Veritas™ System Recovery 21 User's Guide
- Introducing Veritas System Recovery
- Installing Veritas System Recovery
- Installing Veritas System Recovery
- Ensuring the recovery of your computer
- Creating a new Veritas System Recovery Disk
- Creation Options
- Storage and Network Drivers Options
- Customizing an existing Veritas System Recovery Disk
- About restoring a computer from a remote location by using LightsOut Restore
- Creating a new Veritas System Recovery Disk
- Getting Started
- Setting up default general backup options
- File types and file extension
- Best practices for backing up your data
- Backing up entire drives
- Backing up files and folders
- Running and managing backup jobs
- Running an existing backup job immediately
- Backing up remote computers from your computer
- Monitoring the status of your backups
- About monitoring backups
- Monitoring the backup status of remote computers using Veritas System Recovery Monitor
- Adding a remote computer to the Computer List
- Exploring the contents of a recovery point
- Managing backup destinations
- About managing file and folder backup data
- Managing virtual conversions
- Managing cloud storage
- Direct to cloud
- About creation of Amazon Machine Image (AMI) in Amazon from Veritas System Recovery backups
- About S3-Compatible Cloud Storage
- About Veritas System Recovery supporting Veritas Access
- Recovering files, folders, or entire drives
- Recovering a computer
- Booting a computer by using the Veritas System Recovery Disk
- About using the networking tools in Veritas System Recovery Disk
- Copying a hard drive
- Using the Veritas System Recovery Granular Restore Option
- Best practices when you create recovery points for use with the Granular Restore Option
- Appendix A. Backing up databases using Veritas System Recovery
- Appendix B. Backing up Active Directory
- Appendix C. Backing up Microsoft virtual environments
- Appendix D. Using Veritas System Recovery 21 and Windows Server Core
Recovering a computer
If Windows fails to start or does not run normally, you can still recover your computer. You can use the Veritas System Recovery Disk and an available recovery point or a virtual disk that you created from a recovery point.
Note:
If you can start Windows and the drive that you want to restore is a non-operating system drive, you can restore the drive within Windows.
The Veritas System Recovery Disk lets you run a recovery environment that provides temporary access to Veritas System Recovery recovery features. For example, you can access the recovery features of Veritas System Recovery to restart the computer into its previous, usable state.
Note:
If you purchased Veritas System Recovery from your computer manufacturer, some features in the recovery environment might not be available. For example, if the manufacturer installed the recovery environment on your computer's hard disk. Your manufacturer might also assign a keyboard key for the purpose of starting the recovery environment. When you restart your computer, watch for instructions on your computer monitor, or refer to your manufacturer's instructions.
If you have a recovery point for the hard drives that you want to recover, you can fully restore your computer. Or, you can recover another hard drive back to the state it was in when the recovery point was created.
Note:
If you restore a recovery point to a computer that uses different hardware, the Restore Anyware feature is automatically enabled for you.
See Recovering a computer with different hardware.
Veritas System Recovery 21 does not create a dynamic disk or storage pool layout. To restore a volume, you need to manually create a dynamic disk or a storage pool configuration. Boot the computer using the Veritas System Recovery Disk and on the Analyze panel click .
If you want to create a dynamic disk configuration, run the
DISKPART
utility.The following technote provides information about restoring dynamic disks.
If you want to create a storage pool configuration, use PowerShell commandlets.
Note:
For the PowerShell commandlets configuration, create a recovery disk using the
option.
After you create the required configuration, you can continue with the steps to recover a computer.
To recover a computer
- Boot the computer by using the Veritas System Recovery Disk.
- Check the hard disk for errors.
See Preparing to recover a computer by checking the hard disk for errors.
- On the Home panel of Veritas System Recovery Disk, click Recover My Computer.
If your recovery points are stored on media and you only have one media drive, you can eject the Veritas System Recovery Disk now. Attach the USB device or insert the DVD that contains your recovery points.
- On the Welcome page of the wizard, click Next.
