Recover lost files using Shadow Copy
You can use Shadow Copy to recover earlier versions of files stored on the server that you may have deleted or lost. Shadow Copy creates versions of files at scheduled periods and keeps a number of versions dependant on available server space. There is a snapshot of the folder taken at 7am and midday so if the file was created and deleted between these snapshots there may not be a version available to recover.
You need to be very careful when recovering files that you don't overwrite the current files in the directory with older versions. Always copy the earlier version to another location, find the file you require and then delete the unwanted files from your drives. If you have any doubts about this process please lodge a service call and we will assist you.
- Open My computer and browse to the folder that contains the files you need to recover - or the folder that contained the files previously. Open the folder to the level closest to the required files ie. keep browsing down through the folder levels to find the folder that should contain the missing files or folder.
- Right click on the folder and then select
Properties
from the drop down menu
- Select the Previous versions tab and then
click on the folder version that you think will contain the
files you need. You can double click to open the folder and
browse the files to see if the file you require is here.
- Select the version of the folder that you require and click
Copy. Do not restore the folder as this will
overwrite the current version of the entire folder. You need to
copy the folder to your desktop and then carefully save any
files back into their correct location.
- Click on Desktop - you will have to scroll
up to see it. With desktop selected click on the Make
new folder button.
- Rename the folder on the desktop as temp with the current
date - you need to be able to identify this as the recovered
version. Click on Copy
- Now that you have recovered the missing files you need to be
very careful about moving the required files back into the
network location where they should be stored. Make sure that the
copies of the files and folder on your desktop is deleted once
it is no longer required.