I am using Time Machine Server on a Mini Server to backup three clients, and the server itself, to a RAID array. I want to know how to move the data to a larger drive array. Apple support mentions how to either add more TM disks and/or delete the old one(s), but not how to migrate to a larger one and preserve backup history
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Move existing Time Machine client backups data to a larger disk array
- Thread starter mwalsh8
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I found that earlier. It seems correct for local drives, but i am not sure about using server. My server TM disk has a different folder structure that the one described - the server backup is in a different folder than the rest of them. Currently I am creating a disk image of the TM drive (after turning off backups on all the clients) onto another RAID volume that I am hoping to restore on the newly built array. Although starting over is not the end of the world, it would be nice to preserve the backup history.
Time Machine Backups
Careful as Apple does not endorse TM for enterprise solutions.(Please read on)
If this helps here was my setup supporting 125 macs.
Xserve W/ 14 TB Promise vtrak Raid Via fiber 10.6.8 Snow Leopard
1st two drives in Xserve Raid 0 with OS, Cloned daily to Third Drive bay for Emergency Boot
All users home folders resided on Promise Raid Volume.
Promise Raid Volume Time Machined Hourly to 24 TB Super Micro NAS Via ISCI
This worked flawless and was put to the test. Two drives on the Promise failed at the same time and I made the assumption that you would just pop the bad drive out and put a new one in and VIOLA ! Well not when 2 Drives Fail!
(Shame on me for my carlessness)
I rebuilt the Raid and then did a Full restore from the NAS.
It took just under 6 hours to restore about 10 TB of data. Needless to say this was the longest 6 hours of my IT Career.
Everything worked FLAWLESSLY with the exception of one Filemaker Data Base where as it just needed a permissions tweek.
I had the Enterprise support care and when i called to inquire about Time Machine this is when I was informed that they do not realy support or endorse using in an Enterprise enviornment .
Careful as Apple does not endorse TM for enterprise solutions.(Please read on)
If this helps here was my setup supporting 125 macs.
Xserve W/ 14 TB Promise vtrak Raid Via fiber 10.6.8 Snow Leopard
1st two drives in Xserve Raid 0 with OS, Cloned daily to Third Drive bay for Emergency Boot
All users home folders resided on Promise Raid Volume.
Promise Raid Volume Time Machined Hourly to 24 TB Super Micro NAS Via ISCI
This worked flawless and was put to the test. Two drives on the Promise failed at the same time and I made the assumption that you would just pop the bad drive out and put a new one in and VIOLA ! Well not when 2 Drives Fail!
(Shame on me for my carlessness)
I rebuilt the Raid and then did a Full restore from the NAS.
It took just under 6 hours to restore about 10 TB of data. Needless to say this was the longest 6 hours of my IT Career.
Everything worked FLAWLESSLY with the exception of one Filemaker Data Base where as it just needed a permissions tweek.
I had the Enterprise support care and when i called to inquire about Time Machine this is when I was informed that they do not realy support or endorse using in an Enterprise enviornment .
home server
Thanks for all the info... I have had to do a restore from TM backups once. Not a comfortable feeling, until it worked. I also use CCC to make bootable copies of all the system drives of each portable. I have been using it for YEARS without issues. I have the server drive clone nightly so it is able to boot right away after a failure....
This is on my home network - Clients include my 2008 MBP, my wife's 2009 Mini, etc. backing up to a 2010 Mini Server. The original RAID array is an OWC Guardian Maximus mirror (two, 2TB drives).
As it turns out 2TB is not really enough to backup 3+ machines (it only includes one of the server drives). The second server drive is used for iTunes media that is played on an Apple TV. Although it does not change much, it would be nice to include it as well. I plan on getting one or two more clients, so a larger TM drive is in order. The new RAID array is an OWC Mercury Rack Pro as RAID 5. I also have one of their Qx2's as a RAID 5 (4x2GB for 6GB capacity), mostly for archives of images and video that is kept in offsite copies as well. For the new array i want to use the two drives from the original mirror, plus the spare i bought at the time I set them all up (4TB storage). I created the disk image from the TM disk, and was going to put it back on one of the 2TB disks to see it it works. I will have to wipe the original copies to create the new RAID, so i want to test first since I have the time. It took about 15 hours to create the compressed disk image. So far is wanted to "scan" the image, but could not. I ended up with a "no mountable file system" error... time to circle the wagons.
Thanks for all the info... I have had to do a restore from TM backups once. Not a comfortable feeling, until it worked. I also use CCC to make bootable copies of all the system drives of each portable. I have been using it for YEARS without issues. I have the server drive clone nightly so it is able to boot right away after a failure....
This is on my home network - Clients include my 2008 MBP, my wife's 2009 Mini, etc. backing up to a 2010 Mini Server. The original RAID array is an OWC Guardian Maximus mirror (two, 2TB drives).
As it turns out 2TB is not really enough to backup 3+ machines (it only includes one of the server drives). The second server drive is used for iTunes media that is played on an Apple TV. Although it does not change much, it would be nice to include it as well. I plan on getting one or two more clients, so a larger TM drive is in order. The new RAID array is an OWC Mercury Rack Pro as RAID 5. I also have one of their Qx2's as a RAID 5 (4x2GB for 6GB capacity), mostly for archives of images and video that is kept in offsite copies as well. For the new array i want to use the two drives from the original mirror, plus the spare i bought at the time I set them all up (4TB storage). I created the disk image from the TM disk, and was going to put it back on one of the 2TB disks to see it it works. I will have to wipe the original copies to create the new RAID, so i want to test first since I have the time. It took about 15 hours to create the compressed disk image. So far is wanted to "scan" the image, but could not. I ended up with a "no mountable file system" error... time to circle the wagons.
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Have used it plenty of times to recover machines, to date cant say it's failed (but at times wasnt exactly fast...). Scenarios included:
- Installing a SSD into a macbook - I used a local HDD for this, all the others below were via network/nas (My trusty QNAP).
- Rebuilding an iMac after installing Beta OSX and wanting to move back to a production version
- Rebuilding an iMac after a HDD failure
- Cloning an iMac
- Just to see if it worked
That is the single most important thing you can do with backups. Here's a quip I found a while ago on the interwebs:
If you haven't tested your backups, you don't *have* backups, you have hopes.
