Using BESRO 8.5.3 caused too many space wasted after using BESRO to restore into larger LUN size.

[Symanticus]

Hi All,

I've just migrate my Exchange Server 2007 and Domain Controller+GC (All In One role) from 4x 500 GB RAID-5 into new server with 5x 500 GB RAID-5 using Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery (BESRO) 8.5.3,

by doing the restoration to a bigger LUN size I am expecting to get a bigger free space but instead I'm having problem with the 3x EISA partition (I don't know what is that ? possibly Dell Utility Partition ?) and one unknown partition which cannot be use at all.

Background: BESRO 8.5.3 is really hard to understand When i create the backup using BESRO cold backup (boot CD) each partition is stored in a single v2i and then when i tried to restore, i have to go back and forth through the wizard to select the partitions, moreover if i select Dell utility partition firstly, the restore FAILED miserably !


any idea please in re arranging the partition without breaking the current Exchange Server + Domain Controller configuration ?

[marcogsp · Accepted solution]

Hi Albert -- BESR doesn't resize the partitions automatically when restoring to a larger drive configuration.  After selecting the restoration points, the edit function has to be used to adjust the partition sizes for the desired partition(s) that need resizing.  I too have made this mistake when restoring my own workstation from a BESR image.  The result was 60GB of unused space in my scenario.  Restoring the image again and having BESR resize the partitions made it right again.  There is an option to Restore Drive to fill unallocated space"  but I think that is more geared toward drives with a single partition being restored to a larger drive.

The lack of an index file (SV2I) during a cold backup is still an issue.  For the moment, we all have to live with restoring the cold backup v2i files individually.

It appears that the Dell utility partition was restored three times, thus the QTY(3) EISA partitions.  Frankly, they are not really needed given the availability of NTFS disk utilities on bootable optical media.  The last PowerEdge 2950 server I built with the the aid of the Dell Installation Utilities DVD specifically offered the option to skip installing a Dell Utility partition. The partition is obviously not required by Dell to make the server work.   When restoring this server again, I would just skip restoring the Dell Utility partition.  I remember that you had worked out the solution before in this post:

http://www.symantec.com/connect/forums/cold-backup-using-besro-852-srd-error

The only thing I would change is not restoring the Dell Utility partition, which would require restoring the MBR to the C: partition instead.  Having BESR resize the partitions won't break your Domain Controller or Exchange configurations.  Unlike Linux, Windows can handle restoring data to resized partitions without much intervention.  The most that is required is an extra reboot because the OS will see the resized volumes as new drives.

[Andreas_Horlach]

Try creating the image file from within the Windows OS if you are going to be using the Restore Anywhere option. Then, during the restore, you have the option to resize the partition.

[marcogsp]

Andreas --  I have to respectfully disagree with you here.  I restored a lab server today from cold BESR images and was able to resize the partitions.  It involves editing the selection and using the Delete Drive button to clear the drive space selected.  The free space on the drive must then be selected again, at which point the option to resize the drive becomes available.

If I understand Albert's scenario correctly, he is trying to image the server with the most assurance that mail will not flow into the server during the imaging process.  If someone is uncomfortable with stopping Exchange services in order to achieve this result during a hot backup, then the cold backup is the best option.  I have also successfully done Restore Anyware restorations with cold backup images, but if I have a choice, I would rather do it from a hot backup image.  It saves waiting for the SRD to boot in order to capture an image.

[Symanticus]

Yes Marco, i must say that i agree with you. The reason why i do it as cold backup is that i need to get assurance that AD replication and Email flow is unaffected during the server migration to new hardware.

I'm now exploring the possibilites to use DISKPART from WIndows to see if ic an get it done without reboot the server and hopefully not screwing up the boot.ini

but thanks anyway to Andreas for the response.

[Symanticus]

Hi All,

My objective is to determine which 55 MB EISA partition that is safe to delete and then reused the 92.13 GB unusable partition :( in which i believe that i must convert the unusable partition into the green Extended partition.

so in this case any suggestion apartfrom using diskpart which is too complicated for me :(

cmiiw