Using robocopy to mirror (with security) physical drive E: to iSCSI drive G: Once this is complete, I was planning to make sure there are no open file handles or sessions (it's a file share server) and then:

  1. Delete drive letter E:
  2. Rename drive letter G: to E:

At step #1, will the shares (upon which DFS is reliant) stay intact or will they get deleted/broken?

link|improve this question

38% accept rate
feedback

1 Answer

Yes the shares are associated with the drive letter and/or mount point.

I have used a procedure similar to that in the past when moving to a different type of storage. I replicate the data, stop the server service, shuffle the drive letters or mount points around, and restart the Server service.

You mention DFS, are you doing an DFS replication. I am pretty sure that drive letter swap would completely screw up replication, but I don't have any good references to support that belief. If you are only using DFS for namespace purposes then it shouldn't matter.

link|improve this answer
We are using DFS namespaces and DFS replication but the two aren't connected (e.g. replication not published/link to namespace). I was planning to stop the DFSR service as well - it uses drive letters so I guessed E:\Data would still work after jiggling letters around – Rob Nicholson Sep 8 '11 at 21:15
If you are using DFS-R I believe you would have to disable/remove the replica. Then re-add it when you are done with shuffling things around. When you copy the data, make sure you do it correctly, or you will have a massive resync. This blog describes the steps required to Replacing DFSR Member Hardware. I believe you would have to follow those steps here to make sure your replica is valid. – Zoredache Sep 8 '11 at 21:25
feedback

Your Answer

 
or
required, but never shown

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.