Restore FAQ

Restoring files is a two part process. First, from the Connected web application, create a restore request that contains the files that you want to restore. Then, start the restore request to notify the Agent of the request so it can begin to restore files. You can perform both parts as one consecutive process or you can create a restore request and leave it pending to start later.

You can restore any file, folder, or drive that your backup set contains, even if administrative policy no longer allows you to back up the file. The Agent provides special retrieval support for the following types of files:

• Bundles (macOS). The Agent can back up, sync, and restore bundles. The Connected web application displays stored bundles as hierarchical sets of folders and files. However, when you sync or restore a bundle to a device, it retains its original format.

• Encrypted files. The Agent can back up, sync, and restore encrypted files, as follows:

  • Full-disk encryption. Files retain their system-level encryption only if restored, synced, or downloaded to a device that also uses full-disk encryption.

  • Encrypted file system (EFS) encryption. Files retain their EFS encryption if you restore, sync, or download them to another NTFS device that also uses EFS encryption. FAT32 volumes do not support EFS. Therefore, EFS-encrypted files that you restore, sync, or download to a FAT32 volume do not retain their encryption.

    CAUTION: Do not restore a user's EFS-encrypted files while logged on to the computer as an administrator. If you do, the restored files get encrypted under your Windows user account, and the user will not have access to them. To restore EFS-encrypted files on behalf of someone else, you must log on to the computer using the user's credentials before starting the restore request.

  • Third-party application-level encryption. Files that are open and accessible at the time that they are backed up, synced, or uploaded might retain their third-party encryption; closed files always retain it. Files that retain their encryption are not accessible on another devices unless decrypted with the same third-party application and encryption key or password that encrypted them. In addition, you cannot view an encrypted file while it is stored in Connected.

  NOTE: To ensure that your data remains secure, Connected encrypts your files while it transfers or stores them, even if they have retained their encryption.

• File links. The Agent can back up, sync, and restore hard links but not symbolic links. When the Agent syncs or restores a hard link, it breaks the link association.

• Mail files (Windows). The Agent can back up and restore Microsoft Outlook .pst and Lotus Notes .nsf mail files that reside on an NTFS volume. It does not sync these types of files.

  To back up mail files, the Agent uses Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS), which must be enabled. As with other file types, if the Agent cannot back up a mail file, it retries a set number of times. If the Agent exhausts all retries without backing up the file, it logs an error.

  If you try to restore a mail file while it is open exclusively (Windows platforms), the Agent renames the file that it downloads. When renaming the file, the Agent appends a number to the file's name (fileName.#.extension). For example, if the Agent cannot restore the open file MyOutlook.pst, it saves the downloaded file as MyOutlook.1.pst. 

• Open files. On Windows-based devices, the Agent can back up back up, but not sync, files on an NTFS volume that are opened exclusively by another application. On macOS-based devices, the Agent can back up and sync open files but only while another application is not actively modifying them. Neither type of Agent can restore open files.

  To back up open files on Windows-based devices, the Agent uses Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS), which must be enabled. If the Agent cannot back up an open file, it retries a set number of times and logs an error if it exhausts all retries without success.

  If either a Windows- or macOS-based Agent fails to back up or sync a modified open file, exit any application that has the file open to ensure the change is complete and the file is closed.

  If you try to restore a file while it is open exclusively (Windows platforms) or open with advisory locking (macOS platforms), the Agent renames the file that it downloads. When renaming the file, the Agent appends a number to the file's name (fileName.#.extension). For example, if the Agent cannot restore the open file Report.docx, it saves the downloaded file as Report.1.docx. 

• Security descriptors. The Agent can back up and restore but not sync security descriptors, which are objects that prevent unauthorized access to files. Security descriptors include information that identifies the file owner, permissions that the owner has granted to other users, and actions that the file system logs for auditing purposes.

  While restoring items, the Agent restores each item’s security descriptor except for the following, which inherit the default descriptor of the restore location:

  • Folders that the Agent creates as part of the restore path and were not previously backed up.
  • Items that did not have a security descriptor when backed up.
  • Items for which the Agent fails to restore the security descriptor for some reason.

  In each case, the security identifier (SID) assigned to the owner field of the security descriptor is the SID of the user performing the restore.

• Sparse files. The Agent can back up, sync, and restore sparse files, which are files that contain empty spaces (represented as strings of zeros) along with meaningful data (nonzero data).

  When restoring a sparse file, the Agent restores the file and all allocated sparse data that was previously backed up.

• Windows user state files. On Windows devices, Agents back up user state (.mig) files according to administrative policy. These files, generated by a third-party tool such as Microsoft State Migrate Tool (USMT), contain data such as Windows and user application settings that you can migrate to a replacement or re-imaged computer.

  If your backup policy permits, when you start a restore request that includes a .mig file and your device is running Agent 4.9.0 or later, you can choose to import the .mig file automatically when the entire restore completes. Selecting this option when restoring files after replacing or re-imaging your computer is a quick way to restore your Windows environment to its previous state.

