ShadowProtect - Perform a system recovery from the recovery partition

This how-to guide provides instructions for performing a system recovery on your eFolder BDR for ShadowProtect.

System recovery restores the BDR’s C: drive back to the factory settings from the recovery partition on the BDR. Optionally, it can restore the X: drive back to the factory settings after the restore.

Important! If you choose to restore the X: drive back to the factory settings after performing the system restore, all data and backups will be lost!

Launch the system recovery

If you find that the system volume (C: drive) needs to be recovered back to factory default, follow the steps in this how-to guide to recover the system volume from the system recovery partition on the BDR itself.

1. Open Windows Explorer, navigate to C:\Program Files\SoftThinks\PC Angel\, and run PCAG.exe. 

 Note: If the BDR will not boot into the operating system, you can press F8 while the system is booting to access the Advanced Boot Options. Selecting Repair Your Computer from the menu will also launch the PC Angel system recovery environment. 

 After launching PCAG.exe, the main interface for PC Angel is displayed.

2. Click the Start button on the top right of the main screen; then click the Restore button at the top of the PC Angel interface.

 3. Next, click the System Recovery button.

PC Angel displays a prompt to click the Reboot button at the bottom of the screen.

Clicking the Reboot button will reboot the BDR into to the Recovery Partition where you will be able to initiate the System Recovery of the C: drive.

After the recovery of the C: drive is complete, select an Administrator password and activate Windows. The system continues to install other applications and scripts as part of the recovery process, reboots, and logs back into Windows, after which you are asked if you would like to restore the X: drive back to the factory settings.

Important! Choose “No” if you want to keep the backup data that is on your X: drive. If you set the X: drive back to the factory settings, you will lose all of your data on the X: drive. If you accidently restore the X: drive back to the factory settings, you can start new base images on the protected machines and reseed the data back to the eFolder Cloud. However, you can always download the backup data from the eFolder Cloud to the BDR into their respective folders on the X: drive. ShadowProtect should then continue the backup jobs that are currently running. This eliminates the need to start new full backups and reseed the data.

4. Click the Reboot button.

5. Wait for the BDR to reboot into the PC Angel recovery environment.

Note: The screen is just like the one that is displayed when you launched the PCAG.exe; the difference is now you are running off the recovery partition.

6. Again, click the Start button on the top right.

7. Now select Restore from the top menu.

8. Next, click the System Recovery button to launch the system recovery process.

 Performing the System Recovery

You are now ready to perform the steps needed to restore the system volume (C: drive.)

9. Unless you have other restore media inserted into the BDR (USB or DVD), you should only see one option when you are asked to select a drive containing the PC Angel restore points.

This should be the recovery partition that is hidden on the BDR. If no options are displayed in this list, you must insert the correct USB recovery media (if you created it before hand) or DVD recovery Select the Recovery [drive letter:] option and then click Continue.

10. Next, select the point in time to which you would like to restore the system drive and click Continue. Typically, there should only be one selection. Note that the date and time of the restore point might differ from the one shown in the example below:

 The PC Angel software now performs the system recovery of the C: volume. First it preps the system disk  then it restores the point in time back to the disk.

11. After the PC Angel software has completed the restore, you are prompted to close the program and reboot back to the restored volume (C: drive).

Click the Close button and wait for the system to reboot.

12. After the BDR reboots, you are prompted to enter the Windows Server 2012 product key, which is located on the side or top of the BDR case. Enter the Windows Server 2012 product key, or skip this step if you do not want to enter the product key at this time. If you do not enter the product key at this time, Windows will prompt you to enter it in at a later time, or you can enter it manually later by displaying the Control Panel and searching for “Activate Windows”.

After you enter the product key or made the decision to enter it later, click Next or Skip, respectively.

 13. You are now asked to agree to the “Microsoft Software License Terms.” If you agree to these terms, click the checkbox labeled “I accept these license terms for Windows and this computer” and then click the Accept button.

14. On the next screen, you are prompted to enter a new administrator password. Enter a new administrator password and verify it, then click Finish. The BDR now displays the default Windows login screen. Press CTRL + ALT + DEL to login as the administrator using the new password you just set.

At this point, PC Angel runs some post-restore scripts to finish the recovery process. After the scripts have completed, the system will automatically reboot.

15. After the system has rebooted, log back in to the server. Within a few moments, a prompt appears asking if you want to restore the X: drive back to the factory settings. If this is a full system recovery and the X: drive was recreated, the system will automatically label the X: drive and copy the factory file and folder structure.

16. If you chose to restore the X: drive back to the factory settings, you are prompted a second time to confirm your selection.

Caution! If you choose “Yes” on the second prompt, the PC Angel software reformats the X: drive removing all files and folders that are stored on the X: drive, including any and all ShadowProtect backups.

This is a destructive process. You will lose all data on the X: drive.

 If you choose “No” at the second prompt, then the system recovery is complete and the data on the X: drive stays intact.

17. If you chose to restore the X: drive, the system sets the X: drive back to the factory settings.  After the PC Angel script completes, the X: drive is reset (if you chose to restore it) and the system recovery is complete.

 If you run into problems with the system recovery, open a support ticket with the eFolder Support team or email support@efolder.net to automatically open a medium-priority support ticket.