Restoring Files and Folders

1. Log into the management portal and navigate to the computer account you want to restore data from.

2. On the computer account page, go to the "Restore" tab and hit the "Start a Restore" button.
   Note - If the original Backup Agent is offline, you will need to reinstall it on another machine in order to run the restore.  See either the second or third scenario below.  

3. In the "Restore" wizard that appears, choose "Files and Folders" as the backup set type we want to restore.  On the right-hand side of that page, choose how you would like to filter files.  You have three options:  

   • Folder Hierarchy - This will give you all files available to restore arranged by folder hierarchy.  

   • Daily Snapshots - This filter will only show files versions backed up previous to the date you choose.  For example, if you choose a Daily Snapshot from 5/3/2015, that snapshot will only show you files which were backed up on or before 5/3/2105.  If you want to restore from a snapshot older than one week, you will need to do so from the software.  More information about that is here.

   • Backup Sets - When you choose this filter, you will have the option to only display files which belong to a specific backup set. 
     When you have selected the filter you want, click "Next" to continue.
      

4. On the "Select" screen, place a check in the box next to files and folders you want to restore.  Hit "Next" to continue.

    

5. Here, at the "Settings" page, you can specify where you want to restore the files to and how you want to restore them.  Choose the folder restored files will be put in as well as whether or not the restored files will overwrites files with the same name or if it will rename the restored copy.  After you have finished customizing the restore settings, click the "Next" button.

      

6. On this last page, you will be given a summary of what's being restored.  If everything looks OK, hit the "Restore" button at any time.

Disable All Backup Sets

The first recommended action to take in a restore situation is to disable your backup sets; this will prevent new backups from overwriting or displacing data that may need to be restored.  To disable a backup set:

1. Log into the management portal and go the the computer account we want to restore from.
2. Go to the "Backup" tab and click on the slider under the "Automatic Backup" field for each backup set you want to disable.  This will switch them to "Manual" from "Automatic."

If the Backup Agent used to take backups is offline, you don't need to worry about disabling the backup sets as they will not run anyway.

First Scenario:  Restoring Back to the Same Machine

If the computer on which you original took backups is still intact and the Backup Agent is still running, you can use that agent to restore files back onto the machine to "fill in the blanks."

1. Restore files and folders using the above methods back to their original location to replace missing files and/or overwrite corrupted ones...
   or  
2. Restore files and folders to an alternate destination on this machine.  You can then go through the restored files to pick and choose which ones you want to copy back over to their original locations.

Second Scenario:  Restoring to a Replacement Machine

Let's say the machine we were taking backups off of dies and there is no hope of recovering it.  Instead of trying to salvage the old computer, we're going to replace it with another machine and restore our files to it to "recreate" the old computer.

1. Install the software on the new machine and pick the "Move Account to This Computer" option during setup.
2. Perform a restore of the files back to their original location to have the Backup Agent recreate the file and folder hierarchy it was backing up.
   Note - If you choose to restore the NTFS file permissions when performing this restore, the permissions restored with be those assigned to files, not their respective folders.  Restoring this way will not recreate the NTFS folder permission scheme present on the old machine. They will be restored with the permissions inherited from the parent folder/partition.  

Third Scenario:  Restoring to an Alternate Machine Not Involved in Backups

If you want to restore files to a machine not involved in past or future backups of this data, you can do so the following way:

1. Install the software on this machine and pick the "Recovery Mode Installation" option during setup.
2. Perform a restore of the data you want, probably to an alternate location that will be easy to access.
3. Copy the data you restored off of this machine and transfer it to its intended destination or recipient.
4. Uninstall the software.