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We have a file server (fs00) on Google Cloud Platform (GCP):

  • Running Windows Server 2019 (with Desktop Experience installed).
  • One OS / System disk (250GB SSD)
  • An independent data disk (5TB standard tier)
  • Backups performed via disk snapshots with VSS coalescing enabled.

The data disk:

  • Is a "Basic" disk in the OS
  • GPT partition table
  • NTFS file system.
  • Has Data Deduplication enabled on the resulting volume / share
    • 5.8x space saving reported.

When trying to restore a backup, we've:

  • Created a new disk from a snapshot
  • Attached it to a fresh Windows Server 2019 VM (from the GCP base image).

The disk appears in "diskmgmt.msc", but doesn't show correctly in Server Manager, only showing a the physical disk with no volumes, even after we "Online" the disk in either "diskmgmt" or Server Manager.

I can assign a drive letter and access most of the files (so far).

"Get-DedupStatus" shows nothing

The disk/volume doesn't show in "Get-Volume" either.

Nothing is different after installing the Deduplication Feature

Or after starting the dedup service manually in "services.msc".

My question is: should I be able to enable the deduplication service and see the metadata?

I'm worried about getting this correct for a scenario where we need to restore EVERYTHING from backup and realising the snapshots are as good as useless.

iamacarpet
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  • Is "deduplication feauture" installed in fresh Windows 2019? – batistuta09 Aug 20 '20 at 21:59
  • No, but we retried the whole thing and installed it straight after the first boot before attaching the disk, still no difference frustraitingly. – iamacarpet Aug 21 '20 at 10:33
  • Here isa VERY stupid question - why do you not try out? You already run on a cloud provioder. Provisioning a second system for the sole purpose of trying out is TRIVIAL - also cost wise (a day or two). This would put you into the terrific situation to simulate AND TRAIN for a failure. And what is the old rule? A backup does not exist unless you have successfully restored. So, instead of asking you could turn this into a valuable training exercise and KNOW your setup actually works at all. – TomTom Aug 24 '20 at 09:39
  • That's exactly why I'm asking, we did try it out and it "appeared" to work, but why are all the dialogues not working properly? And why do none of the deduplication tools show anything, even after installing the required feature? I'm not a Windows person, just stuck with this and to me this is just another of 1,000 examples of Windows functioning just enough (maybe?) but very, very poorly. If you are a Windows guru, hopefully I'm just misunderstanding something and you can set me straight? – iamacarpet Aug 24 '20 at 20:15

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