I want to swap out the hdd that came with the server with a new one.
How to install OS on the new hdd when the server dont come with cd drive?
Guess i can install it from one of the other pc's in the network.
But dont know how.

If difficult ill take backup of all that i have on the hdd thats already in the mediasmart server to recover to factory default.
In that case, how?

Best regards

roxbury

First, WELCOME to the World of WHS/MSS. Good to have you aboard.

You are correct that this can be done from a client PC. You use the Server Recovery disk to do it.

We really need a little more information on your configuration. How many disks do you have installed? What sizes are they? How much data on each one? (Posting a screen shot from the Disk Management Add-In would be rather ideal for us to understand your configuration.)

Recommendations on how you would proceed would depend on your configuration.

_________________
....JBick

EX475, 2 GB, LE-1640
PC1: Vista-->W7 Ultimate/32, (D-Drive RAID-5 Array)
PC2: Lenovo Laptop, Win XP Home SP3
2xLinksys WRT54G v1.1 and 2xNetGear GS105 Gbit switch

Now its only a 500gb thats in the drive. Backuped all the data on it so no need to worry about that.

I copied the ISO that was named: restorecd.iso from the server.
Guess that is the cd that i need to use for installation?

Is there a howto guide that i can take a look at?

Thanks

roxbury

My next question to you is WHY? If you have a single-drive 500GB system (I ass-u-me an EX470) why would you want to replace the drive as opposed to ADDING a drive? If you add you can turn on duplication, have more space and really have a more robust and reliable system. Actually we generally recommend the system drive plus TWO other (generally high-capacity, 1TB+) drives. Once the data is moved off the sydtem drive (there is a utility available to do that) your backups, Shared Folders and duplicates of the shared folders will be on the additional two drives. The System Drive will be used for the system (C:) partition (about 4% of the space) and the rest of the drive will be generally unused until the other drives begin to reach capacity. And, once the data is on other drives, the process for replacing the system drive is simpler.

But if you really want to proceed:

(1) Partition the new drive and format it (full, not quick), preferably in another PC before using it. If you can't do it in another PC insert it into the MSS, go into the MSS with the Remote Desktop, open the Disk Management utility and partition/format it there. That is the perfect time to reconsider whether you want to just add it at that point or really go through with the rest of this.)
(2) Power down and swap the drives
(3) Remove all the HP MS and MS WHS software from all clients
(4) Power on the MSS
(5) Insert the SERVER RESTORE disk into a client and run it. Follow the instructions for the FACTORY RESET.
(6) Get all the MS updates. The updates may appear to get "stuck" at 14-18%; just leave it overnight as there is a LOT to download
(7) Get all the HP updates
(8) RESTART the server and repeat setps 5 & 6 until all the updates have been applied.
(9) Set up the server, defining users, new folders, access privileges, etc. as you did originally
(10) Follow the original instructions for setting up the other clients
(11) Re-install any Add-Ins
(12) Re-Install any desktop applications you may have installed -- and set them up.

You can find a lot of information about the MSS at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/support.mspx , including links to manuals, technical briefs, etc. (The technical brief on the Data Extender will help you understand why we recommend keeping the original drive and adding at least one other one, preferably two.)

If you decide to re-use that original 500GB drive in the WHS re-partition it to a single partition and format it BEFORE installing it in the MSS. Failure to do so WILL cause problems and it MAY result in data loss.

_________________
....JBick

EX475, 2 GB, LE-1640
PC1: Vista-->W7 Ultimate/32, (D-Drive RAID-5 Array)
PC2: Lenovo Laptop, Win XP Home SP3
2xLinksys WRT54G v1.1 and 2xNetGear GS105 Gbit switch

I'm posting here for the 1st time in this thread because it sounds like the situation that is most like mine...

Like a few other folks in this forum, I reset my EX485 WHS firewall settings & lost all contact with my server. I tried to do a server recovery on my with no success. Not being concerned with data loss, I proceeded with multiple server resets with no success. Below is the process I ran through for each reset.

1) My MSS and laptop/desktop are on the same network/router (Airport Extreme DHCP)

2) I uninstalled the MSS Console from my Laptop & desktop

3) I inserted the server recovery DVD into the laptop and followed it until it instructed me to put the MSS into recovery mode.

4) I removed the system drive & on another computer, I completely wiped & reformatted 20 GB partition on the system drive in NTFS. I reinserted & locked the system drive in place.

5) I turned the MSS off (hold power button for 4 seconds) and there were no USB devices plugged it.

6) I turned on the MSS and waited for the OS light to flash Blue and Red. When this happened I pressed the recovery mode button ONCE with a pin.

7) I waited (Approx 30 seconds) for the OS light to flash Red and Purple.

8 ) I went back to my laptop & found the server.

9) I selected reset.

10) I waited until this process finished (Approx 60 minutes) & then pressed next....

11) On my laptop, the connector software never finds the MSS again during any of the attempts. I have all blue lights across the bottom front with no system drive light.

