Restore Local and Network files

This section explains how to use the Local and Network Files restore option, which is used to restore files, folders and VSS applications that do not have their own restore options. Backups created using System Protection, File Protection, File Archiving and Cloud Backup can restore data using the Local and Network Files option. .

To restore from a backup created by another machine, select Discover Backups... at the bottom of the screen.

If a File Archiving backup is created using the encryption option, BackupAssist's restore tool restores the files in the same way it restores from an unencrypted File Archiving backup. However, if a backup was created with BackupAssist 10.4.2 or later, you cannot restore or unzip the encrypted backup using a third party tool like Winzip or 7-Zip. If you need to restore an encrypted File Archiving backup without BackupAssist, you will need to use our ZipRestoreFileNameMapper tool.

ZipRestoreFileNameMapper.exe tool can be downloaded from here.

This is a command line tool and uses the following parameters:

  • -s, --source Required. Full path to source ZIP file.
  • -d, --destination Required. Destination root directory for ZIP file extraction.
  • -p, --password Password of ZIP file.
  • -f, --force Force overwrite of existing files and directories.
  • --help Display this help screen.

Host files

The Local and Network Files restore option allows you to restore files and folders from the Hyper-V host to their original location or a new location.

Full guest

The restoration of a Hyper-V guest is a recovery. To lean more, see Full VM Recovery

If you are having problems restoring from a tape media, you can attempt to perform the restore using the Retrieve Backup from Tape tool, under the Tools menu. This tool will directly access the tape media, unlike the Integrated Restore Console which loads all backups. The Retrieve Backup from Tape tool will restore the entire contents of the tape. It cannot restore individual items.

BackupAssist automatically mounts Data containers when restores are performed. However, there may be times when you want to do this manually. For example, if you want to check what is inside a Data container or have it available for another task.

To manually mount a Data container:

  1. Open Disk Management.

    2. For Windows Server 2008 R2, SBS 2011 and Windows 7

    1. Click the Start button.
    2. Type diskmgmt.msc into the Search Programs and Files text box.
    3. Click OK.

    For Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 and later

    1. Open Run from the Apps screen.
    2. Type diskmgmt.msc into the Search Programs and Files text box.
    3. Click OK.

    The Disk Management console will open.

    Disk Management Console

  2. Select Action from the Disk Management menu.
  3. Select the menu option Attach VHD.
  4. Enter the path of the Data container that you want to mount and click OK.

    5. You will now have a drive named BA_VHD_Container in your list of available drives.

  5. Right click BA_VHD_Container, select Change Drive Letter and Paths, and select Add.
  6. Select a drive letter for the Data container, using the drop down box, and select OK.

    7. Mount Data Container

You can now browse the Data container using Windows Explorer.

The following instructions use a File Protection backup as the example.

To restore Local and Network Files, follow these steps:

  1. Select the File/Apps tab

    2. The Files\Apps tab has a Home page and a Tools page. The Home page is the default page and the starting point for performing a restore. The Tools page should only be used by experienced users or with the assistance of BackupAssist Technical Support.

  2. Select Local and Network files

    3. This step starts the guided restore process and opens the Local and Network files screen.

    This selection is one of multiple restore options available.

    Restore tab

  3. Select the backup

    4. To select the backup that you want to restore from, click on a backup’s name. This will open the Integrated Restore Console (IRC). The Integrated Restore Console is used to select the data to be restored, where to restore it to and the restore conditions.

    Backup selection

    This screen shows the volumes backed up by this installation of BackupAssist. It can also show backups from other machines added using the Discover Backups button.

    There are tabs above each volume’s backup list that can be used to filter the list of backups shown. Using these filters will help in locating the required backup.

    The display tabs available are:

    • All - shows all backups available.
    • The Last 7 days and Last 30 days tabs - shows the backups within those ranges.
    • Custom - allows you to select a specific date range and display backups for that period.

