Before anything else, you must
make a complete backup of all your hard disk volumes. You may have done
so already following the Quick Start instructions
for your first backup. If not, do a complete backup of all your files now.
Set the scheduling properties of a Backup Set to update your backup as often
as you can. Storage Manager is a powerful tool but if you haven't done a backup
for a few weeks, you will lose everything you have done recently.
The Disaster Recovery CD is the
easiest and fastest way to restore your computer's hard disk. It contains
all core files and allows to restore your disk without
formatting each drive and installing Windows and Storage Manager software. But
this option has 2 limitations:
- Your registration key must include authorization to use this module.
- You computer must be able to boot from a CD-ROM drive.
Use the Disaster Recovery Wizard
from the File menu to generate an ISO-format CD-R image file. Then burn
the ISO image file into a CD-R disc and keep it in a safe place.
NOTE: We recommend that you do
a new or incremental backup and prepare a new Disaster Recovery CD image
each time you make hardware changes to your computer, such as changing a
SCSI card, backup device, or device drivers.
Files with repair information
contain everything you need to prepare Storage Manager to restore your files after
a disaster, including: Backup Set definitions, encryption keys and
other configuration files.
We recommend that you save your
repair information even if you created a Disaster Recovery CD because the
CD may still be unable to restore your hard disk (you may have a special
configuration or other problems).
If you use encryption keys to
encrypt your backup archives, you MUST have files with repair information
to restore your files. Without keys you won't be able to decrypt your backup
archives! Even if you don't use encryption keys, files with repair information
will save you a lot of time. To restore your files you will need:
- All encryption keys you used during backups. You can't recreate
or somehow recover them! If you lose them, you lose your backups!
- All Backup Sets. You can recreate them manually, but it is
easier to use Repair Wizard to recover them.
To create files with repair information,
use the Disaster Recovery Wizard from the File menu. Choose the "I
want to save configuration and encryption keys" option and press the Next
button. The following page will appear.
Choose a place to save your repair
information. It can be a disk (select a target folder) or FTP Server. Press
the Next button to save repair information.
Do not forget the passwords you
used to generate your encryption keys. You will need to enter them during
restore.
You may need to install your Windows operating system and
Storage Manager to restore your files. Have your Windows and Storage Manager Installation
Software, and your License numbers ready. You may need them to reinstall
Windows onto your hard disk.
Note that you can always download
Storage Manager from Internet, but a local copy of it is safer (in case you have
problems with internet access).