12) I can see the MSS listed on my Airport Extreme (ID'ed by MAC address, IP address, & Client ID [minint-cvltfco]).

13) All follow-on attempts to manually & automatically fail to connect to server.

14) All attempts to use remotely access MSS via the IP address &/or server name [tried minint*, tried HPSERVER, tried SERVER) failed.

Does anyone have any ideas? Is there something I'm missing?

If I read your steps correctly you had the MSS power on when you removed the System Drive in Step #4. This drive is actually not to be hot-swapped (thus the lock). It is also not necessary to reformat the system drive if it is to be used again as a system drive; that is done only if the old system is to be replaced and then re-used as another drive in the MSS.

Do you have more than one dribe in the MSS? Has the other drive ever been used as a system drive? If it has then re-partition it to a single partition and format it on another system before proceeding.

Power down the MSS, confirm that the System Drive is firmly seated and then try again, SKIPPING STEP #4.

If that fails, do you have another drive? If you do, remove the System Drive and perform the same steps with another drive in that slot, starting it up as a single-drive system.

_________________
....JBick

EX475, 2 GB, LE-1640
PC1: Vista-->W7 Ultimate/32, (D-Drive RAID-5 Array)
PC2: Lenovo Laptop, Win XP Home SP3
2xLinksys WRT54G v1.1 and 2xNetGear GS105 Gbit switch

John, thanks for the quick reply. Sorry, that was a detail I left out n my post. Nope, I didn't hot swap. The system drive is the only one in the server when attempting the resets. I did try some other drives to see if I could make them the system drive as well (w/no success). I formtted each of them in NTFS (20 GB partition w/ the remainder of the disk left as free space). The drive is detected during the reset & communicates right up until the connector part. I will check & see if the drive is properly seated.

I just tried another reset with a Netgear wifi router. I disabled wifi & connected my laptop & MSS via Ethernet. I enabled UPnP, disconnected the WAN connection, & assigned a specific IP to the MSS. The reset proceeded normally until the connector started. Once again the MSS could not be found at that point. I am unsure why the laptop & MSS are talking initial & during the reset, but they fail to talk during the connector portion. BTW, I tried to ping the IP address I assigned to the MSS & got nothing.

Create a SINGLE partition on that drive for the ENTIRE drive. (Do NOT try to split out the 20GB.)

Format the partition. To be extra safe use the full, not "quick" format.

Put the drive in the MSS and try again with the original configuration. (Let's not introduce a bunch of new variables here.)

_________________
....JBick

EX475, 2 GB, LE-1640
PC1: Vista-->W7 Ultimate/32, (D-Drive RAID-5 Array)
PC2: Lenovo Laptop, Win XP Home SP3
2xLinksys WRT54G v1.1 and 2xNetGear GS105 Gbit switch

Will do...got it formatting now. I ran w/a 20 GB partition originally because that is what the reset utility did to the drive...& like you said I was trying not to throw add'l variables into the mix.

WHS should over-ride whatever you do to that drive but given you are having problems I am trying to eliminate that as a contributing factor. I have seen funny behavior a couple times with disks that had multiple partitions. As I recall the partitions were not even formatted for Windows -- which was like the problem in those cases -- but we're still better off eliminating that variable first.

(Others are welcome to jump in with ideas, as usual!)

_________________
....JBick

EX475, 2 GB, LE-1640
PC1: Vista-->W7 Ultimate/32, (D-Drive RAID-5 Array)
PC2: Lenovo Laptop, Win XP Home SP3
2xLinksys WRT54G v1.1 and 2xNetGear GS105 Gbit switch

Well, I reformatted the whole drive w/a single NTFS partition. It completely went through the reset process w/no issues. Once again, when the server rebooted the connector software on my laptop did not detect the MSS.

I have the laptop & MSS both plugged via CAT-5 into my router with WAN disconnected. I have DHCP turned on. I have wifi turned off. I have UPnP turned on.

Any other ideas? I don't know why it would initially detect the MSS during the reset & then be unable to detect once a fresh OS is in place.

Let me think about this one a bit... In the meantime maybe someone else has some thoughts???

_________________
....JBick

EX475, 2 GB, LE-1640
PC1: Vista-->W7 Ultimate/32, (D-Drive RAID-5 Array)
PC2: Lenovo Laptop, Win XP Home SP3
2xLinksys WRT54G v1.1 and 2xNetGear GS105 Gbit switch

can you ping the server by name? (i.e from a command prompt on your laptop PING HPSERVER)

_________________
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I have not been able to ping by server name (shows up as "minint***") at any point since trying the resets. I can ping by IP address during the initial phase of the reset. Once I get the "reset complete" notification & the MSS reboots I am unable to ping by IP or server name. My router's web admin screen also does not show the MSS being attached once the reset has completed & the MSS has rebooted & the connector app starts scanning for the reset MSS.