    The Search option allows you to locate files across a selection of backups and to refine those results using filters such as the file's creation time and the file's size.

    Backup Search

    When you select the Search button, the Search screen will appear.

    • The Backups section allows you to use the Jobs filter to limit the search to specific backup jobs. You can also use the Backup date filter to search within a specified date range.
    • The Search section is used to enter a the name or part of the name of the file you want to find. The Search for field will take the string provided and search for occurrences of that string within a file or directory name. The results of the search are displayed by backup.

      • To refine the search, use the Created, Modified and Size options. Ticking any of these options will activate a drop down list of variables to choose from. The Created and Modified options allow you to select a date using the Calendar selection fields. Size allows you to select a file size in bytes.

    Discover Backups

    This option allows you to add and restore from backups created by other installations of BackupAssist and backups made by local jobs that have been deleted.

    Discover backups

    When you select the Discover Backups button, the Discover Backups screen will appear.

    • If you select Show manually added backups, backups from other BackupAssist installations that were added using the + option will be available when you go back to the main restore screen.
    • If you select Show backups made by deleted jobs, backups made by deleted backup jobs will be displayed and available when you go back to the main restore screen.
    • If you select Show backups made by existing jobs, only backups made by the current list of local backup jobs will be shown. This is the default list you saw before using the Discover Backups option.
    • Selecting the plus symbol will open a browse dialog that can be used to locate backups made by other BackupAssist installations and add them to the Discover Backups screen.
    • Selecting the cloud symbol will open a dialog from where you can select and configure the cloud destination that you want to restore from. This option allows you to restore from a backup created on another machine or a deleted job.
    • Selecting Delete, removes any selected backups that were added using the + option.

    Selecting only one of these options means only those backups will be shown when you go back to the main restore screen. Combinations of these 3 options can be selected to get the set of backups that you want.

  4. Select the data

    5. Use the Integrated Restore Console to select the files, folders and applications that you want to restore.

    Integrated Restore Console

    What to restore

    • Use the left pane to locate and select the data that you want to restore.
    • The right pane will display the contents of the folder selected in the left pane.
  5. Select the destination

    6. Use the Integrated Restore Console to select the location that you want to restore the data to. You can also use this step to select other restore options like the data overwrite rules.

    Where to restore

    Follow these steps to select the restore destination and restore options:

    1. Under Where to restore select To original location or To Specific location.
    2. Use the Browse button to locate and select the restore destination.
    3. Use the drop down box to set the overwrite rules. The overwrite rules will apply if the files being restored encounter files with the same name in the restore destination.
      • Overwrite existing files: the restored files will overwrite files in the restore destination.
      • Do not overwrite existing files: the restored files will not overwrite files in the restore destination. This means the files will not be restored.
      • Only overwrite older files: if a source file has changed since the backup was made it will not be overwritten.
    4. Review the Restore NTFS security attributes option

      5. If you select this option, the NTFS security attributes the file had when it was backed up will be retained when the file is restored. The NTFS security attributes can be viewed in the Security tab on the file’s Properties

    5. Review the Take ownership of restored files option

      6. Selecting the Take ownership of restored files tick box will give the current user ownership of the restored files. The user is shown to the right of the text box description.

  6. Start the restore

    7. When you select the Restore button, the restore process will begin. The Integrated Restore Console will display information about the restore job and provide status updates as the job runs.

    Completed Restore

    List all processed files and folders

    Selecting this link will open notepad and display a list of the files restored, including their full path.

    Encrypted backups

    If your backup is encrypted, you will be prompted for the encryption password when the restore job accesses the backup.

    This is the password entered in the Set up destination step when the job was created.

    If you used BitLocker, the password is required. A BitLocker key can only unlock a drive to create a backup.

    Note: It is important that you keep a copy of your password in a safe place, as we cannot assist you with opening password-encrypted files if your password is lost or forgotten.

  7. Select Done

    8. Once the restore has finished, selecting Done will return you to the main UI.

Your restore has now been completed.