No vmware guest backup possible anymore

[condor81]

Hi together,

unfortunately I cannot backup my vmware guest system anymore. Situation: I have a QNAP NAS TS-421 with 2 harddisk (4 TB) as a RAID system. For some reasons I can't explain both HD are in red light now with message "bad block found". However I also have a ESXi 5.5 with NFS datastore connected to this harddisk. In this vmware guest a Exchange Server (Windows Server 2011) is running (without any problems yet) and now I try to move or backup the machine to another datastore which is not working.

Configuration Exchange VM machine:

• RAM 8 GB
• 2 Virtual Harddisk, Hard disk 1 - 130 GB - Thin provisioned (Drive C in Exchange); Hard disk 2 - 150 GB - Thin provisioned (Drive D in Exchange)
• Hard disk 1 = Exchange-flat.vmdk; Hard disk 2 = Exchange_1-flat.vmdk
• Hosted on NAS (as described) on datastore via NFS
• Machine has no snapshots

What I did:

• Tried to convert the machine (machine switched off) with vm converter 6 -> dosen't work with error FAILED after 35% with message -> FAILED: A general system error occured - TaskInfo indicates error but no exception is specified
• Tried to backup machine (machine switched off) with ghettoVCB -> CLONE: Exchange_1-flat.vmdk 100% done; CLONE: Exchange-flat.vmdk -> Clone: 100% done.Failed to clone disk: Input/output error (327689).
• Tried with Trilead VM Explorer (machine switched off) -> Error message: Exchange-flat.vmdk cannot be downloaded HTTP/1.1. 503 Service Unavailable
• Tried to copy/paste all machine files to another datastore which is actually working -> In vSphere client add a new machine in List from copied vmx File -> Tried to start machine -> machine is starting but windows is only starting in recovery console and not with regular system

For me it seems that Exchange-flat.vmdk has a problem or is corrupted. As I said, right now I can start and stop the machine without any problems but I afraid the Hard disk's on NAS will "check out" soon and I need to move my Exchange very urgent. I'm also pretty down now and had some sleepless nights. Maybe somebody can help or have some suggestions.

Thanks in advance

condor

[losisoft]

So it seems your system disk is corrupted - probably the bad sector sits there somewhere.

I would create a snapshot on the system, and then run a checkdisk /R - which should check for bad sector on the logical disk.

So if you are lucky then it can mark the bad part in the NTFS. Then you are good for a little while.

Then  would try to add a new disk to the system - from a good disk source.

download gparted iso

attach it to the machine and boot from there. Once it's started clone the NTFS disk from the bad disk to the new disk.

[condor81]

Many thanks for your quick response. Unfortunately I'm not the biggest "crack" regarding this......so some questions are coming up:

and then run a checkdisk /R

Running in Exchange / Windows correct?

Then  would try to add a new disk to the system - from a good disk source.

Add it in vmware machine settings as Hard disk 3?

attach it to the machine and boot from there

So you mean start the system from geparted.iso (sorry, I never seen this tool before)?

Once it's started clone the NTFS disk from the bad disk to the new disk.

Okay, in case this will be successful I guess I have to remove the corrupted Hard disk 1 from the machine correct? But how to tell the machine to start from the new disk then? Sorry, I'm a little bit "out of order" today after this nightmare...

[losisoft]

>Running in Exchange / Windows correct?
Correct

>Add it in vmware machine settings as Hard disk 3?
Correct

>So you mean start the system from geparted.iso (sorry, I never seen this tool before)?
Yes. You open the console, and attach the iso to the machine and boot from CD.

>Okay, in case this will be successful I guess I have to remove the corrupted Hard disk 1 from the machine correct?
>But how to tell the machine to start from the new disk then?
Before removing the disk, I suggest to create a snapshot.
When there is an active snapshot on the system - and you delete a disk. It's not really deleting it, you can roll it back, and get back the original disk.

But generally, you would need to remove the old system disk, put the disk 3 to the LUN where disk 1 were.
Additionally in Gparted, the new disk requires some attribute to set (on the partition).
Like: Boot, Active
You should be able to check the current attributes on the old disk, and apply them to the new one.

> Sorry, I'm a little bit "out of order" today after this nightmare
Happens. It's important that you take backups before you do any "dangerous" work.
Like In the first step create a backup before you try to fix the file system, not that you have a worst situatuin than originally had.

[condor81]

Many thanks again for your quick response.

Okay, last question:

put the disk 3 to the LUN where disk 1 were

How to do this, with vSphere client...in vmx? Note, the datastore is connected via NFS in ESXi.

It's important that you take backups before you do any "dangerous" work.

Like In the first step create a backup before you try to fix the file system, not that you have a worst situatuin than originally had.

This is exactly the point, unfortunately I'm not able to create any backup. The only I can do is copy/paste all machine files to another hard disk.

Cheers

Lars