- On the Select a Recovery Point to Restore panel, select a recovery point to restore, and then click Next.
Select Recovery Point to Restore options when you view recovery points by Date
View by - Date
Displays all of the discovered recovery points in the order in which they were created.
If no recovery points were discovered, the table is empty. In such cases, you can search all local drives on the computer or browse to find a recovery point.
Select source folder
Lets you view a list of all available recovery points that may exist on your computer's local drives or on a specific drive.
Map a network drive
Specifies a shared network folder path and assign it a drive letter. You can then browse the folder location for the recovery point file you want.
Browse
Locates a recovery point on a local drive or a network folder.
Select the Show hidden drives check box to see a list of the hidden drives along with the list of the other drives. You can select a hidden drive as a location where you want to store the recovery points. The hidden drives are displayed in the following format:
DiskNo-PartitionNo\
For example, a hidden drive is displayed as: 2-3\. Where 2 is the disk number and 3 is the partition number
Note:
By default, this check box is not selected.
Select a recovery point
Lets you select the recovery point to restore.
Recovery point details
Gives you additional information about the recovery point you want to restore.
Select Recovery Point to Restore options when you view recovery points by File name
View by - File name
Lets you view recovery points by their file name.
Recovery point folder and file name
Specifies a path and a file name of a recovery point.
If the recovery point is located in a hidden drive, you must specify the location of the hidden drive in the following format:
DiskNo-PartitionNo\Filename.v2i
orDiskNo-PartitionNo\Filename.iv2i
For example, if the hidden drive location is on Disk 2 and Partition 3, you must enter 2-3\file.v2i. Where 2 is the disk number and 3 is the partition number.
Map a network drive
Specifies a shared network folder path and assign it a drive letter. You can then browse the folder location for the recovery point file you want.
Browse
Locates a recovery point on a local drive or a network folder.
OpenStorage Destination
Lets you select an OpenStorage storage destination that you want to use for restoring the recovery points.
Recovery point details
Gives you additional information about the recovery point you want to restore.
Select Recovery Point to Restore options when you view recovery points by System
View by - System
Lets you use the current system index file that is located in the recovery point storage location. The system index file displays a list of all of the drives on your computer and any associated recovery points from which you can select.
The use of a system index file reduces the time it takes to convert multiple recovery points. When a recovery point is created, a system index file is saved with it. The system index file contains a list of the most recent recovery points, which includes the original drive location of each recovery point.
System index folder and filename
Specifies a path and a file name of a system index file that you want to use for recovery.
If the recovery point is located in a hidden drive, you must specify the location of the hidden drive in the following format:
DiskNo-PartitionNo\Filename.sv2i
For example, if the hidden drive location is on Disk 2 and Partition 3, you must enter 2-3\file.sv2i. Where 2 is the disk number and 3 is the partition number.
Map a network drive
Specifies a shared network folder path and assign it a drive letter. You can then browse the folder location for the system index file (.sv2i) you want.
Browse
Lets you browse to a path that contains a system index file.
For example, you can browse to an external (USB) drive, a network location, or to removable media to select a system index file.
OpenStorage Destination
Lets you select an OpenStorage storage destination that you want to use for restoring the recovery points.
If disks with no layout structures are detected, you are prompted to initialize the disk layout. A list of disks without layout structures is displayed. The list shows the default disk layout type, either GPT, or MBR. If required, you can change the layout type for the disks, and then click OK to initialize layouts on them.
Note:
If you are recovering a UEFI-based computer, you must restore its system partitions to a GPT disk.
- On the Drives to Recover panel, select each drive that you want to recover and set the options that you want, and then click Next.
Select drives to recover
Lets you select the drives that you want to recover.
Add
Adds the additional drives that you want to recover.
If the recovery point is located in a hidden drive, you must specify the location of the hidden drive in the following format:
DiskNo-PartitionNo\Filename.v2i
orDiskNo-PartitionNo\Filename.iv2i
For example, if the hidden drive location is on Disk 2 and Partition 3, you must enter 2-3\file.v2i. Where 2 is the disk number and 3 is the partition number.
