Recover Individual Files


Problem: You need to recover individual files on a VM (not the entire VM or its disks)

Solution: Use the File Browser option in the Alike UI (System->File Browser) download required files


Alternative A: Use the RestoreFS to obtain individual files.

Alternative B: If you are not licensed to use Instant Restore, use VHD/X instead.


The fastest and easiest approach to getting back individual files, or even downloading a VHDX, or disk image, is via the File Browser in the Alike UI (build #9198+). Simply navigate to the appropriate backup, in either your ADS or Offsite Vault (ODS), and click the download icon:



Alternative Option A:

Your A3 is equipped with always-on file-level restore. There is no need to run a job. Instead, connect to your A3 using Windows Explorer (or any other network-share client):

  1. Browse to the UNC network path \\your.a3.ip\restore.
  2. Use your Alike user account to log in.
  3. From here, you should see one or two directories. One if you have offsite vaulting disabled, two if you have it enabled.
  4. Browse into the directory of your choice.
  5. Here your should see a list of all your VMs. Browse in to see a list of backup timestamps.
  6. Browse in to see a directory containing VHDX, VHD, IMG, and file-level restore directories.
  7. You can browse into these directories, corresponding to disks, to recover individual files, circled in blue:



Note that file-level restore (FLR) supports NTFS most common Linux filesystems. It does not support spanned volumes, such as LVM or Windows Dynamic Disks. In such cases, be prepared to seek alternatives. Instant Restore can very quickly restore your entire VM with an option to sandbox networking. This is a powerful way to recover data quickly.

You can also download the VHD or VHDX files to Windows and mount them that way. You can also mount them directly from the restoreFS, making a very quick way to recover files.