Over the years I've had to restore SBS 2003 to dissimilar hardware a number of times in disaster recovery efforts, all of them successful. It was always a pain, but I learned to keep the various versions of the processor HALs handy and somehow
made it work. It bought time until replacement parts or server could be delivered. While I had the luxury of using Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery a couple of times, these were otherwise all performed using the native NT backup.
But now, most of my clients have moved on to either SBS 2008 or 2011 and I need to get a handle on performing similar system restorations to dissimilar hardware and am doing some disaster recovery planning and testing to get my ducks in a row. I must admit to not having paid enough attention to the process as I had been lulled into complacency with the "Bare Metal Restore" function built into the backup utility, assuming it would work similar to Symantec BESR. But my research seems to indicate that that is not the case. I've read-through any number of posts on this forum related to Bare Metal Recovery that indicate that maybe my hopes are overly optimistic.
I just completed several test/research attempts to restore a current server to dissimilar hardware without success. The source backup includes the full system, including the BMR option. The restoration procedure went as it should in that it found my backup and dutifully performed the restore. Upon reboot, the system gets past the initial Windows splash screen, puts an active mouse cursor on the screen but goes no further. The hardware is likely not as dissimilar as I've worked with in the past as both are Intel motherboards about 1 year apart in age with similar XEON CPUs and both use the onboard RAID utility. The drives are sized the same in both systems and it seems the chipsets are too different? The source machine uses an Intel S5520HCR motherboard while my test system is uses an Intel S1200BTS motherboard. I expected the restoration to complete, the system to reboot into a crippled mode until I got a chance to install the proper drivers, but I don't get even that close. It won't come up in Safe Mode and a "System Repair" does not alter things.
So, I pose the question - After all the posts here and exchange of information and experiences, has there emerged a general strategy for successfully performing a Bare Metal Restore to dissimilar hardware? What works? What's to be avoided? Yes, I know, Microsoft doesn't support it, but they didn't support it under SBS 2003 either. There seems to be a collection of tips and tricks that apply to unique situations, but has this evolved to anywhere near a "cookbook" strategy to use as a starting/reference point? Despite some looking, I haven't found it and feel completely unprepared for the inevitable future.
Is there hope for using the native Windows backup utility to perform this chore or do I need to look for a suitable third-party solution (I'm aware at least a couple)? If so, I have to talk my clients into coughing-up the extra expense, but if that's the proper course, so be it. I need to settle upon a proper plan of attack and get on with it if I have any hope of being prepared for disaster.