On Windows devices, Agents back up user state (.mig) files according to administrative policy so you can restore them just like other types of files. After restoring a .mig file, you can manually import it at any time to reinstate your Windows user state data. However, for restores to devices running Agent 4.9.0 or later, Connected can also automatically import .mig files for you after it restores them. To do so requires the following:

• A .mig file backed up by Agent 4.9.0, or later, whose backup policy had the Back up Windows user state files (.mig) option enabled at the time of backup.

• Your backup policy supports the automated import of .mig files and you have selected one to restore.

  TIP: To determine if Connected can automatically import Windows user state data for you, check whether the Windows admin rules for your policy have the Back up Windows user state files (.mig) option enabled. To access your policy's rules, click your name in the upper-right corner of the web application, click My Profile, and then click the Admin Rules tab.

• The .mig file Connected imports is the only .mig file in its folder.

  To ensure that the .mig file you want to import is the only .mig file in its folder when the restore completes, do the following:

  • Ensure that the .mig file you want to import is the only .mig file from that folder you select to restore.

    The restore request can contain other .mig files as long as they are in different folders than the file you want to import.

  • Before starting the restore, delete any existing .mig files from that folder on your computer, including any with the same name.

• Microsoft User State Migration Tool (USMT) is installed.

  Connected initiates the import using USMT. If USMT is outside of the default install path, the Windows PATH environment variable must specify its location. Without USMT, Connected restores the .mig file and notes the import failure in the detailed summary of the restore request on the RESTORE tab.

• The new computer's Windows account uses the same domain user name and password as the original one.

  USMT requires that the account it imports the data into has the same credentials as the original account.

• Any applications on the original computer are already installed on the new one.

  Installing applications on the new computer before importing Windows users state data protects you from overwriting imported settings with default ones.

For an overview about the process of restoring Windows user state data, see Restore Connected and Windows user state data onto a replacement or re-imaged computer.

You can restore any version of active or deleted files available in Connected. However, note that Connected provides data protection and not long-term archival storage. Although it retains the most current copy of your protected files indefinitely, it keeps previous versions of those files for only a limited time before permanently deleting them. Similarly, when you delete a protected file from your computer, Connected keeps its copy for only a limited time. Files permanently deleted from Connected are no longer available for access. If you have questions about the retention policy that affects your files, contact your Connected administrator.

Yes. The Agent compresses and encrypts file data before transmitting it to Connected. The data remains compressed and encrypted while in Connected and during any transmission back to the Agent while downloading or restoring the file. The Agent compresses the data using the ZLIB compression library and encrypts it using Advanced Encryption Standard (AES-256).

No. There is no limit to how many files you can restore or to the size of each individual file.

Yes, you can restore files across bit platforms of the same operating system. For example, suppose that you get a laptop with a Windows 64-bit operating system to replace one that has a Windows 32-bit OS. After migrating your Connected data to the new laptop, you can restore files from its backup set even though they originated from a laptop with a different bit platform.

The Agent restores files to their original location by default. However, for devices running Agent version 4.7.0 or later, each time you restore files you can specify a custom location where the Agent will restore that particular set of files. You can specify any location on the original device, including a mapped drive with an active connection.

If the Agent tries to restore a file to a folder that does not exist, it creates the missing folder. If the original drive or volume does not exist, the Agent restores files to C:\From missingDriveName drive on Windows-based computers or (User's Documents Folder)/From missingDriveName volume on macOS-based ones.

For example, suppose that you replace your computer and migrate its Connected data to your new one. After migration, you create a request to restore all files in D:\My Reports from your backup set. However, if your new computer does not have a D: drive, the Agent restores the files to C:\From D drive\My Reports.

By default, the Agent keeps the existing file and appends a number to the name of the one it restores (fileName.#.extension). However, for devices running Agent version 4.7.0 or later, you can set the Agent to overwrite existing files for a particular restore request.

Yes. As with files and folders, you can restore an entire drive to its original location or you can specify a custom location for it.

Here are some details about how the Agent restores drives:

• Original location.  If the original drive or volume does not exist, the Agent restores files to C:\From missingDriveName drive on Windows-based computers or (User's Documents Folder)/From missingDriveName volume on macOS-based ones.

• Custom location (supported by Agent version 4.7.0 or later). When restoring an entire drive, the Agent restores the drive's files to the folder customLocation/From driveName drive on Windows-based computers or customLocation/From driveName volume on macOS-based ones. The following table includes examples of drives restored to custom locations.

  Item selected for restore	Specified custom location	Restored location
  Windows
  File:   D:\Reports\Sales.txt	C:\Restored	C:\Restored\Sales.txt
  Folder:   D:\Reports	C:\Restored	C:\Restored\Reports
  Drive:   D:	C:\Restored	C:\Restored\From D drive
  macOS
  Folder:    /Volumes/Macintosh HD/Reports/Sales.txt	/Volumes/Macintosh HD/Users/bsmith/Restored	/Volumes/Macintosh HD/Users/bsmith/Restored/Reports/Sales.txt
  All hard disks: / or /Volumes	/Volumes/Macintosh HD/Users/bsmith/Restored	If /Volumes contains the Macintosh HD and Photos hard disks: /Volumes/Macintosh HD/Users/bsmith/Restored/From Macintosh HD volume /Volumes/Macintosh HD/Users/bsmith/Restored/From Photos volume
  Specific hard disk: /Volumes/Photos/	/Volumes/Macintosh HD/Users/bsmith/Restored	/Volumes/Macintosh HD/Users/bsmith/Restored/From Photos volume

Yes. When restoring multiple versions, the Agent always keeps the existing file even if, for a device running Agent version 4.7.0 or later, you selected the option to overwrite existing files. As it restores each version, the Agent appends the backup date to the name of each file (originalFileName_(backupDate).extension) to help differentiate between them.

