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Arctera™ System Recovery 24 User's Guide

Last Published: 2025-04-07

Product(s): System Recovery (24.0)

Introducing Arctera System Recovery
1. About Arctera System Recovery
2. The components of Arctera System Recovery
3. Accessing Help and Support for Arctera System Recovery
4. Sending your feedback regarding Arctera System Recovery 24
5. Accessing Arctera QuickAssist (AQA)
6. Updating Arctera System Recovery with Arctera Update
Installing Arctera System Recovery
1. System requirements for Arctera System Recovery
2. Supported file systems, disk types, disk partition schemes, and removable media
3. Feature availability in Arctera System Recovery
4. About the trial version of Arctera System Recovery
5. Installing Arctera System Recovery
  1. Activating and setting up Arctera System Recovery after installation
  2. Activating Arctera System Recovery after the trial period
6. Uninstalling Arctera System Recovery
7. System requirements for Arctera System Recovery Manager
8. Installing Arctera System Recovery Manager
Ensuring the recovery of your computer
1. Creating a new Arctera System Recovery Disk
2. Customizing an existing Arctera System Recovery Disk
3. About restoring a computer from a remote location by using LightsOut Restore
  1. Configuring LightsOut Restore
4. Testing the Arctera System Recovery Disk
Getting Started
1. How to use Arctera System Recovery
2. Starting Arctera System Recovery
3. Configuring Arctera System Recovery default options
4. Setting up default general backup options
  1. Setting a default backup destination
5. Improving your computer's performance during a backup
6. Enabling network throttling
7. Setting default options for the Windows notification area
8. File types and file extension
9. Removing or changing the unique name for an external drive
10. Configuring default FTP settings for use with Offsite Copy
11. Logging Arctera System Recovery messages
12. Enabling email notifications for product (event) messages
13. Setting up your first backup using Easy Setup
14. Home page
15. Status page
16. Tasks page
17. Tools page
18. Advanced page
19. Using Arctera System Recovery RESTful Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)
Best practices for backing up your data
1. About backing up your data
2. Best practices for backing up data
3. What to do when a backup is finished
4. Tips for running defined backups
5. Backup destinations
6. Backing up dual-boot computers
7. Manually validating recovery points
Backing up entire drives
1. Defining a drive-based backup
2. Compression levels for recovery points
3. Running a one-time backup from Arctera System Recovery
4. Running a backup from Arctera System Recovery Disk
5. How Offsite Copy works
Backing up files and folders
1. Backing up files and folders
Running and managing backup jobs
1. Running an existing backup job immediately
  1. Running a backup to create an alternate type of recovery point
2. Adjusting the speed of a backup
3. Stopping a backup or a recovery task
4. Verifying that a backup is successful
5. Viewing the properties of a backup job
6. Editing backup settings
7. Enabling event-triggered backups
8. Editing a backup schedule
9. Disabling or enabling a backup job
10. Deleting backup jobs
11. Adding users who can back up your computer
12. Configuring access rights for users or groups
Backing up remote computers from your computer
1. About backing up other computers from your computer
2. About the Arctera System Recovery Agent
  1. Using the Arctera System Recovery Agent
  2. About managing the Arctera System Recovery Agent through Windows Services
3. About deploying the Arctera System Recovery Agent
4. Best practices for Arctera System Recovery services
5. Viewing Arctera System Recovery Agent dependencies
6. About controlling access to Arctera System Recovery
Monitoring the status of your backups
1. About monitoring backups
  1. Refreshing the information that displays about hard disk configuration changes
2. Icons on the Home page
3. Icons on the Status page
4. Configuring Arctera System Recovery to send SNMP traps
5. Customizing the status reporting of a drive (or file and folder backups)
6. Viewing drive details
7. Improving the protection level of a drive
8. About using event log information to troubleshoot problems
Managing and Monitoring the backup status of remote computers using Arctera System Recovery Manager
1. About
2. Configuring Windows firewall exceptions for Arctera System Recovery Manager
3. Starting Arctera System Recovery Manager
4. Icons on the Arctera System Recovery Manager console
5. Configuring Arctera System Recovery Manager default options
6. Viewing Arctera System Recovery Dashboard
7. Adding a remote computer to All Computers
  1. Importing a text file to add multiple remote computers to All Computers
8. Searching a remote computer from All Computers
9. Modifying the logon credentials for the remote computers
10. Running or Deleting Backup Jobs for the Remote computers
11. Removing a remote computer from the All Computers
12. Viewing the backup protection status of a remote computer
13. Viewing the backup protection status for a remote computer
14. Viewing the Protection Status report
15. About Backup Tasks
  1. Recovery Point Set and Independent Recovery Point in backup job
  2. Tips for creating recovery points
16. Creating Backup Jobs
17. Editing Backup Jobs
18. Removing Backup Jobs
19. Applying Backup Jobs
Exploring the contents of a recovery point
1. About exploring recovery points
2. Exploring a recovery point through Windows Explorer
  1. Mounting a recovery point from Windows Explorer
3. Opening and restoring files within a recovery point browser
4. Dismounting a recovery point drive
5. Viewing the drive properties of a recovery point
Managing backup destinations
1. About backup destinations
2. Differences between drive-based backups and file and folder backups
3. Cleaning up old recovery points
4. Deleting a recovery point set
5. Deleting recovery points within a recovery point set
6. Copying recovery points
7. About managing file and folder backup data
8. Automating the management of backup data
9. Moving your backup destination
10. About support of OneDrive for Business
Managing virtual conversions
1. Defining a virtual conversion job
2. Running an existing virtual conversion job immediately
3. Viewing the properties of a virtual conversion job
4. Viewing the progress of a virtual conversion job
5. Editing a virtual conversion job
6. Deleting a virtual conversion job
7. Running a one-time conversion of a physical recovery point to a virtual disk
Managing cloud storage
1. Direct to cloud
2. Downloading OpenStorage Files
3. How Offsite Copy works for cloud storage
4. About creation of Amazon Machine Image (AMI) in Amazon from Arctera System Recovery backups
  1. How to create an Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
  2. How to view the conversion tasks and AMI status
5. About S3-Compatible Cloud Storage
  1. Using S3-Compatible Cloud Storage in Arctera System Recovery
6. About Arctera System Recovery supporting Arctera Access
  1. Using Arctera Access Storage in Arctera System Recovery
7. About the Cloud Instance Creator Utility
Recovering files, folders, or entire drives
1. About recovering lost data
2. Recovering files and folders by using file and folder backup data
3. Recovering files and folders
4. Recovering a secondary drive
5. Recovering a drive
6. Exploring files and folders on your computer by using Arctera System Recovery Disk
7. Recovering files and folders by using Arctera System Recovery Disk
Recovering a computer
1. About recovering a Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)-based computer
2. Booting a computer by using the Arctera System Recovery Disk
  1. Configuring a computer to start from a USB device or DVD
3. Preparing to recover a computer by checking the hard disk for errors
4. Recovering a computer
5. Recovering a computer from a virtual disk file
6. Recovering a computer with different hardware
7. About using the networking tools in Arctera System Recovery Disk
8. Viewing the properties of a recovery point in the Arctera System Recovery Disk
9. Viewing the properties of a drive within a recovery point in the Arctera System Recovery Disk
10. About the Support Utilities
Copying a hard drive
1. Preparing to copy a hard drive
2. Copying one hard drive to another hard drive
Using the Arctera System Recovery Granular Restore Option
1. About the Arctera System Recovery Granular Restore Option
2. Best practices when you create recovery points for use with the Granular Restore Option
  1. Protecting your Microsoft Exchange server for successful backups
3. Starting the Granular Restore Option
4. Starting Granular Restore Option and opening a specific recovery point
5. Restoring a Microsoft Exchange mailbox
6. Restoring a Microsoft Exchange email folder
7. Restoring a Microsoft Exchange email message
8. Restoring files and folders using Granular Restore Option
Appendix A. Backing up databases using Arctera System Recovery
1. About backing up databases using Arctera System Recovery
2. Creating a manual cold (offline) backup
3. Creating an automatic warm backup
4. Creating a hot (online) backup using Arctera System Recovery
Appendix B. Backing up Active Directory
1. Tips for protecting a domain controller in Active Directory
Appendix C. Backing up Microsoft virtual environments
1. About backing up Microsoft virtual hard disks
2. About backing up and restoring Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines
Appendix D. Using Arctera System Recovery 24 and Windows Server Core
1. About Arctera System Recovery 24 and Windows Server Core
2. Installing Arctera System Recovery 24 on Windows Server Core using commands
Index

