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patjbs
Asked: 2009-09-01 15:31:47 +0800 CST

Recovery of Windows DFS partion with shadow copy versioned files when overwritten with older modified date?

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I've noticed the following "bug" on a DFS volume with shadow copies:

Pretend you have the following folders/files under shadow copy versioning, going back two weeks.

MyDirectory
+ MyFile - Modified Date 8/1/2009

The current date: 8/30/2009

You have another version of MyFile stored elsewhere, with a modified date of 7/1/2009.

Copy your other version of MyFile into MyDirectory, overwriting the newest version. I expected that you could roll back to the version that was there when it last imaged, say on the prior day and recover your 8/1 version. Not the case. Now, when you go to look at previous versions for the past two weeks, the versioning of that file will be entirely lost, and you'll be stuck with your older 7/1 version. Suckage.

Questions:
(1) Is this intentional, and if so, what's the rationale? I assume that DFS picks up on the versioning based on the current file, and that's what's wiping out prior versions, but it seems like a fairly stupid/naive way of handling versioning to me.
(2) Is there a way to backtrack out of this, without resorting to restoration from other backup mediums?

Thanks!

windows-server-2003 filesystems dfs vss

1 Answers

  1. I think it's more intuitive when you visualize a timeline. Initially, assume you have save points like so:

    8/1 .....8/10.... 8/30

    If you want to revert back to the 2nd save point, make changes and edit, you now have:

    8/1 .....8/10.... 9/1

    8/30 has been deleted. The alternative would be:

    8/1 .....8/10....... 9/1
    ... ... ... ... ... |...8\30 (maybe someone will help fix this lame formatting)

    I could see the multiple timeline branches getting fairly space-intensive, and a pain to manage & navigate. So naturally, when we turn back the clock all the way back to 7/1, it will also wipe out the tree that's been "rewound".

    The way I understand it, DFS is intended to be a fairly simplistic method to handle this. Anything more complex and I'd look into a content management system (from Sharepoint to Documentum, depending on how serious you want to get).

    As far as tricky DFS restoring tips, sorry, I got nothin. I'd be pulling out the tapes. (assuming you've already checked the ConflictAndDeleted folder)

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