Return
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Title
Restore individual files or folder from VM backup preserving original date and time -
Description
When doing file-level restore out of a VMware plug-in created backup, the creation and modification dates on files and folders are changed. Furthermore, additional steps are required to put the files back on the original host machine. -
Cause
When restoring individual files and folders from an image-level backup created with the VMware plug-in, the files and folders will be created on the system running the plug-in. Therefore, their creation and modification timestamps will reflect the local time when they were restored. -
Resolution
There are three possible work around that can be used to keep the original files and folders creation timestamp:
Option 1 – Restore the VM using the VMware plug-in created image-level backup- Restore the whole VM machine (Look for the section Restoring image-level backups > Restoring a full virtual machine or individual virtual drives of the VMware plug-in User Guide. For instance, here are the instructions for plug-in version 12.3).
- Transfer the required files.
Considerations: require additional storage space.
Option 2 – Restore individual files and folders from a VMware plug-in file-level backup- Create a file-level backup using the VMware plug-in (Check the section Performing file-level backups in the User Guide. Here are the instructions for VMware plug-in version 12.3).
- Restore the wanted files and folders to a shared network drive. When restoring the files and folders, ensure that the reset timestamp for files and folders options are unchecked (Look for the table Plug-in for FileSystem restore options in the user Guide. For example, for VMware plug-in version 12.3, it is Table 10).
Considerations: only work with Windows VM.
Option 3 – Restore the files and folders using NetVault Backup built-in File System plug-in- Install NetVault Client on the target VM.
- If the backup is file-level type created using the VMware plug-in, restore the files and folders as described on the plug-in user guide (revise the instructions for version 12.3 but check the steps for your plug-in version). NOTE: method will only work on Windows VM.
- If the VM (any OS) backup is created using the built-in File System plug-in, restore as indicated on FileSystem plug-in user guide (revise the steps for version 12.4 but get the instructions for your corresponding version).
Considerations: Additional NetVault Client license might be needed. Files and folders can be restored to original VM.