Installing Arctera System Recovery

Before you begin, you should review the system requirements for installing Arctera System Recovery.

See System requirements for Arctera System Recovery.

Note:

During the installation process, you might be required to restart the computer. You should ensure proper functionality of the computer after it restarts. To do so, log on again using the same user credentials that you used to log on when you installed Arctera System Recovery.

The Arctera System Recovery installation program lets you install Arctera System Recovery Manager. You can either install Arctera System Recovery Manager while installing Arctera System Recovery or install it later by running the installation program again.

See Installing Arctera System Recovery Manager.

To install Arctera System Recovery

Log on to your computer using either the Administrator account or an account with administrator privileges.
Insert the Arctera System Recovery product DVD into the media drive of the computer.
The installation program should start automatically.
If the installation program does not run, type the following command at a command prompt:
<drive>:\browser.exe
Replace <drive> with the drive letter of your media drive.
On the DVD browser panel, click Installation, and then click Install Arctera System Recovery to start the installation.
On the License Agreement panel, read the license agreement, and then click I accept the terms in the license agreement.
Click Next.
On the Installation Type panel, select either Typical Installation or Custom Installation, and then click Next.
A typical installation installs all of the features of Arctera System Recovery. A custom installation allows you to install selected features.

If you selected Custom Installation in step 6, select the options that you want to install, and then click Next.

If you selected Typical Installation in step 6, proceed to step 8.

System Recovery Disk Creation Utility	Arctera does not ship the Arctera System Recovery Disk with the product. Instead, Arctera System Recovery provides an option to create a Arctera System Recovery Disk for all computers in your environment. You can use this disk to recover any other computer in your environment. The Arctera System Recovery Disk Creation Utility is installed by default on all the computers on which you install Arctera System Recovery 24. You need to create a Arctera System Recovery Disk only on a computer with the latest Windows operating system in the environment as a recovery disk created on an older version of the operating system cannot recover the latest operating system.
Backup and Recovery Service	Installs the primary service that is required to back up or recover your computer.
Recovery Point Browser	Enables you to browse, mount, copy, verify, and restore files and folders using recovery points.
User Interface	Installs the product user interface that is required for interacting with the Arctera System Recovery Service.
Agent Deployment	This option appears when you expand the User Interface option. Allows the computer on which you have installed Arctera System Recovery to deploy the Arctera System Recovery Agent to other computers. The Arctera System Recovery Agent is required for remote recovery management.
Granular Restore Option	This option appears when you expand the User Interface option. Lets you open recovery points and restore Microsoft Exchange mailboxes, folders, and individual messages. You can also restore unstructured files and folders. The Granular Restore Option now supports Exchange Server 2013. You can take backups and recover the files of Exchange Server 2013.
Arctera Update	Keeps your Arctera software up to date with the latest product updates.

On the Destination Folder panel, select a folder where you want to install Arctera System Recovery, and then click Next.
To troubleshoot a problem in Arctera System Recovery after it is installed, it is recommended that you run the SupportGather.exe utility. This utility gathers the existing log information and also runs the partinfo.exe and SMEdump.exe utilities to gather additional log information. This log information is in clear text. The log file and the .exe utilities are located in the <VSR Installation folder>/Utility folder.
Note:
Arctera recommends that only privileged users or an administrator can access the Utility folder. Arctera recommends using AppLocker or Software Restriction Policies (SRP) to allow execution of only signed binaries in Arctera System Recovery. You can enable the SRP or AppLocker options on your Windows operating system.
See http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh994614.aspx, to learn more about the SRP and Applocker options.
Note:
Arctera recommends that you place binaries and libraries in theArctera System Recovery installation folder. Only privileged users or an administrator should have the rights to access the installation folder.
If you select the Typical installation, in the Installation Warning panel, select the I have read the warning check box, and then click Next.
See Creation Options.
On the Installation Review panel, review the Arctera System Recovery installation summary, and then click Install.
The progress status of the installation process is displayed on the Progress panel.
After the installation completes, the Product Activation panel is displayed.
On the Product Activation panel, two options are displayed.
Select either the Proceed with Trial or Activate Product with Purchased License, and then click Next.
The Proceed with Trial version is the default option and allows the product to be used for a trial period of 60 days.
The Activate Product with Purchased License option, requires you to browse and provide a valid license file(.slf).
Note:
You can browse to the license file available on a network share or locally.
Click Next to proceed.
After the activation completes, remove the product DVD from the media drive, and then click Finish to close the installation wizard.
Restart your computer.
If you choose not to restart your computer at this time, you cannot run Arctera System Recovery until after you restart your computer.

See Activating and setting up Arctera System Recovery after installation.