brisingr 0 Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Hi, all.... I have installed the hotfix on my WHS 2011 server that allows backup of UEFI computers with a GPT boot drive. My WHS has been successfully backing up my UEFI / GPT computer with no issues. Unfortunately, it's installed on a 80 GB SSD, which only has about 5GB of empty space. I have a 180 GB SSD that I want to do a BMR of the existing SSD backup to the new SSD. I created a USB Restore Key from my server, and copied the Drivers for Full System Restore to the USB Restore Key, and then booted using it. I start the Full Computer Restore wizard and am good until I get to the screen to select the volume to restore, I get an error message that the wizard can't find any initialized Hard Drives. (the 180 GB SSD is unallocated. i.e. no partitions). I later tried creating a 300 MB FAT32 PARTITION for EFI and the balance in a partition formated as NTFS. The USB Restore Key was set at Drive C and I could not change it until I rebooted... which defeatst the solution. Any sugestions on how to have WHS 2011 find my unallocated drive and setup the appropriate GPT partitions (i.e. EFI & System drive) based on my backup? Link to post Share on other sites
ikon 439 Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Try creating the partitions RAW -- no format, no drive letter, nothing -- just bare, empty partitions. Link to post Share on other sites
jmwills 284 Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Do you have a docking station and a second computer to work with? Link to post Share on other sites
brisingr 0 Posted January 9, 2014 Author Share Posted January 9, 2014 The computer in question is a desktop, so no docking station I have 2 DVD drives and the new SSD connected. I will give the RAW partitions idea a try. Does anyone know if the USB Restore Key boots in UEFI OR BIOS mode? as I was thinking about it, I don't think it makes a difference, but was wondering if it does. My thought, is that It should not matter as long as it creates the GPT partitions that were backed up, and restores the files correctly. Link to post Share on other sites
jmwills 284 Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 So this is the only computer in the house? Link to post Share on other sites
ikon 439 Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 I think jmwills may have led you a little bit astray with 'docking station'. I'm sure what he means is a so-called 'toaster dock', a USB HDD holder that connects to any USB capable computer, not a 'docking station' that you typically use with a laptop -- something like this: http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/products-model.aspx?id=C_00001642. BTW, I never use a Recovery Key: I always use the WHS2011 Client Recovery DVD, or an image of it on my Zalman ZM300. Link to post Share on other sites
jmwills 284 Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 Yes, a toaster. I am restoring one right now. 150 gigs about 20 minutes to replace a drive in my other laptop Link to post Share on other sites
ikon 439 Posted January 9, 2014 Share Posted January 9, 2014 And it's already updated & configured Link to post Share on other sites
brisingr 0 Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 So, Yes I have other computers... and I do have a USB 3.0 TO SATA hard Drive adapter cable, which I presume is close enought to what your asking... Is there a way to connect my new SSD using the USB to SATA cable to my WHS and have the restoration happen that way... If so, I was unaware of this capability. My WHS is a EX490, so it only has USB 2.0, but my cable is backwards compatible. My guess was that the recovery DVD I have will not work, since OOB WHS 2011 didn't support GPT & UEFI, which is why I defaulted to using a USB Restore Key... anyway... look forward to your responses.... Link to post Share on other sites
ikon 439 Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 The USB3 to SATA adapter should work fine. You don't need to do the restore on the WHS. Simply use the adapter cable to connect the drive to one of your other computers and boot that computer from the Recovery DVD. Yes, the Recovery DVD will work. The important factor for GPT/UEFI recovery to work is that the WHS2011 has the hotfix installed. You can recover the entire backup to the drive and then install it where it needs to be. Link to post Share on other sites
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