn't touch your pool.

Shane

Hmm. In a situation where a restore is required, it might not be possible to disable DrivePool services beforehand - and the restore will negate that anyway.

So it's not so much "by design" as it is "unavoidable by nature of the design". 

Only solution I can think of is disconnecting the pool drives before doing the restore:

1. Disconnect pool drives.
2. Perform restore.
3. Reconnect pool drives.

And using in the pool would not be recommended if snapshot/imaging software is being used (because you can't "disconnect" during the restore).

Don't know if we might also have to uninstall DrivePool after the restore - before reconnecting the pool drives - and then reinstalling once the drives are reconnected.

AndreasLwg, could you check if the above prevents losing files in the pool, if so we can get it added to DP's documentation/wiki.

Alex

We need to fix this. How about moving the pool to \ServerPool ?

hopester

I tried this over the weekend, took a backup of C Drive, added a load of files to my pool (E and F drives) then did a full restore from the backup of C. The files on the pool seemed unaffected and nothing was deleted. I'll try again with extra folders tonight as all I added were files in existing folders the first time.

warmelin

I do like the idea of moving the ServerPool off the C Drive. I would like to be able to back up the OS drive independent of the shares. The server backup does not allow you to deselect any folders from C. This means all of my pooled shares get backed up with the C drive. 

Shane

If there's no disadvantages to moving it to D, and it has the benefit of improved backup compatibility...