Storage - Replace Storage Device

Use the Replace Storage Location dialog when you would like to replace an old storage device with a new storage device. 

Why would I want to use the Replace button?

• You are going to want to use the Replace button when you have purchased new equipment that is going to replace old equipment in your Backup Storage Group. The key word here is that you are retiring equipment (not adding to it) and that you do not want this equipment to be a part of your Backup Storage Group anymore.

What is the Difference Between the Add, Replace and Delete Buttons?

• Add - Use this when you want to increase the overall storage capacity by adding additional storage devices. The Add button allows you to increase the number of storage devices that are in use. The Add button is used when you want to keep your existing storage devices and increase the overall storage capacity.
   
• Replace - Use this when you have purchase new storage that you want to use in place of an existing (old) storage device. When you use the Replace feature, your backup data is copied from the old storage device to the new storage device and you plan to retire the old storage device. In other words, you are replacing the old storage with new storage.
   
• Delete - Use this when you want to retire old equipment or when you want to get rid of (delete) an existing storage drive. But, before you can think about deleting storage, you need to make sure you have a "landing location" for the backup data that is already on this drive. You should not arbitrarily delete storage devices from your primary storage group without first reviewing how much backup data is on that device and determining where you have space to hold this data.

How To Replace Storage Devices

1. Go to the computer running the Backup Server software.

2. Run Backup for Workgroups.

3. Select the Storage panel.

4. In the upper half of the Storage Panel which is called the Backup Storage Group, select the name of the storage device that you plan to replace.

5. Press the Replace button.

6. The storage location you selected is listed as the Old Storage Location.

7. In the New Storage Location field, select the path to the new storage location that will be using in place of the old storage location. If the storage location does not appear in the drop-down list, and it is a local drive, press the Advanced button to type in the path to the drive. If the storage location is a network share, press the Network Share button and enter the path to the network share and the access credentials necessary to access the share.

8. Press Verify Access to make sure Backup for Workgroups has full access rights to the new storage device.

9. Retention - After the files are moved from the old storage location to the new storage location, you can choose to keep the files on the old drive or you can delete them after they have been moved. If you choose to keep a copy of the original files, the files will be moved to the folder called "MovedBackupFiles" under the old storage location you specified above. The purpose of moving the files to this pre-designated folder is so that you can keep a copy of the files outside of the active storage location. If you choose to delete the original files from the old storage location after they are moved, each original file is deleted immediately after it has been moved to the new location. 

10. Press Begin Replacement. The amount of time needed to complete a replacement depends upon the amount of backup data residing on the drive that you have selected to remove. This could take hours/days; backups will continue normally during this process.

11. When all of the contents of the old storage device have been transferred to the selected receiving storage device, then the old storage device no longer appears in the backup storage group.