Restoring from dead HD to a new one

[Canada John]

Hello Again,

 

Further to my question of earlier today. This must be a common problem. I've backed up a HD. That HD has failed, so now I must restore to a new HD. I had thought I'd just give the new HD the same name as the old and Retrospect would just restore to it, thinking it was the old.

 

But that hasn't worked. After selecting source-backup set and the snapshot of the old dead drive (called "Lacie"), when I come to "destination selection" I get a list of all the HDs, including the dead one - now listed as off-line. Giving my new HD the same name has only produced two HDs with the name "Lacie" on the list - one off-line the other on-line.

 

That seemed a little scary, so I renamed the new HD to something entirely new ("SAMUEL"). Now, when I select it as the destination and click OK, I get the ominous message, flashing triangle et al, saying "Really restore to SAMUEL replacing its entire contents?"

 

Is this just a warning in case one mistakenly identified the wrong destination, i.e., the program feels it should be restoring to the original HD? If I proceed past this point will I get the option to restore all the old "Lacie" files to "SAMUEL"?

 

Again, it seems to me this must be a common situation - restoring backed-up data from a newly dead HD to a new one. I would suspect, like me, that many buy the program to insure against failed HDs.

 

Any help woulf be greatly appreciated. I darn't proceed until I'm sure of what I'm doing.

 

Thanks.

 

Canada John

[natew]

Hi

 

Drive names are not important for restores in Retrospect. For example you could restore the contents of drive "Mary" to a drive named "Jane" with no trouble at all.

 

The warning message is generic. It is telling you that the disk you have chosen as a destination is about to be wiped clean and over-written. In other words, double check that you have chosen the right disk as your restore destination.

 

Nate

[Canada John]

Thank you very much for the replies to my two messages.

 

Before I proceed and try that restore, I'd like to ask you one or two more questions.

 

As I understand, you say I can restore using the "restore an entire disk" option to a new hard drive with a different name. Once done will I have to add that new disk (SAMUEL) as a new source? If so, will Retrospect set about reading that disk and re-copying all that it has just placed on that disk? As I mentioned, the dead disk (Lacie) still sits on the list in "destination selection" though now listed as off-line. Should I be removing it now, somehow? Bottom line, what do I do so that Retrospect now knows that "SAMUEL" IS"Lacie"?

 

In the wee hours last night I was wondering if "restore files from a back-up" wasn't my answer. Not in the user guide but in the on-line tutorial, it says one can select all the files in a snapshot and restore these to a new disk. Problem here, again, is what would happen with the new disk when added as a new source? Would Retrospect try and re-copy all its files? Would the program know that this new disk WAS "Lacie"?

 

I have made sure the new disk has the same format (HFS+ 64k). I'm using Retrospect 5.1 for MAC (OS9).

 

Thanks again.

 

Canada John

 

p.s. It's 40 below outside today - but sunny! Good day, I guess, to be inside working away at this.

[natew]

Hi,

 

By default volume name is not taken into account for backups or restores. You can name it however and whenever you like - It will not affect your backups or restores.

 

Retrospect copies only new and changed _files_ to the backup set. If a file on the disk (no matter which folder or disk it gets moved to) is identical to a file already in the backup set it will not be backed up again.

 

Retrospect uses this same criteria on all files including files that have been placed on the disk by a restore operation. If outside factors (disk utilities, date /time changes, virus scans) change a file ever so slightly it will be backed up again.

 

In theory your files should not be backed up a second time after they have been restored. However there are outside factors that can change files slightly. The restore entire disk restore is the best way to minimize that possiblity. Your best bet is to try and see.

 

Nate