How to backup Mac server files and restore to Windows server?

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Level 1

118 points

How to backup Mac server files and restore to Windows server?

Our company is moving from Mac Server to Windows Server 2008 R2.

I'd like to connect a hard drive to the Mac server (via existing eSATA) and backup our data (just file level backup is fine, don't need permissions or security) and then move hard drive to new Windows 2008 R2 server and restore files.

Does anyone have any cross-platform backup/restore software they can recommend?

We have about 500GB of data, so I prefer a locally connected device to backup to instead of over-the-network backup.

Thank you for your ideas!

Posted on Nov 13, 2012 6:42 AM

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Answer 1

Nov 13, 2012 9:15 AM in response to Darryl Mylrea

As standard the Mac cannot write to NTFS format disks, and as standard Windows cannot read from HFS+ disks. FAT32 might be a possibility but it does not support files bigger than 4GB.

The simplest if slower option is to do it over the network using SMB. If you do really want to do it with a hard disk then you may need to consider getting some software to let either Mac or Windows deal with the others preferred hard disk format.

To let the Mac write to NTFS there are several choices but the one I have used in the past is NTFS for Mac by Paragon, see http://www.paragon-software.com/home/ntfs-mac/

To let Windows read from HFS again the are multiple possible choices but the one I have used in the past and still use is MacDrive, see http://www.mediafour.com/products/macdrive

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Answer 2

Darryl Mylrea Author

Level 1

118 points

Nov 13, 2012 9:39 AM in response to John Lockwood

Good points. I might also look at exFAT. Not sure whether our version of OS X Server supports it.

Apart from that, any recommendations on backup software? Something that has versions for OS X and Windows and can backup and restore cross-platform?

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Answer 3

Darryl Mylrea Author

Level 1

118 points

Nov 13, 2012 10:35 AM in response to John Lockwood

I did confirm that our 10.6.7 OS X servers should support exFAT (apparently, 10.6.5 and higher).

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Answer 4

Nov 13, 2012 10:47 AM in response to Darryl Mylrea

I have checked and Windows 2008 Server R2 does also support exFAT and exFAT does support bigger files. I would not plan to use it as a permenant choice for a drive on your new Windows server but it looks a good choice for moving the data via a temporary drive.

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Answer 5

rannable

Level 1

25 points

Nov 14, 2012 12:17 AM in response to John Lockwood

I agree with John on this and had to deploy a similar solution previously.

I think Disk Utility can erase a disk in MS-DOS (FAT) will that not do?

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Answer 6

Darryl Mylrea Author

Level 1

118 points

Nov 14, 2012 5:17 AM in response to rannable

Thanks guys, but the real question here isn't exFAT compatibility. I already knew exFAT is compatible with OS X, I often use it to move data between Macs and PC's. I wasn't sure if exFAT would work with our servers because they are older versions of Snow Leopard, but I did confirm that 10.6.7 is fine.

What I'm really looking for is some engenious way of moving 400GB of data, via HDD, from a Mac server to a new Windows server.

I've gotten a recommendation of using Carbon Copy Cloner to clone the files to an exFAT drive, then I can use Windows ROBOCOPY to move them to Windows.

I need a solution that is foolproof (and fool-proof!) and where I can verify that every one of the bajillion files got copied over.

We currently use CrashPlan on the Mac Servers and thought of using that to restore to Windows, but it's so darn slow in everything it does.

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Answer 7

Nov 14, 2012 5:47 AM in response to Darryl Mylrea

I can understand why a simple Finder copy on the Mac end is not desired as if it hits a problem it is very hard to see how far it got.

Yes Carbon Copy Cloner is an option. For people more from a Unix background there is Rsync.

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