Entries in whsdbdump (3)

Wednesday
Aug202008

WhsDbDump - 1.0.0 Build 4 BETA

DateWednesday, August 20, 2008 at 10:40AM

Changes:

  • Fixed alternate data stream output. Was outputting primary as alternate before.
  • Corrected primary/secondary data output. Block length was incorrect, output was becoming corrupt when parsing large streams.

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AuthorAlex | CommentPost a Comment |
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Sunday
Aug032008

WhsDbDump - 1.0.0 Build 3 BETA

DateSunday, August 3, 2008 at 7:55PM

Changes:

  • Ability to toggle signature/hearer/schema output.
    • Options on by default will only be on by default if no other on by default option is specified.
    • e.g. "whsdbdump *dat /signature=+" will only dump signatures.
    • "whsdbdump *dat" will only dump signatures/header/schema (default ones).
    • "whsdbdump *dat /data=+" will dump signatures/header/schema (default ones) AND data.
    • "whsdbdump *dat /signature=- /data=+" will dump ONLY data.
  • The logic here is if you've explicitly set one of the on by default options, you want to specify exactly what to dump. So in order to control exactly what to dump, you should specify everything.
  • Added overwriteall and skipall command line options.

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AuthorAlex | CommentPost a Comment |
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Tuesday
Jul292008

WhsDbDump - Usage Instructions

DateTuesday, July 29, 2008 at 8:31PM

WARNING: This is an advanced tool. Working with your Windows Home Server database is dangerous. I'm not responsible for any data loss that may ensue as a result of the use of WhsDbDump. Please always operate on a copy of the database and not the original one. Shuffle your bits with care.

If you're running this tool on a pre-Vista machine please be aware that WhsDbDump requires at least .NET 2.0+. You may download the latest version of the .NET framework directly from Microsoft.

WhsDbDump is a utility to dump your Windows Home Server backup database data files to human readable text files for examination. It decodes the binary format stored in the data files to .txt and .xml files. It supports the standard Windows Home Server data file format and is able to decode any database file specified.

Please note that some files are storing purpose specific data and will not be dumped. For example, the Data.nnnn.n.dat files store the actual cluster level data. That data will not be dumped.

Basic Usage:

  1. Put the latest version of WhsDbDump.exe into a folder with a copy of your Home Server database files. You can copy these files from the D:\folders\{00008086-058D-4C89-AB57-A7F909A47AB4} folder on your home server. It's safer to stop the backup service before pulling these files off. The backup service can be stopped by typing net stop whsbackup from the command prompt on the home server. You should restart the backup service after you're done by typing net start whsbackup.
  2. Execute WhsDbDump *dat
  3. Read and examine the dump files in the Dump sub-folder that was created by the tool.

WhsDbDump takes a number of parameters, but for basic usage that is all you need to know. If you want to dump the data/record sections of the backup files you can specify /data and optionally /dataalternate after the file mask (e.g. WhsDbDump.exe *dat /data /dataalternate). This will take some time to complete if your database is big and will eat up a whole lot of disk space too.

 

AuthorAlex | Comment1 Comment |
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