Restoring an Image through Site Manager

Introduction

Site Manager allows image backups to be restored to the managed computer they were taken from without leaving the Site Manager interface. This process is designed for simple restore activity with the following features:

Non-system partitions will be restored without restarting the client computer.
System partitions will be restored by restarting the client computer in Windows RE (if available) or Windows PE.
Note: If required, the Windows PE component files will first be automatically copied to the agent PC and the recovery boot menu added. The restore will then automatically be continued in the PE rescue environment.
Full progress of the restore is shown in the dashboard 'Activity' widget. This includes restores running in Windows PE.
A configurable restore alert message dialog can optionally be shown on the agent computer.
Users logged on to the client computer can optionally cancel the restore operation.

Advanced Restores

To restore a computer that is not online in Site Manager or requires options not available in the Site Manager restore, see the Restoring an Image Through Macrium Reflect.

Site Manager will copy user-supplied drivers from the server to the target agent immediately before the restore so that the recovery environment supports agent hardware. Drivers to be copied should be placed in the rescue media working directory drivers folder, under any subfolder scheme desired. The Site Manager server will analyze the drivers and inject only those drivers suitable for the version of Windows PE that is used for generating the rescue media.

For example, network card drivers to be used during restores of certain servers should be placed in workingDirectory\drivers\IT Servers\Network Cards where workingDirectory is the rescue media working directory as specified in the rescue media settings. These folders will need to be created manually.

Restoring an Image using Site Manager

The Site Manager restore process is a wizard-driven process with a number of stages. Restores using the Site Manager console can be initiated to managed computers that are booted into Windows or connected computers that have been booted using the rescue media. The way that computers are selected will depend on whether they are booted into Windows or the rescue media.

Selecting a Computer Booted into Windows

Select the 'Restore' side menu. Starting from Site Manager 8.1, restores can be initiated to computers that have been booted with the rescue media, for more information on this, see 'Using Site Manager to Restore a Computer Booted into the Rescue Media' further down this page. To initiate a restore to a managed computer booted in Windows, select 'Start Restore':

Note: Only one PC can be restored at a time

On the 'Computers' page of the remote restore wizard, select the computer that will be the target for this restore:

Click 'Next' to display a list of images found in repositories for the selected computer. Selecting an image file will display the disk(s) and partition(s) in the image file.

Selecting a Computer Booted into Rescue Media

From Site Manager 8.1, rescue media created by the Site Manager contains the boot media agent. This enables a restore to be initiated, using the Site Manager console, for managed computers that have been booted using the rescue media. See this article for more information about the boot media agent. This allows the physical boot of the machine to be performed by an on-site technician and the actual selection of the restore image and start of the backup to be performed from the central management UI.

Bare metal restores and restores to unmanaged computers will need to be performed manually since the computer is not managed by the Site Manager.

Computers that are managed by the Site Manager (have the Site Manager Agent installed on their operating system) will have their name displayed in the 'Agents in Recovery Environment' section of the 'Restore' page. Computers that do not have a Site Manager Agent installed will be shown as 'RECOVERY:X', and cannot be restored to using the Site Manager console. Computers can be selected using the checkbox shown next to each computer.

Click 'Next' to display a list of images found in repositories for the selected computer. Selecting an image file will display the disk(s) and partition(s) in the image file.

Selecting an Image File to Restore

Note: Only one disk may be restored at a time, but multiple partitions on the same disk may be selected.

Select the partition(s) to restore and click 'Next'.

Selecting Restore Options

On the 'Options' page of the wizard, additional options can be specified for the restore. The available options are:

Option	Description
Rapid Delta Restore	Only changed blocks are restored and the restore completes much faster with this option selected.
SSD TRIM	Affects restore operations to SSD only. Reflect can flag all unused blocks using the TRIM operation. Writing to an unused block is much quicker than an in-use block as it avoids both the slow erase operation and the read-modify-write cycle. This results in an increase in both the lifetime and the performance of the device. It is effective for all Windows operating systems, even those that support SSD trim as the file system driver can only TRIM blocks on de-allocation; it cannot TRIM blocks written by another process. It is also effective for USB-attached SSDs.
Verify image before restore	Perform a full image verification prior to starting the restore process. If any corruption is found in the source image file then the restore will be aborted. Note: Selecting this option with increase the restore time considerably.
Install/Update Agent after restore	When this option is selected, the Site Manager Agent will be installed the next time an administrator signs in to the restore operating system. The agent connection settings will be configured using the settings that have been specified the 'Server Connection Details' page of the settings. If the Site Manager Agent is already install, the Site Manager Agent and connection details will be updated. This ensures that, when restoring an older disk image with out of date Site Manager Agent connection details, that the agent can connect to the Site Manager post-restore.
Network Share Authentication	Enter any authentication details to enable the computer being restored to access the image file network location. Either the repository credentials can be used or if 'Manual Credentials Setup' is selected, custom credentials can be used.
Display Message	When enabled, a message dialog is displayed to inform the client user(s) that a restore operation is about to start. This dialog includes a list of the partitions being restored together with the custom message text. (This option is not available when restoring to a computer that has been booted using the rescue media). Example restore message dialog...
Allow user to cancel	When enabled, the restore can be canceled by the user logged in to the client computer. (This option is not available when restoring to a computer that has been booted using the rescue media).
Message to display	The text that will be displayed in the message dialog. (This option is not available when restoring to a computer that has been booted using the rescue media).
Seconds to display	The number of seconds to display the client message dialog. (This option is not available when restoring to a computer that has been booted using the rescue media).

Enter/select the restore options and click 'Next'.

Reviewing the Restore and Finishing

A summary of the restore selections and options is displayed. Confirm everything is OK and click 'Finish'.

Viewing a Restore Progress

The restore starts and a message dialog is displayed on the client computer (if the 'Display Message' option has been selected).

In Site Manager, notifications indicate the success of the restore request and initialization.

The message countdown and restore can be monitored in the dashboard 'Activity' widget.

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