Duplicated files from WHS Shared Folders are corrupt

[SoftRunner]

Hi all,

 

I have a Windows Server running and since I'm paranoid I also wanted to duplicate some of the shared folders/subfolders of the WHS machine using Retrospect 7.5. I can sucessfully access the folders and create scripts in Retrospect and I can also run the duplication scripts. Files and folders are created on my target volume however all the files copied seem to be corrupt as none of them can be opened using its registered application.

Duplication from a local volume to another local volume works as expected.

 

Are there any known issues duplicating network folders or is this related to WHS or am I simply doing something wrong here?

 

Any hint is highly appreciated.

[Mayoff]

What is a " WHS Shared Folders"? Do you have verification on during backup? Which verify type? What errors are reported during verify?

[rhwalker]

There is a known Microsoft problem with data corruption on Windows Home Server. See:

WHS data corruption

and

More on WHS data corruption

 

Until Microsoft fixes this bug, I would not suggest storing valuable data on WHS.

 

Russ

[SoftRunner]

Thanks for the responses. However I'm aware of the corruption issue with Windows Home Server. In my case though, only the files duplicated with Retrospect are corrupt after duplication. the original files are completely intact, can be opened as expected and when copied using Windows explorer, Terracopy, etc. all copied files are also still intact so I guess the reported problem is not my problem here.

 

Btw. A WHS Shared Folder is a standard windows share on a Windows Home Server computer, verification is on and no verification errors are reported as far as I'm aware of.

Edited March 24, 2008 by Guest

[Mayoff]

What happens when you try to read these corrupt files? Have you tried running a scan disk on the drive?

 

Retrospect uses a standard file system read/open command. Retrospect can not corrupt files during a backup, but the file system could cause a file to get corrupted when it is being copied if a pre-existing disk problem exists.

[SoftRunner]

I guess the problem is related to the WHS Drive Extender. Probably Retrospect only catches the "tombstone" and not the real file like outlined in a blog I found. An excerpt is pasted below:

 

When you copy a file across to the videos share for instance, the file is copied onto the D drive partition on your primary home server drive. On the WHS there is a service called the 'Windows Home Server Drive Extender' which is monitoring the videos folder (and all other network shares) which is actually physically located on the D drive 'Primary data partition' of the WHS primary hard disk.

 

The 'Windows Home Server Drive Extender' looks at the configuration for the share and works out based on this configuration which actual WHS storage drive it will move the file just copied to the share too. The service looks at several thing, such as where other files for the same share are, how much space is free, and if you are using folder duplication.

 

Once the drive extender service chooses a final destination and moves the media to that destination (If your using duplication it also copies it to another drive for duplication), it creates what is known as a 'tombstone' file in place of the file it just moved to the destination.