Protect File System Volume

The Protect File System Volume option allows you to protect and manage Windows volumes (basic disks or dynamic disks) with existing file systems and data that you wish to preserve. After protecting the volume, it can be mirrored and mapped to application servers while preserving the data. This feature is available from the Disk Manager tool in SANsymphony Console.  

Important information:

  • The storage server must see the formatted disk in Windows Disk Management.

  • The file system must have either a FAT, FAT32, or NTFS file system.

  • To protect a file system volume, the volume must have a file system and all drive letters must be removed.

  • After protecting a file system volume, the storage server manages the entire Windows volume.

  • The local SANsymphony boot disk can NOT be protected.

  • Volumes marked as system disks can NOT be protected.

  • You can disable the protection when desired without destroying the data.

 

Follow these steps to add a protect a file system volume:

  1. In Windows Disk Management, identify the volume to protect and remove all drive letters from the volume. (After removing the drive letters, these partitions will no longer be visible in Windows Explorer on your storage server.)

  2. In the SANsymphony Console, open Disk Manager in the console tree.

  3. Select the Protected Volumes component and choose Refresh from the context tree.

  4. In the right pane, identify the disk to protect. There will be one instance per partition on the volume. Select an instance of the volume and choose Protect File System Volume from the context menu. The volume will be removed from the list.

  5. In SANmanager Virtual Volumes tab, select the storage server in the left pane and choose Refresh from the context menu. The volume will appear and can be managed by the storage server.

 

Follow these steps to remove a protected file system volume:

  1. In SANmanager Virtual Volumes tab, select the storage server hosting the protected file system volume.  

  2. Select the protected file system volume and choose Delete from the context menu.

  3. Apply the configuration changes.

  4. In the SANsymphony Console, open Disk Manager in the console tree.

  5. Select the Protected Volumes component and choose Refresh from the context menu.

  6. In Windows Disk Management, identify the volume and add the drive letters.

 

Protect File System Volume