How to restore files from the Acronis portal

This guide outlines the steps for recovering files that were previously backed up to your server via the Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud portal.

If you are uncertain about how to reach the Acronis portal, please consult the article at: https://docs.serversaustralia.com.au/docs/how-to-access-acronis-cyber-protect-cloud-portal

After you have accessed the Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud portal, you should select the Devices option from the navigation menu on the left side.

Your devices or server that are backed up in the Acronis portal will be shown; click on the device you wish to restore from, and then choose “Recovery” from the new menu that appears on the right side.

A bigger section will slide in from the right side.
Select the date for the recovery point you wish to restore from, then click “Recover” followed by “Files/folders.”

It is now time to go to the backup location that you wish to restore.

In this example article, you can observe the partitions on the Linux server; typically, the first or the first two partitions are related to booting.
In this case, the “SDA5” partition is designated for the “/” (root) filesystem, and you may need to sift through the partitions to identify the correct one.

This will appear similarly on Windows systems, with partitions usually labelled as C: D: E: and so forth.

Here you can observe that the primary system or root partition is located on SDA5, with folders like /etc, /opt, and /root visible.

In Windows environments, this would be analogous, showcasing directories such as Program Files\ and Windows\.

As this example server runs cPanel/WHM, the files we want to restore are located in the home/ directory:

Then we proceed to the “acronisexample” user/directory and continue until we reach the files we wish to recover.
At the top of the interface, the current location will be displayed, and you can also use this to navigate back up the directory hierarchy if necessary.

After locating the files (in this instance, the complete “plugins” folder for a WordPress site), check the box for the folder and then click “Recover” on the right side.

There is an alternative to download the files directly to your computer if you prefer this method, but keep in mind that this may take a considerable amount of time if there are numerous files or a large amount of data.

A dialog box will appear offering two options, specifically whether you want to restore the files to their original location on your server or to a different spot on the server.

The decision is up to you and depends on the situation.
If you are recovering files that were deleted by mistake, you would typically select the “Original location” option.
If you wish to review or modify the files before relocating them later, or if you want an additional copy of the files, then choose the “Custom location” option.

For this illustrative article, the “Custom location” feature will be utilised to show how to designate where the data will be restored.

Click the Browse link, then navigate to the relevant location as shown.

In this example, the data will be restored to a previously created directory at: “/root/restoretemp/”

The Recover files dialog box now shows the location to restore to, click the “Start Recovery” button.

No matter if you select “Original location” or “Custom location,” a confirmation dialog will now show up.

There are three options for handling current files, along with a restore feature.

The options for existing files are:

Replace existing files
This choice will substitute any existing files on the server with those from the backup that share the same name.

Replace an existing file if it is older
This choice will substitute any existing files on the server with those from the backup that share the same name, but only if the files in the backup are newer (their last modified date is more recent than the last modified date of the file on the server).

Do not replace existing files
This choice will mean that any files from the backup that are already present on the server will not be restored to the server.

The best choice for the restoration depends on the situation.

The default restore option "Automatically restart the machine, if necessary" should typically be unchecked, unless you are restoring to a non-production environment or have planned downtime.

Click on “Proceed” when you are ready for the restoration to begin.

The restoration procedure will initiate and display status updates, followed by a summary once it is finished.