Recovery procedure for Windows

These instructions are copied (with a few modifications and emphasis) from the following pages of the EMC NetWorker Administrator’s Guide:

How to recover data
Recovering data from a previous backup
Resolving recovered data conflicts
Relocating recovered data
How to view versions of a directory or file that have been backed up

You can designate the entire filesystem, specific directories, or individual files for recovery. Note, that if you select a directory for recovery, all of its nested subdirectories and files are also selected for recovery. To exclude certain files from recovery after selecting an entire directory, you must deselect them.

How to recover data

To recover data from the most recent backup

1. Launch the NetWorker User program and click the Recover button to open the Source Client dialog box.

2. Select the source client whose data you want to recover, and click OK. The local client is the default selection.

3. Select the destination client for the recovered data, and click OK. The local client is the default selection.

4. Select the files and folders to recover:

   1. In the left pane of the Recover window, click the appropriate directory folder. To navigate to files and folder within other folders, double-click on the containing folder in the left pane of the Recover window and the folders and files contained within it will appear on the right pane of the Recover window

   2. Mark each directory and/or file to be recovered by performing one or more of the following:

      1. Select the directory or file, and click the Mark button (to clear an item, click the Unmark button).

      2. Right-click the directory or file (to clear an item, right-click the directory or file again)

Note: When you mark a directory or file for recovery, a check mark appears next to that item. This will recover data from the most recent backup. To recover data from a scheduled backup other than the most recent one, you must change the browse time (see Recovering Data from a Previous Backup).

1. Click the Start button to begin the recovery. 

   1. It takes the NetWorker server a few moments to recover the files, depending on file size, network traffic, server load, and tape positioning. During this time, messages appear in the NetWorker User program for each recovered file, so you can monitor the progress of the recovery.

   2. If there is a naming conflict with the file you are recovering, the NetWorker server prompts you to choose one of several workarounds. For more information about naming conflicts, see Resolving recovered data conflicts.

   3. If the recovery is successful, the NetWorker User program displays the following (or a similar) message:

Received 1 file(S) from NSR server server
Recover completion time: 5-30-03 2:03p

Recovering data from a previous backup

From the NetWorker User program’s Recover window you can browse the entries for each backed-up file listed in the client file index. By changing the browse time, you can view the entries for the backed-up files for a particular period. You might want to do this if you need to:

• Look for data that has been deleted from the filesystem and may not be present in the most recent backup.

• Retrieve an earlier version of existing data.

Before changing the browse time, verify that no files are currently marked for recovery. If files are currently marked for recovery and the browse time is changed, the marked files will still be selected for recovery even though they may have been backed up after the selected browse time.

To change the browse time

1. Launch the NetWorker User program and click the Recover button to open the Source Client dialog box.

2. Select the source client whose data you want to recover, and click OK. The local client is the default selection.

3. Select the destination client for the recovered data, and click OK. The local client is the default selection.

4. From the View menu, select Change Browse Time.

   1. In the Change Browse Time dialog box, select a new day within the calendar. Select Previous Month or Next Month to change from the current month.

   2. In the optional Time field, change the time of the day by entering an hour, minute, and the letter a (for a.m.) or p (for p.m). Use the 12-hour time format, rather than the 24-hour time format.

5. Click OK.

6. Select the files or directories you want to recover as described in How to recover data.

If there are no entries for files backed up at the time selected in the Time field, the NetWorker software displays files that were backed up at the closest preceding time. However, if the time selected in the Time field is earlier than the first entry in the client file index, the NetWorker software warns you that there are no files backed up at the specified time.

Resolving recovered data conflicts

By default, the NetWorker server attempts to recover data to its original location, using the original file and directory names. However, if another file or directory with the same name is present in that same location, a file recovery conflict occurs. You can instruct the NetWorker software to respond to these recovery conflicts either automatically or on an file-by-file basis.

By default, the NetWorker software prompts you each time a naming conflict occurs during a recovery. The Naming Conflict dialog box appears each time there is a filename conflict. The naming conflict resolution options available during a recovery are:

• Rename Recovered File: Renames the recovered files.

• Discard Recovered File: Discards the recovered file in order to prevent the NetWorker server from overwriting an existing file.

• Overwrite Existing File: Replaces the file on the filesystem with the recovered version.

• Suppress Further Prompting: (If selected) Automatically performs the naming conflict option you select, and does not prompt you to select a particular option.

When a naming conflict is encountered during recovery, the NetWorker server uses the following guidelines to rename the recovered file:

• By default, a tilde (~) is appended to the beginning of the name of the recovered file: ~<filenname>.

• If a file named ~<filenname> already exists, the recovered file is renamed ~00_<filenname>.

• If a file named ~00_<filenname> already exists, the recovered file is renamed ~01_<filenname>, and so forth to ~99_<filenname>.

You can configure the NetWorker software to resolve all naming conflicts automatically during a recovery.

To configure the NetWorker software to automatically resolve naming conflicts before starting a recovery

1. Launch the NetWorker User program and click the Recover button to open the Source Client dialog box.

2. Select the source client whose data you want to recover, and click OK. The local client is the default selection.

3. Select the destination client for the recovered data, and click OK. The local client is the default selection.

4. Select Recover Options from the Options menu. Select a conflict resolution option, as described above. The default setting, Always Prompt, indicates that automatic naming conflict resolution is disabled. When you select another option, the Always Prompt is automatically cleared.

5. Click OK.

You can also relocate recovered data to a directory where you know there are no conflicts, or you can create a new directory using the relocate feature. However, even if you relocate recovered data to a new and/or empty directory, the NetWorker server still prompts you to enter conflict resolution information.

Relocating recovered data

When you recover a file, by default the NetWorker server attempts to copy the file to its original location. Unless you relocate the recovered file, the server attempts to place it in the file’s original directory. If an existing file on the local disk has the same name as the one being recovered, the server prompts you for instructions on how to recover the file (rename, overwrite, or discard).

Alternatively, you can instruct the NetWorker server where to relocate the recovered file prior to the recovery. Note: If you relocate data during a recovery or archive retrieve operation, any subsequent recovery or archive retrieve of that data during that session will, by default, be placed in the new location rather than the original location. Once you stop and restart the NetWorker User program, subsequent recoveries or archive retrieves of that data will, by default, be placed in the original location.

To relocate recovered data

1. Launch the NetWorker User program and click the Recover button to open theSource Client dialog box.

2. Select the source client whose data you want to recover, and click OK. The local client is the default selection.

3. Select the destination client for the recovered data, and click OK. The local client is the default selection.

4. Select Recover Options from the Options menu.

5. In the Relocate Recovered Data To field, enter the directory where the data should be relocated. You must provide the full pathname of the relocation directory (e.g. c:\temp\frombackup).

6. Click OK.

7. Perform a data recovery as described in How to recover data and Recovering data from a previous backup.

How to view versions of a directory or file that have been backed up

You can use the Versions option in the NetWorker User program to view the backup details of a directory or file. The versions feature lists the day, date, time, and size of the file that the NetWorker server backed up.

To view the version details of backed-up data

1. Launch the NetWorker User program, click the Recover button to open the Source Client dialog box.

2. Select the source client whose data you want to recover, and click OK. The local client is the default selection.

3. Select the destination client for the recovered data, and click OK. The local client is the default selection.

4. From the View menu, select Versions.

   1. The Versions window displays the history of the selected file or directory, including every time the item was modified and backed up. Versions are sorted according to the backup time (the most recent backup first). The selected version matches the one currently selected in the Recover window.

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