The Virtual Disaster Recovery feature lets you create a working mirror of your computer and run it in a virtual environment.
You can perform virtual disaster recovery to the following targets:
- VMware vSphere/VMware ESXi version 4.1, 5.0, 5.1, 5.5, and 6.0
- Hyper-V versions 2 and 3
- Microsoft Azure Cloud (available starting from version 15.0)
- Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, or EC2 (available starting from version 15.0)
The feature is currently available for Windows users. Access to the feature is product-based.
Requirements to the source system
Supported platforms
The range of platforms you can recover varies depending on the recovery target you choose.
| Recovery target | Windows Vista | Windows 7 | Windows 8 / 8.1 | Windows Server 2008 | Windows Server 2008 R2 | Windows Server 2012 | Windows Server 2012 R2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VMware | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Hyper-V | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Azure Cloud | No | Yes* | Yes* | Yes* | Yes (service pack 1 only) | Yes | Yes |
| Amazon Cloud | No | No | No | Yes (Standard, Datacenter and Enterprise) | Yes (Standard, Datacenter and Enterprise) | Yes (Standard and Datacenter) | Yes (Standard and Datacenter) |
* – not confirmed by Microsoft.
Backup selection requirements
To start using the Virtual Disaster Recovery feature, you should back up the following:
- The system state of your computer (the System State data source).
- The whole system disk – C:\ or any other depending on the configuration of your computer (the Files and Folders data source).
- Any other data that is important to you. Supported data sources: Files and Folders, MS Exchange, and MS SQL.
If in doubt concerning the selection of files, please perform a test restore or contact customer support for assistance.
Requirements to the system virtual disaster recovery is performed from
You can initiate data recovery from the following versions of Windows:
- Windows 7
- Windows 8
- Windows Server 2008 R2
- Windows Server 2012
- Windows Server 2012 R2
It’s important that the system you perform virtual disaster recovery from shouldn’t be older than the system you are restoring. For example, if you want to restore Windows 8, you should use Windows 8 or a newer version.
Software options
Virtual disaster recovery can be performed using either of these tools:
- The Backup Manager – lets you recover data from one device.
- The Recovery Console – lets you recover data from multiple devices simultaneously.
Both of the tools support one-time restores and continuous restores. In the Backup Manager, continuous restores are possible while a device is in the restore-only mode.
Instructions
Backup Manager instructions
- Start the Backup Manager.
- Click Restore > Virtual Disaster Recovery.
- Select the type of virtual machine you want to recover the data to.
- Fill out the settings for your type of virtual machine (the links are at the end of the article).
- Click Restore to start a recovery process.
- Hold on till the recovery process is completed. Its duration depends on the size of the system you are restoring, the data transfer speed, and the performance of your computer.
Recovery Console instructions
- Start the Recovery Console.
- Select a device and then click Configure. If the device isn’t listed, you should add it first (Add).
- From the list of data sources, choose “Virtual disaster recovery”.
- From the Restore target list, choose the type of virtual machine you want to recover your system to.
- Fill out the settings (see the instruction for your type of virtual machine for details).
- Click OK.
The Recovery Console will offer you to start data recovery for the device. Click Yes to continue or click No to add the device without recovering data (you’ll be able to do it any time later using the Active checkbox).
Final notes on MS Exchange and MS SQL
If you have included MS Exchange or MS SQL to the virtual disaster recovery, the recovery of these data sources will be completed automatically after you launch the new virtual machine.
If MS Active Directory is detected, there will be an additional system restart.
VMware machines are started automatically on remote ESX servers. Hyper-V machines should be started manually. Azure and Amazon machines can be started manually or automatically. To enable automatic starting, enter the VdrStartCloudVmAfterRestore=1 parameter to the [General] section of the config.ini file. Recovery Console users should create the file manually and place it into the Recovery Console installation folder (where the RecoveryConsole.exe file is).