There are three fundamental situations in which most end users find themselves at one time or another when they use their computers. These scenarios include:

• Accidental file deletion, the most common situation.
• Accidental file replacement, which occurs for example, when users forget to use Save As.
• File corruption.

It is possible to recover from all of these scenarios by accessing shadow copies. The process is a little different when accessing a file compared to accessing a folder.

*****************************

Important End users should be notified that OIS creates 3 shadow copies of all NAS contents. The snapshot schedule is: M-F 6AM, 12PM, 6PM. End users should also be made aware that there is a maximum of 64 shadow copies, after which the earliest copy is purged.

******************************

Recovering a Deleted File
To recover a deleted file, use the following procedure:

• Navigate to the folder in which the deleted file had been stored.
• Position the cursor over a blank space in the folder. If the cursor hovers over a file, that file will be selected.
• Right-click the mouse and select Properties from the bottom of the menu. Select the Previous Versions tab.
• Select the version of the folder that contains the file before it was deleted, and then click View.
• View the folder and select the file that will be recovered.
• Drag and drop, or cut and paste, the shadow copy to the desktop or folder on the end user’s local machine.
  

The following figure shows how end users can select a specific file within a folder to restore.




Recovering an Overwritten or Corrupted File
Recovering an overwritten or corrupted file is easier than recovering a deleted file because the file itself can be right-clicked instead of the folder. To recover an overwritten or corrupted file use the following procedure:

• Right-click the overwritten or corrupted file and click Properties.
• Select Previous Versions.
• If you want to view the old version, click View. To copy the old version to another location, click Copy... To replace the current version with the older version, click Restore.
  

 

Recovering a Folder
To recover a folder use the following procedure:

• Position the cursor so that it is over a blank space in the folder that will be recovered. If the cursor hovers over a file, that file will be selected.
• Right-click the mouse, select Properties from the bottom of the menu, and then, click the Previous Versions tab.
• Choose either Copy or Restore.
• Choosing Restore enables the user to recover everything in that folder as well as all subfolders. Selecting Restore will not delete any files.