I left out a few sections from the restore properties because they are the same or very similar as the backup properties. From the selections section you can see the different sets of media by date and time. So if you want to restore something from E drive from the 18th you go to 8/18/2004 under E: and browse for the folder or file you need to restore. The restore media is automatically added to these backups which makes things a lot easier. In the device section you can choose where you want to restore to.
A great feature for restoring is file redirection which allows you to restore your file to an alternate location than the original one. This is extremely useful if you don’t want to overwrite the current file or if you want to restore something to check it first. The SQL redirection is also a great option allowing you to restore a database to another database or different server. This can also be done in Microsoft SQL’s Enterprise Manager but again it is nice to have everything in one place. I personally find this easier to use than the Enterprise Manager as well having used Enterprise Manager in the past to redirect databases.
Exchange also has the ability to redirect which is incredibly useful. Having the ability to do a brick level backup is great and being able to redirect the restore is even better. An example of how this would be very helpful is if a user migrates their mailbox to a new one and the original mailbox. An older backup would be from the original mailbox and would normally want to be restored to the same one.
Without this option you would probably end up recreating the original mailbox, restoring, and moving the item. With this redirection you can simply point it from the old mailbox to the new one and be done quickly. You can also redirect with Sharepoint Portal which I don’t use on my server.
This general section is quite similar to the backup one however I wanted to add it since it is a more important one. Here you can name the job, set the priority, and configure some other options. The advanced properties give you many different options for restoring things such as disk quote data, Terminal Service database, and Windows NT 4 registry.
The SQL section allows you to set options for how you want to restore the database. These options can be quite helpful for those database administrators out there. I work daily with Exchange 2003 so I know how valuable some of these options are. There are a few things I really like about the Exchange section, the first being having the ability to recreate the user accounts and mailboxes. Using this would make restoring a user much easier if they are accidentally deleted. I also like that it will mount the database after restoring so you don’t have to do that manually in Exchange System Manager.
The Domino section allows you to restore the items with or without the original ID. The NetWare section allows you to restore volume restrictions with the data which is great. Without this feature you would have to go back and assign rights to your volumes and files.
