1

I have a project of migrating file share server from old to a new server 2016 The files have share permissions and ntfs permissions so
1 i need to move shares without losing data
2 move shares and nfts permissions

19 Spice ups
2

Robocopy its ur fren run with powershell.

$source="H:\rcopy"
$destination="\\newserver\shares"

ROBOCOPY $source $destination /E /MIR /SEC /LOG:c:\scripts\robocopy.txt /NP

if you want the date to be synced while the share is in use, sync it

$source="H:\rcopy"
$destination="I:\rcopy\"

Robocopy $source $destination /MIR /FFT /Z /XA:H /W:5 /LOG:c:\scripts\robocopy.txt /NP

run it one more time before ultimately migrating the data so that destination has the latest copy.

14 Spice ups
3

I would do the migration over a few days…

  1. Take a screen shoot of the existing file serve manager (with share names and share permissions)

  2. Run the robocopy, first time may take a very long time, subsequent will be faster (changed or new files)

  3. Do a cut over after the last robocopy ends…shutdown existing FS and then share out from new FS

2 Spice ups
4

To copy over the share information and all of the share permissions and other parameters,

If you are running VMs, you can just detach the original VMDK or VHDX from the old VM an attach to the new VM, without doing any of the robocopy stuff. :slight_smile:

If you aren’t already using VMs, your new file server should be.

If you are using a DFS Namespace, you can just adjust the DFS Namespace to point the new server and shares instead of the old one. If you are not already using a DFS Namespace, you need to re-do all drive mappings, login scripts, redirected folders, linked Office documents, etc. If you have to do all that, you might as well point to a DFS Namespace for the transition, as it is the same amount of work to migrate, and all future migrations become relatively trivial.

3 Spice ups
5

I recently completed this same exercise and did it over a few days. I created the new shares on the new server, and created all the permissions. Then I moved the data from the old share to the new share , one by one.

As I moved them I edited the startup scripts to change the client mapping from the old server to the new server. End user’s didn’t even it had had happened, as they were used to going to their mapped drives for the data. Any shortcuts on their desktops still worked as they were pointing to a drive letter and that hadn’t changed.

6

Having done this many times , I would use Robocopy to replicate the files , folders and permission from the old to new server then do a cut over. If you are using a different name for your FS don’t forget to update GPOs , Scripts etc.

One gotcha is folder / filename names and file depth.

1 Spice up
7

Set up the two servers in DFS and enable replication. Once the files have been replicated, change any mapped drive gpo’s or anything to the dfs share name. Then configure a second server for redundancy :slight_smile:

2 Spice ups
8

I have recently have done this also. I just restored data the data from a Veeam Backup out of hours keeping permissions, then just re-created the shares.

All 1.5tb was done in 2 hours with no issues.

You can as stated before just create new server and move VMDK drives over, but we wanted fresh drives creating due to someone changing the disks to Dynamic Disks…

1 Spice up
9

Why not use the File Server Migration Wizard? I used this twice for two seamless migrations.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=10268

2 Spice ups
10

+1 for the DFS solution. Create your folder structure with Robocopy on the new server and point the folder targets to old and new server. Let DFS replication do it’s magic.

If replication is finished, remove the folder targets for the old server in DFS configuration (of just disable them at first) and you’re done.

2 Spice ups
11

I second robocopy

1 Spice up
12

Another for Robocopy.

1 Spice up
13

If we moved to new share server we shall change all the folder target names to add new server name for DFS

14

I tried dfs replication before but not reliable nor efficient also takes so much bandwidth

15

File server migration tool isnt for ntfs permissions

16

Robocopy works very nicely. Mirror for several days and cutover on a weekend. Use the proper switches for permissions etc as you require.

17

+1 for robocopy… I actually just done a migration over the weekend using this method!

1 Spice up
18

I like Robo copy too but I also like RICHCOPY which is graphical. Create the shares on the new box and use this to keep them in sync… Free Utility: RichCopy, an Advanced Alternative to RoboCopy | Microsoft Learn

It is called “Robocopy GUI”

1 Spice up
19

1+ for Robocopy. I have used programs in the past and they mess up permissions or change ownership for files/folders.

20

Use VMware if you can or +1 for robocopy.