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Slow harddisk I/O after restoring an image from another machine

ahleung
Level 3

We are using BESR 8.5.1. We backup the C: drive of a server, then restore the image to another server of same model. After restoration, file I/O of c: drive is very slow. When copying a file from c: to c:, it originally took only a blink for 1GB. But after restoration, it takes more than 10sec for 200Mb.

 

The source server shows fast I/O (also just a blink for 1GB). It seems the problem doesn't comes from the image.

 

Although the 2 servers are of same model, they are slightly different due to different manufacture date. We know at least the RAID drivers are different (both servers are running RAID 1). So we used  the "Restore Anyware" feature.

 

From Windows' fragmentation analysis, we see that the page file (of the target server, after restoration) is seriously fragmented,

Pagefile fragmentation
    Pagefile size                              = 7.98 GB
    Total fragments                            = 231,868

while that of the source server isn't.

 

We haven't tried defragmentation yet, because it takes too long time. And we don't know if this is the real cause for slow disk I/O.

 

Anyone experienced similar problem? 

 

 

 

 

 

Server model: Dell PowerEdge 2950

OS: Windows Server 2003 R2 Standard x64 Edition w/ Service Pack 2

Source server RAID driver: DELL PERC 5/i Integrated RAID Controller      
Target server RAID driver: DELL SAS 6/iR Integrated RAID Controller

 

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

ahleung
Level 3

We solved by defragmenting the page file. Windows defragmentation tool can't do it. We did it by PerfectDisk Server Ed.

 

However, we found that chkdsk also show up many errors. If ignore them and carry out defragmentation, the whole windows will be corrupted and become unusable.

 

So, what we did to solve this problem:

After restoration,

1. install the correct RAID driver

2. chkdsk /f

3. defragment c: drive by Windows defragmentation tool (don't know if this is necessary)

4. defragment system files by PerfectDisk.

View solution in original post

5 REPLIES 5

ahleung
Level 3
Btw, during restoration, can I manually provide the correct RAID driver, instead of letting Windows to detect it afterwards?

AJT
Level 6

You could provide the other driver in Windows from within Device Manager or look at this document and select Prompt For Devices and provide the other driver during the Restore Anyware.

http://seer.entsupport.symantec.com/docs/293847.htm

 

Hope this helpsSmiley Happy

David_F
Level 6
Employee Accredited
Any updates on this issue? Ahleung, do you still need assistance on this matter?

ahleung
Level 3

We solved by defragmenting the page file. Windows defragmentation tool can't do it. We did it by PerfectDisk Server Ed.

 

However, we found that chkdsk also show up many errors. If ignore them and carry out defragmentation, the whole windows will be corrupted and become unusable.

 

So, what we did to solve this problem:

After restoration,

1. install the correct RAID driver

2. chkdsk /f

3. defragment c: drive by Windows defragmentation tool (don't know if this is necessary)

4. defragment system files by PerfectDisk.

ahleung
Level 3

We tried the trick suggested by AJT, but it prompts for every single driver. We are not that familiar with hardware, we don't know which drivers are related to RAID, harddisk, etc.  And we don't have all those drivers in hand.

 

 

So, some opinions:

Just like installing Windows, it prompts for the RAID driver CD that comes along with the server machine, then automatically search for the necessary drivers. It would be great if BESR can do this too.