# 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

- Preconfigured recovery media is required. Refer to the Recovery Media Creation Guide for detailed instructions on how to create recovery media.
- Network connection is required throughout the entire restoration process. Without it, the restoration can't proceed until the recovery wizard reconnects to your Synology NAS.
- We recommend installing all the required drivers before you begin. If you want to install more drivers, you can click the ⋯ more icon > Load Drivers.

#### Note:

- To create recovery media manually, you must download Synology Active Backup for Business Recovery Wizard from the Download Center (under Desktop Utilities).
- If you're using the automatic method to create recovery media, you won't need to download Active Backup for Business Recovery Wizard separately since it's included in the Active Backup for Business Recovery Media Creator.
- Dynamic disks are not supported for entire device restorations.

### 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

- Preconfigured recovery media is required. Download Synology Active Backup for Business Recovery Media Creator from the Download Center (under Desktop Utilities) and refer to Recovery Media Creation Guide for detailed instructions.
- Network connection is required throughout the entire restoration process. Without it, the restoration can't proceed until the recovery wizard reconnects to your Synology NAS.
- We recommend installing all the required drivers before you begin.

## 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

- To view the Internet status, click the desktop icon.
- To view the following options, click the ⋯ more icon:
  - List of hardware drivers: Here you can check the installed drivers and network adapter. Click Load Drivers to install necessary drivers.
  - Command-line interface: Access to the command-line interface is supported here. You can check the device's status and information and activate built-in programs using commands.
  - Internet Settings: Choose to obtain IP addresses and DNS server addresses automatically or set a designated IP address or DNS server for the device.
  - About: The current version information.
  - Restart: This option allows you to restart the device at any point in the process. Keep in mind that restarting the device will reset all previous settings and you'll need to sign in and reconfigure the settings again.
  - Turn off: This option allows you to shut down the device at any point in the process.

## 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:

- Restoration may fail if the necessary driver isn't installed.
- Restoration requires network connection. For recovery media created using Windows 10 WinPE, Internet access is usually available by default. Internet access should also be available for Linux-based recovery media.
- This method doesn't apply to drivers that require a system restart. Refer to Device Installations and System Restarts by Microsoft for details.

### 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:
   - Entire device restore: All data on the target device will be overwritten by the backup. Volume locations will be automatically mapped.
   - System volume restore: Recommended if the target device can't boot. Volume locations will be automatically mapped.
   - Manually restore specified volumes: Restore and reassign specific volumes to a selected disk on the target device. Recommended for advanced users.
4. Select a version.1
   - If the selected version requires more disks, you'll get a notification. To resolve this issue you can do either of the following and try again:
     - Select another version
     - Load the required drivers
     - Install more hard disks and load the drivers
   - If the selected version requires additional space, you'll get a notification listing all the disks that require more capacity. To resolve this issue, you can either select another version or change the installed hard disks.2
5. You can view the following version information:
   - Disk No.: If multiple disks are backed up in the same version, they'll appear in numerical order.
   - Partition table: The device's partition table information will be displayed.
   - Capacity (per disk): The "Capacity" displayed in the upper field indicates the amount of storage space required to restore the entire disk to the device.
   - Drive (letter): The backed-up drives will be displayed by their letters.
   - Type: The drive's partition type (e.g., main, logic, system volume).
   - Capacity (per volume): The capacity displayed for each drive indicates the amount of space used.
   - File system:
     - Windows: NTFS
     - Linux: ext2, ext3, ext4, XFS
6. Adjust additional settings:
   - Boot from the restore system volume: This will update Windows Boot Configuration Data (BCD) or Linux GRUB2 configuration. Boot functionality will be affected by boot sequence and driver compatibility, among other factors. This option is only available when the backup version contains the system volume.
   - View automatically matched disk mapping: Click this link to view disk mapping details. Disk locations can't be changed. This option is only available for Entire device restore or System volume restore.
   - Customize disk mapping: Click this link to select or reassign the backup version's volumes to specific disks. This option is only available when Manually restore specified volumes is selected.
     - Disk Mapping Information: The system will automatically map the backup version's volumes to the available volumes on the target device without overwriting any existing data.
       - Existing partition: Existing volumes on the target device.
       - To be restored: Selected backed-up volumes to be restored to the target device.
       - Unallocated: Available space on the target device.
       - Unknown: Volumes containing one or more unknown data formats on the target device.
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.