Performing File-Level Restore
In case a disaster strikes, you can recover corrupted or missing files of an EC2 instance from a cloud-native snapshot or image-level backup.
Important |
Restore of files and folders is supported only for the following file systems: FAT, FAT32, NTFS, ext2, ext3, ext4, XFS, Btrfs. For EC2 instances running Microsoft Windows OSes, Veeam Backup for AWS supports file-level restore only for basic volumes. |
You can use the following options:
- Download the necessary files and folders to a local machine.
- Restore the files and folders of the source EC2 instance to the original location.
By default, Veeam Backup for AWS restores files and folders to a local machine. If you want to perform restore to the original location, you must enable the Additional restore mode in the restore settings.
Important |
Before you start the restore operation, check the prerequisites described in section Before You Begin. |
To learn how to configure network settings that will be used to deploy workers during the restore process, see Managing Worker Configurations.
How EC2 File-Level Restore Works
To recover files and folders of a backed-up EC2 instance, Veeam Backup for AWS performs the following steps:
- Launches a worker instance in either of the following AWS Regions:
- To restore files and folders from a cloud-native snapshot or a snapshot replicas, Veeam Backup for AWS launches the worker instance in the AWS Region where the source EC2 snapshot or snapshot replica resides.
- To restore files and folders from an image-level backup, Veeam Backup for AWS launches the worker instance in the AWS Region where the backup repository with backed-up data resides.
- Attaches and mounts EBS volumes of the EC2 instance to the worker instance.
EBS volumes are not physically extracted from the backup — Veeam Backup for AWS emulates their presence on the worker instance. The source backup itself remains in the read-only state.
- [This step applies only if you perform restore to the original location] Installs the Veeam restore tool to the source EC2 instance.
- Launches the file-level recovery browser on the worker instance.
The file-level recovery browser displays the file system tree of the backed-up EC2 instance. In the browser, you select the necessary files and folders to restore.
- Saves the selected files and folders to the local machine or restores them to the source EC2 instance if the Additional restore mode is enabled.
- Unmounts and detaches EBS volumes of the backed-up EC2 instance from the worker instance.
- [This step applies only if you perform restore to the original location] Removes the Veeam restore tool from the source EC2 instance if the Keep the restore tool at the target instance option is not selected.
- Removes the worker instance from Amazon EC2.
How to Perform EC2 File-Level Restore
Before you start file-level restore, check considerations and limitations described in section Before You Begin.
To recover files and folders of a protected EC2 instance, do the following: