- Performing a Remote Restore to a Computer Booted in Windows
- Performing a Remote Restore to a Computer Booted in WinPE
- Viewing the Restore Progress
Overview
Macrium SiteBackup has the ability to perform an entirely remote image restore to a SiteBackup Agent computer where the image was created. Remote restores can be performed to computers in two states:
SiteBackup Agents booted in Windows - If a SiteBackup Agent is booted in Windows, and communicating with the SiteBackup server, a remote restore can be performed to the system without any additional steps. Since this type of restore is performed to a booted Windows operating system, it is primarily used to reset an agent computer back to an earlier point in time, for example after Windows or application updates cause system instability.
SiteBackup Agents booted in Windows PE - If an agent computer has been booted using the rescue media, learn more about the rescue media here, a remote restore can be initiated from the SiteBackup server. This can be used to easily remotely restore an image to a computer that is unable to boot into Windows, for example, when a computer is experiencing boot problems.
Since these restores require the image to be restored to the same location where they were created, this type of restore is not suitable for bare metal recovery. In this case, the image will need to be restored manually using the rescue media. Learn more about restoring using the rescue media here.
Only one remote restore can be initiated at a time.
Performing a Remote Restore to a Computer Booted in Windows
To perform a remote restore, select the 'Remote Restore' page on the SiteBackup side menu:
Select 'Start Restore' to open the 'Remote Restore' wizard:
Computers
The first page of the remote restore wizard is used to select the computer that will be the destination for this restore. Any computers that cannot be remotely restored to will be grayed out:
The checkboxes next to the computers can be used to select the computer that will be the destination for the remote restore.
Source
The image that will be restored can be selected on the 'Source' page of the wizard. The columns can be filtered and sorted to make finding a particular image easier:
When restoring a differential or incremental image, it is not necessary to restore earlier images in the backup set first. Simply select the image that will be restored, SiteBackup will ensure that the correct data from the backup set is restored to the target computer.
Once an image is selected, it will be expanded to display additional information about the disks and partitions contained within the image. The checkbox displayed on the disks and partitions can be used to select what will be restored to the target system:
If an image contains multiple disks, the disks must be restored one at a time.
Options
On this page of the wizard, additional options for the restore can be specified.
The available options are:
| Option | Description | |
| Client Notification | Display Message | When enabled, a message dialog is displayed to inform the agent user(s) that a restore operation is about to start. This dialog includes a list of the partitions being restored together with the custom message text. |
| Allow user to cancel | When enabled, the restore can be canceled by the user logged in to the agent computer. | |
| Message to display | The text that will be displayed in the message dialog. | |
| Restore Options | Rapid Delta Restore | Only changed blocks are restored to the target computer, meaning restores may complete much faster. |
| SSD TRIM |
Unused blocks can be flagged using the TRIM operation. Writing to an unused block is much quicker than an in-use block as it avoids both the slow erase operation and the read-modify-write cycle. This results in an increase in both the lifetime and the performance of the device. Note: This only impacts restores to SSDs. |
|
| Verify Image Before Restore |
Perform a full image verification before starting the restore process. If any corruption is found in the source image file then the restore will be aborted. Note: When this option is selected, the time taken to restore may increase considerably. |
|
| Install/Update Agent after restore | When this option is selected, the SiteBackup Agent will be installed the next time an administrator signs in to the restored operating system. The agent connection settings will be configured using the settings that have been specified in the 'Server Connection Details' section of the 'Agent' settings in SiteManager Platform. If the SiteBackup Agent is already installed, its connection details will be updated. This ensures that, when restoring an older disk image with out-of-date SiteBackup Agent connection details, the agent can connect to the SiteBackup server post-restore. | |
| Network Share Authentication | Enter any authentication details to enable the computer being restored to access the repository where the image is located. Either the repository credentials can be used or 'Manual Credentials Setup' can be selected to specify different credentials. | |
Summary
The final page of the wizard contains a summary of the restore that is about to take place. The 'Previous' button can be used to navigate to earlier pages in the wizard to make changes as necessary.
Select 'Finish' to start the restore to the selected computer.
The restore will now start on the selected computer. If 'Display message' was selected, a dialogue will be displayed on the target computer which details the partitions that will be restored. The customer message specified by 'Message to display' will also be shown.
Performing a Remote Restore to a Computer Booted in Windows PE
Remote restores can also be initiated to computers that have been booted using the rescue media. See this article for more information about creating rescue media.
When a computer is booted with the rescue media, the WinPE Agent will automatically establish a connection to the SiteBackup server:
Once this connection has been established, the computer will be displayed in the 'Agents in Recovery Environment' section of the 'Remote Restore' page:
Select a target for the restore using the checkbox shown next to each computer, then select 'Start Restore'.
Source
The 'Remote Restore' wizard will open on the 'Source' page, with the relevant computer being preselected on the 'Computers' page of the wizard.
The image that will be restored can be selected on this page of the wizard. The columns can be filtered and sorted to make finding a particular image easier:
When restoring a differential or incremental image, it is not necessary to restore earlier images in the backup set first. Simply select the image that will be restored, SiteBackup will ensure that the correct data from the backup set is restored to the target computer.
Once an image is selected, it will be expanded to display additional information about the disks and partitions contained within the image. The checkbox displayed on the disks and partitions can be used to select what will be restored to the target system:
If an image contains multiple disks, the disks must be restored one at a time.
Options
On this page of the wizard, additional options for the restore can be specified.
The available options are:
| Option | Description | |
| Restore Options | Rapid Delta Restore | Only changed blocks are restored to the target computer, meaning restores may complete much faster. |
| SSD TRIM |
Unused blocks can be flagged using the TRIM operation. Writing to an unused block is much quicker than an in-use block as it avoids both the slow erase operation and the read-modify-write cycle. This results in an increase in both the lifetime and the performance of the device. It is effective for all Windows operating systems, even those that support SSD trim natively as the file system driver can only TRIM blocks on de-allocation; it cannot TRIM blocks written by another process. It is also effective for USB-attached SSDs. Note: This only impacts restores to SSDs. |
|
| Verify Image Before Restore |
Perform a full image verification prior to starting the restore process. If any corruption is found in the source image file then the restore will be aborted. Note: When this option is selected, the time taken to restore may increase considerably. |
|
| Install/Update Agent after restore | When this option is selected, the SiteBackup Agent will be installed the next time an administrator signs in to the restored operating system. The agent connection settings will be configured using the settings that have been specified in the 'Server Connection Details' section of the 'Agent' settings in SiteManager Platform of the settings. If the SiteBackup Agent is already installed, its connection details will be updated. This ensures that, when restoring an older disk image with out-of-date SiteBackup Agent connection details, the agent can connect to the SiteBackup server post-restore. | |
| Network Share Authentication | Enter any authentication details to enable the computer being restored to access the repository where the image is located. Either the repository credentials can be used or 'Manual Credentials Setup' can be selected to specify different credentials. | |
Summary
The final page of the wizard contains a summary of the restore that is about to take place. The 'Previous' button can be used to navigate to earlier pages in the wizard to make changes as necessary.
Select 'Finish' to start the restore to the selected computer:
Viewing the Restore Progress
Toast notifications will be displayed in the SiteBackup server to indicate that the restore has started:
Following this, the progress of the restore can be monitored using the 'Activity' widget on the 'Dashboard' page of the SiteManager Platform:
The 'i' button can be pressed to view more detailed progress:
A restore log will also be created which will detail the result of the restore that was performed. More information about viewing these logs can be found here.