Hi, I used to backup my 2003 server SP2 system state and drive C (System) with ntbackup. Let say i have a server failure and want to restore the backup to another server - different type (driver issue will be the obstacle), i have installed the server with server 2003 SP2. Is there any guidance to do this? Any option to restore data using ntbackup without restore/overwrite the driver of new server?Thanks!

Restoring the Active Directory on another hardware is called as Disaster recovery, please refer the below article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/263532http://www.virmansec.com/blogs/skhairuddin

Hi Syed, Thanks for your prompt response, i've tried the guideline given before, and stuck when try to repair, since the windows CD doesn't recognize my harddisk (3rd party AHCI driver), i've tried to press F6 and F7, both result in no response, any idea why?Thanks!

Hi, What problem did you encounter after the disaster recovery restoration? Meanwhile, please have a look at this article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/237556 Regards, Bruce

after restoring the active directory please start the server directly in the safe mode and go to the device manager and remove all the old drivers from there. The drives are not recognized because you might be having SATA hard drives you should go IN THE BIOS and change the sata option AHCI to disable and give a try.http://www.virmansec.com/blogs/skhairuddin

To Bruce, I cannot try the solution on the link given, since I cannot logon to windows and open device manager. To Syed, even in Safe Mode, I cannot logon, the computer just hang in there, cannot move mouse and keyboard. As per your statement, it is true the hard drive controller driver problem, since i use different HW. But thanks all, now I can logon to windows. I go to F2 options, change disk configuration to ATA, let the windows keep rebooting 3-4 times, and then change it back to AHCI, finally the hang is gone and i can logon. Weirdo, but it solves my problem. Thanks!

If you want to migrate existing Windows Server 2003 os to dissimilar hardware, I am greatly doubted for depending on Microsoft. My advice is to seek for a windows server 2003 backup software which offers hardware independent restore. It would save you much trouble.