Restoring data to an alternate location
You can restore your backups to a location other than the original source location.
Each backup set kind has particular requirements and specifications. The following information is an example based on the restore of a File system backup set to an alternate location. Specific instructions for other backup set kinds will be provided separately in subsequent sections.
To restore to an alternate location, you must specify the new location and the path of the new location. An alternate location can be another disk drive on the same computer, another share on a different computer, or another server on a different network (with some restrictions).
Alternate location, truncation, and the security of restored Items
In the Restore Now Wizard, you may select multiple items that are from the same drive and share a common path on the source to restore them to an alternate location. When you do that, the common path will be displayed as part of the restore destination path, which you can shorten using Truncate.
NOTE: When restoring to an alternate location, note that the security of restored items at the destination location may not resemble the security of those items during backup.
This can happen when users and/or groups that were included in the security descriptor of an item during backup cannot be resolved in the restore destination environment (for example, when users or groups have been deleted or when data is restored to a different domain).
Users and groups are stored as security identifiers (SIDs) and remain in the security descriptor of the restored items; when the host cannot match the SIDs against valid names, it will not display them as valid names but only as SIDs, which look like this: S-1-5-21-1614895754-299502267-682003330-1139.
Also, note the following when you restore data to an alternate location while truncating the destination path to the maximum: If you select the dot file (.) under the last directory that is being eliminated from the path, DS-Client will restore the security of that last directory to the destination directory in the alternate location.
These are the main steps for restoring data to an alternate location:
Selecting the backup set items to restore
1. In the Restore Now Wizard, perform all necessary steps to specify the items to restore.
2. In the Select Restore Location screen, select Alternate Location.
Options specific to Alternate Location become available.
Specifying the destination computer (optional)
• To select a different computer as the alternate location, follow the instructions below:
1. In the Select Restore Location screen, click >> beside Alternation Location.
The Select Alternate Server screen appears and displays available servers on the network.
2. Browse, select the required computer, enter the appropriate credentials if prompted, and click Select.
If the check box Ask for Network Credentials is selected, the Enter Network Credentials screen will appear and prompt you for credentials to the destination computer. Otherwise, your current login credentials will be used to access the destination computer.
The Restore Now Wizard re-appears and displays the computer you have just selected as the restore destination location.
Selecting the Destination Share
After selecting a computer as the alternate location, you also need to select a share on that computer.
• Double-click the Destination cell and select a share from the drop-down list.
This list includes all the available shares on the computer you have selected. The Share Path cell displays the local path of the destination share on that computer.
Specifying the path on the destination share
Files will be restored to the share path on the destination computer, as indicated in the Share Path cell in the Select Restore Location screen. You can change or specify the destination directory in that path.
1. To specify the directory to which to restore the backup, do one of the following in the Restore To cell:
• Type the name of the directory in the text field.
• Click >>. In the Select Directory screen, browse and select the required directory, and click Select.
When multiple items that you have selected to restore are from the same drive and share a common path on the source, that common path to which data will be restored is displayed in the Select Restore Location screen. You can shorten this path by eliminating the common portions in it using Truncate.
2. If required, truncate the destination path for the restore by increasing the number to the right of the path.
This number represents the levels of subdirectories to eliminate from the common path. The common portions of the path, which you can eliminate, are displayed in red.
The following provides information on subsequent screens:
4. In the Select Restore Reason screen, click Finish to start the restore.
The Restore Process screen appears, showing the progress of each file being restored.