SIRIS, ALTO, and NAS: Performing a local file restore

Topic

This article describes the process to recover multiple files or folders from a Datto appliance by using the File Restore option.

Environment

Datto SIRIS
Datto ALTO
Datto NAS

Description

Technical Notes

File Restore for ReFS is currently unsupported. Any ReFS volumes in the selected snapshot will be excluded from the restoration. To perform a file restore of an ReFS volume, use the Volume Restore feature.
On large file restores, using the search function can result in a 500 error once timeout exceeds 60 seconds. If your search times out, you can navigate to the absolute path of the needed file instead of using the search bar.

Procedure

1. To start a file restore, select Restore from the main menu at the top of the device GUI.

Figure 1: Restore

2. From the Restore from a Backup page, select the system that you would like to restore.

3. Select File Restore, and select the recovery point from which you would like to restore.

3. Click Start File Restore.

Figure 2: Starting a restore (click for larger image)

4. The File Recovery page will display. Click Mount.

5. The Samba Share and a link to access the file restore in a web browser will appear.

Figure 3: Local File Recovery page showing Samba Share (A) and Web Share (B) options (click to enlarge)

Accessing the restore in Windows via the Samba share

1. Paste the share address into any Windows Explorer address bar or Run prompt (shown in Figure 4).

Figure 4: Accessing the Samba share via the Windows Run prompt

If you see a credential prompt, enter the username and password of any local user account on the Datto appliance. For Mac platforms, make sure that you are connecting as a Guest instead of a Registered User. If the issue persists, unmount the share from the Local File Recovery page and then remount it.

Figure 5: Browsing a mounted share (click to enlarge)

Accessing the restore via the web share

1. Click the Access Web Share link, as shown in Figure 3 above.

2. From the File Recovery window:

To download an entire volume, click the download icon next to the drive letter for the volume you wish to restore.
To download individual files, click the drive letter link to the right of the folder icon to open its file directory. Then, click the download icon for the items you wish to restore.
To download the entire recovery point, click the Download All button.

Downloading the entire recovery point can result in very large download sizes, depending on the amount of data backed up.

Figure 6: Web share options: download volume (A), Download individual files (B), Download all (C) (click to enlarge)

Cleaning up the restore

7. When you are finished with the file restore, close any active connections to the share. From the Restore tab of the Datto appliance, click Remove Restore.

Figure 6: Remove Restore (click to enlarge)

Selecting Secure File Restore

For each agent protected on a Datto appliance, you can lock down the shares so that they are only accessible by those who have access to the Datto device.

You can change this setting on a per-agent basis in the Configure Agent Settings menu for each protected system.

Figure 7: Secure File Restore & Export (click to enlarge)

Once you've enabled this option, whenever you access a file restore or a VMDK/VHD share for the agent, you will be prompted to enter the user credentials of an authorized local account.

Samba signing is disabled by default for non-iSCSI file restores.