Home Forums Discussions Problems HELP Catastrophic loss of imported items

We have the plan complete and will upgrade to Windows Server 2008. We are waiting for the last of the wrinkles to be worked out of the SQL 2012 AC.

I have managed other servers with 2008 and one server with 2012. 2008 is really nice. I don't have enough experience with 2012 to make a call one way or the other.

They are both nice. 2012 just more flexibility, etc. Personally, I would ask Sandeep. I think he founded Microsoft. Proud of all the work you are doing.

Also, I don't know why James doesn't kill me for bypassing him. You can talk to him. But, if you EVER need SQL help, I have an incredible SQL IT. He's probably worked on quite a few. Very reasonable. Emails all free up to remote. Just a thought. He's got to be better than AC as they aren't in the SQL business.

James don't kill me, but then again, I haven't had any kid with a diaper rash referred to me by you, lol.

We just had a failure. We couldn't restore a prior version of the AC database. The database can be restored at AC but not on the practice server.

We were trying to get the report that says what files are missing. In order to do that we need to restore back to before the bad links were fixed.

Tomorrow I will write run XCOPY with the switches set to tell me what files would be copied from the ones I found to the II. XCOPY will be set to ignore matches.

We can then use the AC utility to repair the links to new files in the folders.

I will also be talking with Craig tomorrow to see if he has another rabbit up his sleeve.

Thank you all for the luck you have wished us and please wish us more!

Just wanted to throw this is for anyone who is reading this. It may not be adequate but it is helpful. If you have AC Backup set to notify you, you get this message:

Your Amazing Charts backup process completed successfully.

Details:
File Name: \\SERVER\Amazing Charts\BACKUP
File Size: 214395040 bytes
Time Backup Started: 8/22/2013 7:03:38 AM
Time Backup Completed: 8/22/2013 7:06:38 AM
Alternate Locations:
Location 1 : File copied successfully to : [\\SERVER\Backups\AC Backups]

Additional Messages:

Images were not included.
Imported Items were not included.
NOT UPLOADED TO AC BACKUP SITE.

It doesn't jump out at you, but it does state it didn't back up imported items or images.

Just putting it out there.

I have always thought it would be better if the imported items were contained in SQL. Apparently they can in something called Filestream. It can work with Express, but I don't think it could hold enough data.

To me, the link system is just too tenuous.

I use an online backup system from LogMeIn called Cubby for my personal stuff.

It makes an initial copy, that took a while for my huge folder, then only copies changes thereafter. When I delete a file I can go to Cubby and the file is gone. I can go into archives though of Cubby and find the last 15 changes I made. I can retrieve a deleted message.

The downside with using it here is to un-delete this many messages could take a very, very long time.

I am going to look into an online storage area that lets me xcopy to it but it doesn't copy any deletes. It will overwrite any files but that is ok in this case. I will only use it for II.

jasman,

THE tool for high-speed file syncing is rsync.

You'll notice that there are *lots* of Windows variants to choose from.

You'll find that using the tool is non-trival, but you will not be able to believe how fast it is. Part of the power is all the settings that can be modified to accomplish specific tasks.

I'll also acknowledge that once you have a command running well with all of the flags you want set, I save them, as a single command serves the purpose of what would in other environments take an entire script.

Indy is correct about rsync. And, you can choose where to back up. I may have missed something, but what is the rush to an online backup instead of external drives?

No rush. Thinking out loud to ensure I am not caught in a similar mess again.

My focus is on getting the files back. As you know, backup and retrieval leave a lot of time on one's hands.

Thanks for the suggestion regarding rsync!

Sort of the bare bones rsync. Indy can help set that up. Can send it to a computer at home.

FYI: Backup Assist, which is the cream of the crop for backup software in the mid range, has an rsync interface that makes it rather simple.

Thanks Bert!

The download of the backup file from Amazing charts to the server failed again last night. Craig is uploading the backup file to an FTP site and then downloading it via FTP to the server.

We are missing 1204 files from the II folder. I found and un-deleted over 1300 files from the II folder location. I am waiting for the report to tell me where to move files back into what folders. Then I will find out if the extra files exist in the folders and are linked to in AC.

Tomorrow will be a long day

If performance is an issue we have equipment in a Tier 4 facility with an interface that we can burst to typically whatever you can take downstream - it will require the use of an SFTP client like FileZilla.

Drop me a PM if you would like access.

Jasman,

Sounds like quite the adventure thus far. Glad the undelete utility helped.

Bert,

No offense taken.

Indy, great recommendation on rsync. I've used it myself.

JamesNT

Thanks Indy. The upload to an FTP site and the download to my server just completed! Yea! We are so limited on the island regarding internet capacity and reliability.

We will work on retrieving the report on the missing files Monday night.

I will keep you all posted. I wouldn't want to read an entire book without the final chapters.

There are options under Advanced tab in backup to chk mark
Imported items to include in the backup

Hi folks. I found and replaced the missing files. Thanks for all of your help!! It was scary but we got through it.

I have set an independent backup to XCOPY the new or changed files to the backup folder on another hard drive (Raid partition). I then XCOPY the backup folder to a hard drive located in a 'hard drive dock' that I use for backup.

Once a week we swap that drive out for a new one. The drive pulled out is put in a safe.

For those who don't remember or have never heard of XCOPY it is a DOS command that has a lot of extended capabilities. For example it can be set to only copy files that either don't exist or are new than the existing file.

Once again, Thank You all for your help!