Planning for Bare Metal Restores with ASR

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Automated System Recovery (ASR) is a new tool for use with Backup (NTBackup.exe) and other programs created by ISVs. It has a limited but critical purpose: to help you automatically restore your system after a system failure. Previously, restoring the complete system required that you first reinstall the operating system and then restore the data. With a bare metal restore, you can boot a system from the operating system CD, and then use an ASR floppy disk to recover the system directly from a backup.

ASR works with Windows Setup to rebuild the storage configuration of the physical disks and writes the critical operating system files to the boot and system partitions in order to allow the system to boot successfully. This process is referred to as a bare metal restore, because the system is restored to hardware that has no installed software. The process uses an ASR floppy disk that defines the state of the storage prior to the disaster and the process to be used for restoring the server. After an ASR restore completes, you can restore any needed user or application files.