Synology Active Backup for Business Recovery Wizard

Active Backup for Business supports bare-metal and volume-level backups and restores using preconfigured recovery media. This article explains how the recovery media is used to restore entire machines or specific volumes from a specific backup version stored on your Synology NAS. Refer to the Recovery Media Creation Guide for detailed instructions.

Requirements and Limitations

Windows

Note:

Mac

To restore an entire Mac, you'll need to download Synology Active Backup for Business Recovery Wizard from the Download Center (under Desktop Utilities). Refer to How to restore my entire Mac for detailed instructions.

Linux

Boot Recovery Media

After you have mounted the ISO image or attached the USB drive to the device intended for restoration, follow these steps:

  1. Press F2 to enter the BIOS mode once your device has been rebooted. Note that this hotkey may vary by vendor.
  2. Navigate to the Boot tab, and prioritize CD-ROM Drive (for ISO image) or Removable Devices (for USB drive).
  3. Exit the setup process and you'll be directed to Synology Active Backup for Business Recovery Wizard, which will start the restoration process automatically.

Refer to Recovery wizard overview and Restore via recovery wizard for more information.

Recovery Wizard Overview

Restore Your Device

After you've entered the BIOS menu and selected the boot order for booting recovery media, you'll be directed to Synology Active Backup for Business Recovery Wizard.

Load Drivers and Network Adapters (Optional)

Loading drivers and network adapters is only required when you're using specific network adapters or drivers. Follow these steps:

  1. In the Active Backup for Business Recovery Wizard click the ⋯ more icon > List of hardware drivers.
  2. Check if drivers and network adapters need to be installed. Click Internet Settings if you can't connect to the Internet.
  3. If required, click Load Drivers.

Note:

Restore Backups from Synology NAS

  1. In the Active Backup for Business Recovery Wizard enter your Synology NAS server address and administrator's credentials and click Connect. The devices and versions displayed in the next steps are based on your signed-in account.
  2. Select the device and task.
  3. Select the restore mode:
  4. Select a version.1
  5. You can view the following version information:
  6. Adjust additional settings:
  7. Confirm the summary and click Next. Once the restoration has begun, it's not possible to stop it or to roll it back to where the device was before the restoration. Cancellation during the process may prevent the device from booting successfully.3
  8. Click Finish and choose if you want to restart or shut down the device once the restoration is complete. Remove the recovery media before restarting the device.4

Note:

  1. Versions will only be available if they're compatible with the restore mode. For example, if System volume restore is selected, you can only restore versions containing the system volume.
  2. Make sure that each hard disk in your device has enough capacity to hold the backup size for the selected version.
  3. If the Internet disconnects during the restoration, the recovery wizard will continuously try to reconnect to the server and resume the process. You can stop this at any time by canceling the restoration, restarting the device, or shutting down the device.
  4. The estimated remaining time for the restoration will be displayed. The duration may vary depending on the network environment.

Troubleshoot Restoration Issues

If restoration fails, you can retrieve "recovery.log" and send it to Synology Technical Support for further assistance. You can only retrieve "recovery.log" from the recovery wizard before restarting or shutting down the device.

For Windows:

  1. Insert a USB drive into the device you want to restore. You can use the same USB drive where the recovery media is stored.
  2. Click the ⋯ more icon > Command-line interface.
  3. Enter "notepad" and press Enter to launch Notepad. Select Open in Notepad to check the drive letter of the inserted USB drive. For example, if the drive letter of the USB drive is "S", the command should look like this:

    copy X:\ActiveBackup\recovery.log* S:

    xcopy /E /I X:\ActiveBackup\resource\command S:

  4. Go to the USB drive where you copied the log files and send the file named "recovery.log" and the command folder to Synology Technical Support for further troubleshooting.

For Linux:

  1. Insert a USB drive into the device you want to restore. You can use the same USB drive where the recovery media is stored.
  2. Launch the Linux recovery wizard command-line interface.
  3. Enter the following command to check the location of the inserted USB drive:
    fdisk -l
  4. Enter the following command to mount the USB drive. For example, we'll use "/dev/sdb1" as the USB drive location.
    mount /dev/sdb1
  5. Enter the following command to mount any folder from the USB drive. For example, we'll use "/mnt".
    mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt
  6. Enter the following commands to copy the log and the command folder to the USB drive:
    cp /opt/ Synology /ActiveBackupRecovery/recovery.log* /mnt/
    cp -r /opt/ Synology /ActiveBackupRecovery/resource/command /mnt/
  7. Enter the following command to unmount the USB drive:
    umount /mnt
  8. Send the file named "recovery.log" and the command folder to Synology Technical Support for further troubleshooting.