On the RESTORE tab, you can select a restore request for Connected to display and then sort and filter the information to customize the view for your needs. You can also download the information to a report in comma-separated value (CSV) format for analysis using third-party tools. Although the report contains the same information as Connected displays, you might find it easier to view the contents of a very large restore requests through the report rather than online. For more information, see View a restore request and Download details about a restore request.

You can monitor the Agent's progress restoring files in multiple ways:

• Desktop notifications. If your Agent is configured to display desktop notifications, it automatically notifies you of key points during the restore process—the start (or resumption), a failed file restoration, and the end.

  The notifications at the start (or resumption) and end also include file counts that provide an overall picture of the restore process. To view the progress at any point in time during a restore, point to the Agent icon to see current status information.

• RESTORE tab. This tab provides detailed information about all active or previous restore requests for any of your computers. The information includes the complete list of files in the restore request and the restore status of each file.

• Restore request report. While viewing the contents of a specific restore request on the RESTORE tab, you can download the information to a report in comma-separated value (CSV) format. Although the report contains the same information as displayed online, using third-party tools to view and analyze the report's data might make it easier to examine a request's contents or monitor its progress. For more information about this report, see Download details about a restore request.

• Restore.log file. This file contains informational and error messages that the Agent (version 4.5 or later) logs as it restores files. You can either view this file to monitor the progress of a restore request or search it to determine if a particular file was restored successfully. If the restore failed, the log identifies the error that occurred. For Windows-based Agents, this file is located in C:\Users\<user>\AppData\Local\Connected\Logs. For macOS-based Agents, it is in ~/Library/Application Support/Connected.

The Agent performs tasks in the background so you might not know when it is working. At any time, you can point to the Connected icon () to display the Agent's current activity. On Windows-based computers the icon appears in the notification area. For macOS, it appears in the menu bar.

The status message that appears identifies whether the Agent is idle (as indicated by a welcome status message) or performing one or more of the following activities:

• Scanning your computer for files to back up or sync
• Backing up files
• Restoring files
• Syncing files

While the Agent performs an activity, the status message also identifies which file the Agent is currently processing and how many files remain.

The Agent can scan your computer while performing another activity. Therefore, you might see the number of remaining files increase if the scanning process finds additional files to back up or sync. The Agent can sync files while it also backs up or restores files. If the status message indicates both back up and restore activity, the restore process takes precedence.

When the Agent restores a file, it downloads a temporary copy using a random file name to prevent impacting any existing version of the file you might have on your computer. The temporary file name consists of a random string of characters equal in length to the original file name. For example, when restoring a file named MyData.txt, the random name might be yI7PyyMKzm. As soon as the download completes, the Agent renames the temporary file to the original name, which replaces your current version, if one exists.

Typically, the download process is so fast that you might not notice these temporary files except while the Agent restores a very large file. The larger the file, more time it takes the Agent to download the temporary copy and therefore the longer that the copy exists.

If for any reason the Agent stops while restoring files, such as if you turn off your computer, the Agent automatically continues restoring the remaining files the next time it starts.

There are several possible reasons why Connected might not restore a file:

• Your device does not have an active network connection.

  The Agent requires an active network connection to receive the restore request notification and to restore files.

• The Agent is not running.

  Your Agent must be running to receive the restore request notification and to restore files. If the Agent is not running when you start the request, it receives the notification the next time it starts.

• You have created a restore request for the file but have not started it.

  After you have created a pending restore request with the set of files that you want to restore, you must start it. Starting a restore request notifies the Agent of the request so that it can begin the restore process.

• Another application has the file open.

  If you choose the Overwrite existing files option, the Agent cannot restore a file while it is open exclusively (Windows platforms) or open with advisory locking (macOS platforms). If another application has the file open exclusively, the Agent tries several times to restore it. If the file remains open, the Agent renames the file that it downloads by appending a number to the file's name (fileName.#.extension). For example, if the Agent cannot restore the open file Report.docx, it saves the downloaded file as Report.1.docx.

• The Agent encountered an error.

  If an error occurs while restoring a file, you can use the error message it displays on the RESTORE tab to identify the reason and troubleshoot the problem. For more information, see Troubleshoot restore errors.

If an error occurs while restoring files, the web application displays the error message on the RESTORE tab. You can use this information to troubleshoot the problem, as described inTroubleshoot restore errors.

This icon indicates how many restore requests you have that are pending or in progress. If you are a data administrator, this number also includes these types of restore requests that you have created for others, on their behalf. For example, indicates that you have one restore request that is either pending or in progress. For more information about restore requests, see View a restore request.