Can the System Image (C:) be restored remotely?

Disk backup and restore, partition imaging and cloning, and drive copy using R-Drive Image.
Forum rules
Discussion on the R-Drive Image software
gjgriffith
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2008 12:26 pm

Can the System Image (C:) be restored remotely?

Post by gjgriffith » Fri Dec 05, 2008 12:29 pm

Hello R-TT Software,

Here is my scenario: I have a remote data center and I do not have full-time physical access to the servers. My goal is to be able to do all of the system administration remotely. Specifically, I would like to do routine System (C: Drive) backups to another disk (that is physically located on the same machine), and, most importantly, have the ability to restore those system backups remotely.

When I try to restore the system in R-Drive Image, I'm required to reboot the machine and complete all of the System restore tasks from the R-Drive "DOS mode" program from the machine (which requires that I have phycial access to the machine). Rebooting the machine is no problem, but completing the restoration tasks from DOS mode presents a problem for me. I'm wondering if it is possible to make a script or something that I can run (from Windows) that automates the system disk restoration process (so that I do not need to have physical access to the machine to complete my system restoration task)?

Please let me know if this is possible, I would really appreciate any help you can provide in this matter! Thanks!

traycer
Posts: 10
Joined: Wed Nov 26, 2008 5:15 pm

Re: Can the System Image (C:) be restored remotely?

Post by traycer » Sat Dec 13, 2008 1:07 pm

I'm wondering if it is possible to make a script or something that I can run (from Windows) that automates the system disk restoration process (so that I do not need to have physical access to the machine to complete my system restoration task)?
But where/how would that script run? If you need to restore your boot drive, presumably that means you have nothing to boot the server. That means no Windows environment to run your restore script. This is why the bootable CD image exists. You can't boot the hard drive, so you boot the CD instead, recover the image to your hard drive, then reboot with the hard drive.

Also, if your hard drive is dead, you will need physical access to swap out the hardware anyway. Might as well do the restore while you're on-site.

Most datacenter-grade servers offer remote console and floppy/CD access. Dell, IBM, Sun, HP, etc. all have this capability. This means you can remotely mount an ISO image and the server will see that as a disc in its virtual CD-ROM drive. Using your remote console, you will be able to see the entire boot process, including POST and any text-mode apps like the Drive Image recovery app.

Another option is to run everything inside a VM rather than directly on the hardware itself. That opens up all sorts of other possibilities with remote management and system recovery.

Alt
Site Moderator
Posts: 3129
Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2008 2:13 pm
Contact:

Re: Can the System Image (C:) be restored remotely?

Post by Alt » Sat Dec 13, 2008 1:14 pm

Well, right no R-Drive Image cannot run scripts in the startup mode.

jimk

Re: Can the System Image (C:) be restored remotely?

Post by jimk » Tue Jun 30, 2009 10:28 am

Hi,

I would like to inquire a little further into this question.

We have remotely hosted Win 2003 servers and we do not have physical access to work on them. We would like to back up the system partition, but this requires us to reboot into the R-Drive Image utility.

Our hosting service provides us with remote Serial Connection access to the servers via SSH. I’m not sure of the capability of the Serial Console into the server other than it being command-line only. If I were to reboot the server into the R-Drive Image utility, would I be able to administer R-Drive Image over the Serial Console Connection or is the serial console only for SAC?

Alt
Site Moderator
Posts: 3129
Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2008 2:13 pm
Contact:

Re: Can the System Image (C:) be restored remotely?

Post by Alt » Tue Jun 30, 2009 11:00 am

Right now - no.
But we are thinking on this feature.

LucCharest

Re: Can the System Image (C:) be restored remotely?

Post by LucCharest » Mon Feb 22, 2010 2:10 pm

Hi, I also only have a remote access to my server, but if I want to restore from image (located on a second drive) in the primary active partition of disk 1 and the OS is still able to boot, is there a way to run the Dos version of the restore tool in unattended mode with a restart after the restore?

Thanks!

Alt
Site Moderator
Posts: 3129
Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2008 2:13 pm
Contact:

Re: Can the System Image (C:) be restored remotely?

Post by Alt » Mon Feb 22, 2010 4:21 pm

Right now - no.

tester

Re: Can the System Image (C:) be restored remotely?

Post by tester » Wed Mar 31, 2010 10:55 am

Wiht you recent release can the System image (C:) be restored remotely?

tester

Can the System Image (C:) be restored remotely?

Post by tester » Thu Apr 08, 2010 10:50 am

Hi, I also only have a remote access to my server, if I want to restore from image (located on a second drive) in the primary active partition of disk 1 and the OS is still able to boot, is there a way to run the Dos version of the restore tool in unattended mode with a restart after the restore in your current verison 4.7?

Thanks!

Alt
Site Moderator
Posts: 3129
Joined: Tue Nov 11, 2008 2:13 pm
Contact:

Re: Can the System Image (C:) be restored remotely?

Post by Alt » Fri Apr 09, 2010 8:28 am

Look. Wen you're restoring a system disk you have to re-start your computer into the startup version of R-Drive Image. That means you'll loose the connection to the computer. To re-establish the connection, R-Drive Image has to get many parameters out of Windows (IP addresses, passwords, etc...). Or you have to specify them manually before system re-start. Moreover, if something goes wrong, you'll loose any access to the computer. Someone else has to restart it manually. All this seems too complex to implement. Most likely, we cannot provide such functionality at the moment. Maybe, we think something out in the future...

Post Reply