Backup / Restore of Windows 2012
Creation Date: June 12, 2013
Revision Date: April 29, 2015
Product: DS‑Client (Windows)
Summary
This article covers backup and restore issues for Windows 2012 servers
Backup of a Windows 2012/R2 Cluster
Special Options For Windows 2012
In the Set Properties - Advanced Options tab screen, under the Windows 2000 & up options there is an additional option: Backup Single Instance Store / Data Deduplication file data
Backup and restore of volumes enabled for “Data Deduplication”
There are two different ways to back up files from a volume that is enabled for Data Deduplication: Non-optimized Backup and Optimized Backup.
Non-optimized Backup
In non-optimized backup, the Data Deduplication-optimized files are copied as normal files to the backup store.
FullFeatured Windows DS-Client supports the non-optimized backup when the Backup Single Instance Store / Data Deduplication File Data option is selected for a backup set.
Restore of backups with this option selected will be like any other normal file system restore, regardless of the target restore volume having Data Deduplication enabled or not.
Optimized Backup
Optimized backup is performed by copying Data Deduplication-optimized files as reparse points and copying the full set of Data Deduplication store container files and metadata files (e.g. full volume backup).
• For this backup, the Backup Single Instance Store / Data Deduplication File Data option must be disabled (off). In addition, you must ensure that the System Volume Information\Dedup folder is backed up, including all its files and sub-folders.
• Full Volume Restore from Optimized Backup: Restore from an optimized backup can be done by using full-volume restore or by using file-level selective restore.
• Whether restoring the full volume or a selective folder / files, the restore should be performed to a freshly formatted volume. The System Volume Information\Dedup should be restored first, and then the reparse points.
• It is recommended to perform full volume restores to a volume of equivalent or greater size than the original.