---
title: "Mounting Backup Storage"
description: "You can mount the following types of backup storage: Block device that represents a volume on a local disk or external drive on which the backup file resides. To learn more, see Mounting File System. Network shared folder — NFS or SMB (CIFS)."
canonical: "https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/agentforaix/userguide/baremetal_files_restore_mount.html"
breadcrumb: "User Guide > Performing Restore > Performing Bare Metal Recovery > Restoring Data in Command Line Interface > Step 2. Specify Backup Location > Mounting Backup Storage"
dateModified: "2026-11-03"
---

# Mounting Backup Storage

You can mount the following types of backup storage:

- Block device that represents a volume on a local disk or external drive on which the backup file resides. To learn more, see [Mounting File System](#disk).
- Network shared folder — NFS or SMB (CIFS). To learn more, see [Mounting Network Shared Folder](#share).

## Mounting File System {#disk}

To mount a file system where the backup file resides, you must do the following using standard IBM AIX shell commands:

- Import the volume group that contains the logical volume with the backup file.

  ::: note

  - The name of the imported volume group must be different from its original name.
  - If the volume group spans several disks, all of them must be available to the system before import.

  :::

- Rename the logical volumes and file systems in the imported volume groups to avoid name conflict during data restore. 
- Create a mount point.
- Mount the file system with the backup file to the mount point directory.

## Mounting Network Shared Folder {#share}

Depending on the version of your IBM AIX OS and the file system type of the network shared folder — NFS or SMB (CIFS) — syntax for mounting a network folder may vary. For more information on using the `mount` command in your specific OS environment, see IBM AIX documentation.

If the backup that you want to use for bare metal recovery resides in an SMB (CIFS) network shared folder, consider the following:

- IBM AIX OS does not provide native support of SMB (CIFS) protocol and needs additional packages installed to handle it. During bare metal recovery, you can mount an SMB (CIFS) shared folder only if SMB (CIFS) support was implemented on the original system.
- Prior to mounting an SMB (CIFS) shared folder to the recovery image OS file system, you must create an **nsmb0** device by running the **/SPOT/usr/bin/smbd-start** script in the recovery environment. After you execute the script, you can mount an SMB (CIFS) folder using the standard `mount` command.

  ::: note

  If you run the **/SPOT/usr/bin/smbd-start** script to create an **nsmb0** device, some volume groups may become unavailable after reboot. For details, see [this Veeam KB article](https://www.veeam.com/kb4316).

  :::