Remove
Removes the selected drives from the list of drives to recover.
Edit
Lets you edit the recovery options for a selected drive.
Ignore recovery point corruption during restore (potential data loss)
Automatically excludes the corrupted data and continues to restore the recovery point. The restored data does not contain the corrupted portion of data.
Note:
There may be potential data loss as corrupted data is excluded from restore.
Verify recovery point before restore
Verifies whether a recovery point is valid or corrupt before it is restored. If the recovery point is invalid, the recovery is discontinued.
This option can significantly increase the time that is required for the recovery to complete.
Do not verify recovery point before restore
Does not verify whether a recovery point is valid or corrupt before it is restored. During restore, if there is corrupted data on the recovery point, an error message is displayed and you cannot restore the recovery point.
Use Restore Anyware to recover to different hardware
Selected automatically if any of the following are true:
You recover a non-operating system drive to new or to different computer hardware. Or, you can recover both an operating system drive and one or more data drives to new or to different computer hardware.
You upgrade to new or to different computer hardware from an older computer.
The motherboard on the computer has failed.
If you recover a data drive only to new or to different computer hardware, this option is not selected for you.
When you recover your computer, select the drive on which Windows is installed. On most computer systems, this drive is the C drive. In the recovery environment, the drive letters and labels might not match what appears in Windows. You might need to identify the correct drive based on its label. Or, you can identify the drive by its name, or by browsing the files and folders in the recovery point.
- Optionally, select a drive that you want to recover, and then click Edit.
Select the options that you want to perform during the recovery process, and then click OK to return to the Drives to Recover panel.
Delete Drive
Deletes a selected drive in the list to make space available to restore your recovery point.
When you use this option, the drive is only marked for deletion. The actual deletion of the drive takes place after you click Finish in the wizard.
Undo Delete
Returns a deleted drive to the list of drives.
Resize drive after recover (unallocated space only)
Resizes a disk after the recovery point is restored. After you select this option, you can specify the new size in megabytes. The size must be greater than the identified size of the disk that you selected in the list.
Primary partition
Because hard disks are limited to four primary partitions, this option is appropriate if the drive has four or fewer partitions.
Logical partition
This option is appropriate if you need more than four partitions. You can have up to three primary partitions, plus any number of logical partitions, up to the maximum size of your hard disk.
Check for file system errors after recovery
Checks the restored drive for errors after the recovery point is restored.
Set drive active (for booting OS)
Makes the restored drive the active partition (for example, the drive from which the computer starts).
You should select this option if you restore the drive on which your operating system is installed.
Note:
Do not select this option if you are restoring system partition or boot partition of a UEFI-based computer. This option is applicable only for MBR-style disks.
Restores the original, physical disk signature of the hard drive.
Disk signatures are part of all Windows operating systems that Veritas System Recovery supports. Disk signatures are required to use the hard drive.
Select this option if either of the following situations are true:
Your computer's drive letters are atypical (for example, assigned letters other than C, D, E, and so forth).
You restore a recovery point to a new, empty hard disk.
Restores the master boot record. The master boot record is contained in the first sector of a physical hard disk. The master boot record consists of a master boot program and a partition table that describes the disk partitions. The master boot program analyzes the partition table of the first hard disk to see which primary partition is active. It then starts the boot program from the boot sector of the active partition.
This option is recommended only for advanced users and is available only if you restore a whole drive in the recovery environment.
Select this option if any of the following situations are true:
You restore a recovery point to a new, empty hard disk.
You restore a recovery point to the original drive, but the drive's partitions were modified since the recovery point was created.
You suspect that a virus or some other problem has corrupted your drive's master boot record.
Note:
Do not select this option if you are restoring system partition or boot partition of a UEFI-based computer. This option is applicable only for MBR-style disks.
- Click Next to review the recovery options that you selected.
- Select Reboot when finished if you want the computer to restart automatically after the recovery process finishes.
- Click Finish.
- Click Yes to begin the recovery process.