587 - How to migrate a backup account to a different machine

When backing up machines or servers with Redstor, data is protected on a per-account basis. This means that each machine has an account on the Storage Platform that is associated with only that machine. Sometimes, due to hardware failure or upgrade, it may be desirable to migrate an account from one machine/server to another. Following the best practices outlined here will ensure backup continuity when migrating between machines.

How to migrate a backup account to a different machine

1. Before migrating, verify that you have a working encryption key.

2. Take a screenshot of the Help > About screen in the existing agent, which contains most of the other credentials you will need.

3. Uninstall the agent from the old machine.

4. In the Storage Platform Console, rename the backup account (right-click > Rename) to the new machine hostname.

Then right-click on the account's group name and go to Configure to obtain the group's account create key (also known as the group create key).

5. Install the agent on the new machine and reconnect the account.

6. Open the agent, go to Options > Performance and enable Deduplicate data transfer.

Note:

• Some data may be re-sent to the Storage Platform if the data has changed or if cache entries cannot be found.
• Once reconnected, you can restore the account's data to your new machine if desired. If you have already migrated your data, you can reselect the same data for backup. You can also select different data.
• From the Storage Platform's perspective, a cutover from one machine to another is seen as a continuation of backups. If the data selection changes between the old and the new machine, the selected data from the old machine will be available for restore until it is aged out as per the normal rollup policy.

Additional information

Can I change from one operating system to another? 

While changing from e.g. Windows to MacOS will not be blocked by our system, is not recommended due to issues with data handling.

When restoring, files backed up by a different operating system are susceptible to misinterpretation, and may be restored with file system headers prepended to the bodies of the files. This is likely to render them unreadable by applications, which see the files as corrupt.

Any data already backed up will be read as different data, again due to different file systems and headers, which means all data will be re-sent in full. 

If you are migrating to a new operating system, you will need to start a new backup account based in the new operating system while retaining the account on the old operating system until you have sufficient retention to meet your compliance needs. As a workaround, you could also restore the files to another machine of the same OS family using a temporary agent (e.g. a virtual machine), then copy the files to the new machine. 

Can I change from one operating system version to another?

Yes, you can change from one Windows version to another (e.g. Windows XP to Windows 7), one MacOS version to another, or one Linux version to another.

Can I change from a 32-bit to a 64-bit installation?

Yes, accounts are not tied to CPU architecture. Please ensure that you install the correct agent for your architecture.

Can I reconnect a Server Edition to an Enterprise Server Edition?

Yes. If you reconnect the SE account to an operating system that supports ESE, we can convert the SE account to an ESE account. Read more here.

Can I use a task file restore to restore my data?

Task file restores are only supported for Windows accounts. If a task file restore is attempted for a non-Windows account, the restore may report errors due to differences in file systems. The restore may skip some files, or fail, depending on the errors encountered. For more information, see Article 504.