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Hi folks, Ned here again. With the massive growth of virtualization, odds are you want to safely and reliably run Distributed File System Replication on Hyper-V, Xen, KVM, or VMware – heck, you may already be doing so. With that in mind, I am here today to save your job! OK that might overstating...

This blog applies to Automatic Disk Usage management and Version Management for versions lying on local disk. This does not apply to versions lying on Network shares. Windows Server Backup Overview Windows Server Backup is the built-in backup solution in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server...

<This is the 5th article in a series of posts discussing backup and recovery offerings in Windows 7. > Imagine one day you got to your desktop and realized that some programs on your machine started crashing; or you’ve noticed some degradation in your machine’s performance. You’re not so sure...

This is a summary of recent additions and revisions to the VSS and ASR documentation on MSDN and TechNet. 1. The following new API elements have been documented: a. IVssComponentEx2 interface ( http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd405576.aspx ) b. IVssCreateExpressWriterMetadata...

<This is the fourth post in a blog series on backup and recovery offerings in Windows 7. > If you’re reading this post it’s likely that you’ve already set up Windows Backup on your Windows 7 PC and running it on a schedule to protect your data and system. However as storage size is limited,...

<This is the third post in a blog series on backup and recovery offerings in Windows 7. > Many of us have experienced this panic moment when we realized some important files are missing or are accidentally modified, but Windows users who’ve configured Windows Backup (or even those who haven...

<This is the second post in a blog series on backup and recovery offerings in Windows 7. > In the last post, we’ve briefly mentioned that Windows 7 offers both the ability to backup individual folders and to create a system image of your computer, and how they could be used to protect your personal...

Anyone who uses a Windows 7 PC shouldn’t have to worry about losing their files, because Windows 7 provides simple yet flexible backup and recovery solutions that helps protect your system and data. In the coming weeks, we’ll walk you through each step of the process – from configuring backup, restoring...

Many customers have asked questions in our forums on how to understand and troubleshoot errors reported by Windows Server Backup. While we document the event IDs logged by Windows Server Backup (for example, see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc734488(WS.10).aspx), we do not document the...

This article answers following questions related to Windows Server Backup in Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2: Q1. How does Windows Server Backup store backups and maintain backup versions? Q2. How do I query backup stored versions on a backup storage location? Q3. How do I delete non...

In this article, we'll take a look at a new class of VSS writers enabled in Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 that lower the cost for applications to participate in backups. Before we get there though, let’s briefly recap the role of VSS writers in backups. VSS and backups The Volume Shadow Copy...

In a previous article, we looked at LUN Resync a new fast recovery scenario in Windows Server 2008 R2. Himanshu from the VSS team has posted a few sample scripts to demostrate the scenario using Diskshadow and the VSS tools in the Windows 7 SDK. This is the blog - LUN-RESYNC WITH DISKSHADOW AND...

This is a list of MSDN doc updates from Diane Significant updates: 1. Several new interfaces and other API elements were added for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. For more information, see “What's New in VSS in Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7” ( http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us...

Deciding between System State Backup and Allcritical Backup in Windows Server 2008: Which one is the right solution for my needs? (To learn more about System State Backups and how to run these in Windows Server 2008 please check http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc742124.aspx ) Q) First of...

Customizing Windows Server Backup Schedule Windows Server Backup (WSB) is the built-in backup solution for Windows Server 2008 that replaces the venerable NT Backup from Windows Server 2003 and before. WSB protects the files and the server os/application binaries within itself as a single-server...

This is the first in a series of posts discussing the new features in the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) for Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7. Before we dive in, it's important to note that all existing VSS solutions for Vista and Server 2008 will work as-is on Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2, respectively...

We just started a new Forum, directed to Windows Backup and Windows Server Backup questions. Windows Backup forums provide you an opportunity to join a community of Windows customers where you can share knowledge on Windows Backup, get questions answered, and learn from others with backup needs similar...

The previous post referred to some basic backup/restore jargon. Now, let us investigate what the footprint of the DFS Replication service looks like. The following steps have been performed on a server running Windows Server 2008. Locate working directories used by the DFS Replication service To start...

Keith Combs just released a screencast about one of our team’s technologies: Windows Vista Complete PC Backup and Restore Screencast Windows Vista Complete PC backup is an utility that allows you to create a snapshot of your entire system and save it to a USB drive, DVD or external disk....

Storage team is bringing 8 sessions and 2 Hands-on Lab to Microsoft TechED IT Pro 2008! Karandeep Anand, Jason Buffington, Ram Kailasanathan, Drew McDaniel and Edwin Yuen will be hosting the sessions from the Storage side. Clustering and High availability will also be there to talk about their...

A customer sent us a contribution to the Vista Backup and Restore Errors and Solutions table . Christine Fok added his innovative solution to the list: Error or Symptom Cause/Solution System Restore fails with the following error: The Restore point could not be created...

We sometimes get people asking about the difference between VSS Full Backup and VSS Copy Backup in Windows Server 2008. Basically, for certain applications (such as Exchange), VSS Copy Backup preserves logs and VSS Full Backup truncate logs. Yes, we know, this explanation is not very enlightening...

As part of equipping you around the new features provided in the Q2 rollup update for DPM 2007, the product team will be hosting a live chat session where you can ask your questions related to DPM 2007, the rollup, the upcoming SP1, or even provide suggestions for what you need to either deploy DPM 2007...

Are the Backups secured? Yes . The Complete PC Backup (CPC) or Windows Server Backup (WSB) can be only invoked by a user belonging to either Administrators or Backup operators Group. § Disk: Backups are ACLed to be accessible only for only Administrators and Backup Operators Group. § Network...

This is an update to the solutions table posted previously on this blog. Vista Backup team has been working with customers to troubleshoot common problems, but sometimes it’s a hard job – some error codes belong to other system components and are reflected in Backup tool functionality...