Disaster Recovery Steps / Bare Metal Restoration

Disaster can strike in varying degrees. Backup for Workgroups can help you restore your computer after a disaster. Some computer related disasters might result in the need for:

• Complete computer replacement. This total disaster results when your computer is stolen or is damaged in such a way that it cannot be repaired. 
• Hard drive replacement. You may find it necessary to replace your hard drive when you would like to have more storage space or if a virus damages your hard drive beyond repair.
• Hard drive reformatting. Your computer could become infected with a virus that maliciously reformats your hard drive or corrupts your computer to the point where you have no choice but to reformat. 

When you experience any of these disasters, you will find it necessary to restore your data. Backup for Workgroups helps you recover from disaster by providing you with detailed instructions on how to format and partition your new hard drive so it matches your original setup. This personalized Disaster Recovery report can be generated for you from the Backup Server. This report also explains how to install your Operating System and use the Backup Client to access your backup data to restore your Windows Registry, applications and data files.

Bare Metal Restoration

Each of the disasters described requires a bare metal restoration. The term bare metal refers to a hard drive that does not contain an Operating System. So, a bare metal restoration is the process of re-installing an Operating System and recovering your data. 

Backup for Workgroups supports user-driven bare metal restoration. This restoration process is prefaced with the term user-driven because it requires you to perform certain tasks during the restoration process. These steps are detailed for you in the Disaster Recovery report produced by the Backup Server. This user-driven bare metal restoration uses the copy of the Operating System you own and paid for without unnecessarily requiring you to pay for a second copy of the same Operating System which is customary with some disaster recovery products.

Disaster Recovery Steps:

1. Replace equipment if your disaster resulted in lost, stolen or damaged equipment. 

2. Go to the Backup Server and generate your personalized Disaster Recovery report. You need this report so you can follow its instructions to: partition and format your hard drive(s), install the Operating System, and restore your data.

3. At the computer running the Backup Server, press Start > Programs > Backup for Workgroups. 

4. Click on the Clients button in the side panel. 

5. A list of all the Clients/Users of this Backup Server appears on the left. Select the appropriate user name. 

6. Press the Generate Disaster Recovery Report button.

7. The Backup Server generates your Disaster Recovery report based on your computer configuration and the last Operating System you were using.

8. The Internet browser on the computer running the Backup Server launches and displays your Disaster Recovery report. Use the Browser’s Print function to make a hard copy of this report so you can follow along with the instructions.

9. Go to your computer and follow along with the instructions presented on the Disaster Recovery report in order to partition the hard drives, install the Operating System, and install the Backup Client Software. Once you have completed these steps, you will be ready to login to the Backup Server and restore files from your last backup.