When you need to replace your hard drive, you are
effectively performing what is sometimes called a bare metal restore. 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 software. 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.
Install the new hard drive in your computer.
Go to the computer running the Backup Server software
Run Backup for Workgroups
A list of all the Clients/Users of this Backup Server appears on the left. Select the appropriate Client name.
Press the Generate Disaster Recovery Report button.
Backup for Workgroups generates your Disaster Recovery report based on your computer configuration and the last Operating System you were using.
The Internet browser 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.
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 temporary copy of Windows (see important note below), 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.
IMPORTANT
When you install the temporary copy of Windows, you MUST use the same version and service pack of Windows that you were using at the time of your last backup. The Disaster Recovery Report shows you both the version of Windows and the service pack level in use as of your last backup.