[dba-Tech] Windows Small Business Server

My "server" system just blue screened, and when I tried to reboot it said I
needed to repair the windows install (could not find file X in
c:\windows\...).  Of course I don't have a system disk set (the four
floppies). I could swear that I have in the past booted off the Windows CD
and it offered to repair the install.  This time it did not and launched
right in to reinstalling windows.  Boy does THAT suck!!!  So it certainly
appears that whatever happened trashed the disk.  Boy does THAT suck.  I
have a nice raid mirror (which appears to still be valid!) which did not
help at all.

Given all the above I am really hesitant to rebuild this thing.  Every time
this happens I always swear that THIS time I am going to figure out how to
gracefully recover, but once again I am rebuilding a computer.  

Speaking of which, I now have a pair of SQL Server files which (of course)
contain a lot of work.  They reside out on separate data disks and are
probably just fine.  Is it possible to get them "mounted" again when I get a
new system up running SQL Server?  They are not backup disks, just the
normal files that SQL Server creates in the process of doing business.

So how do you ensure that you can always recover from this kind of stuff?  A
mirror was no help at all.  And why did Windows not recognize that there was
a windows install on that partition and offer to repair it?  I am launching
into a project that is so big that if it crashes like this again I will be
really screwed.  There will be a terabyte SQL Server database.  How do you
back THAT up?  I am looking at going out and buying a media fire safe and
extra hard disks (they come in 750g sizes now) but even so, backing it up is
going to be a week long project.

Any words of wisdom on any of this?

John W. Colby
Colby Consulting
www.ColbyConsulting.com