How do I use Previous Versions /Shadow Copies?

How do I use Previous Versions?

This topic includes the following information:

What is the Previous Versions feature?

You can use Previous Versions to enable your users to access previous versions of their files and folders on your network. To enable access to previous versions of files, you must enable Shadow Copies of Shared Folders on the file server. Shadow copies are copies of files that are located on the server and appear as previous versions.

Once you enable Previous Versions, your users access this feature using the folder Properties dialog box. Available versions appear on the Previous Versions tab under Folder versions.

This feature is useful because users can:

• Recover files that were accidentally deleted. If you accidentally delete a file, you can open a previous version and copy it to a safe location.
• Recover from accidentally overwriting a file. If you accidentally overwrite a file, you can recover a previous version of the file. (The number of versions depends on how many snapshots you have created.)
• Compare versions of a file while working. You can use previous versions when you want to check what has changed between two versions of a file.

Important

This feature is not a replacement for creating regular backups. Use a backup utility, such as Windows Server Backup in Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2, in coordination with Shadow Copies of Shared Folders and Previous Versions as your strategy for data protection.

Previous versions are read-only. You cannot make changes to a previous version of the file as it exists on the server. In addition, previous versions are periodically deleted and can disappear at any time. If you think you might want a previous version of a file, you should copy it to another folder so that it is not deleted.

How do I enable and configure Shadow Copies of Shared Folders to make Previous Versions available?

Shadow Copies of Shared Folders is a feature included in the Shared Folders Microsoft Management Console (MMC) snap-in. If you enable Shadow Copies of Shared Folders on a volume using the default values, a task will be scheduled to create shadow copies at 7:00 A.M.. The default storage area will be on the same volume, and its size will be 10 percent of the available space.

You can only enable Shadow Copies of Shared Folders on a per-volume basis—that is, you cannot select specific shared folders and files on a volume to be copied or not copied. Also, you should not use this feature to create shadow copies of files needed for the operating system to run properly.

To enable and configure Shadow Copies of Shared Folders

1. Click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Computer Management.
2. In the console tree, right-click Shared Folders, click All Tasks, and click Configure Shadow Copies.
3. In Select a volume, click the volume that you want to enable Shadow Copies of Shared Folders for, and then click Enable.
4. You will see an alert that Windows will create a shadow copy now with the current settings and that the settings might not be appropriate for servers with high I/O loads. Click Yes if you want to continue or No if you want to select a different volume or settings.
5. To make changes to the default schedule and storage area, click Settings.

How do I restore a previous version of a file or folder?

Once you enable Shadow Copies of Shared Folders and start creating shadow copies, you can use the Previous Version feature to recover previous versions of files and folders, or files and folders that have been renamed or were deleted.

To restore a previous version of a file or folder

1. Locate the file or folder that you want to restore, right-click the file or older, and click Properties. The Properties dialog box will appear.
2. Click the Previous Versions tab, click the version of the file that you want to restore, and then click Restore. A warning message about restoring a previous version will appear. Click Restore to complete the procedure.
3. Restoring a previous version will delete the current version. If you choose to restore a previous version of a folder, the folder will be restored to its state at the date and time of the version you selected. You will lose any changes that you have made to files in the folder since that time. Instead, if you do not want to delete the current version of a file or folder, click Copy to copy the previous version to a different location.

Additional considerations

• If the Previous Versions tab does not appear in the Properties dialog box, Shadow Copies of Shared Folders might not be enabled on the shared resource. Shadow copies are copies of files that are located on the server and appear as previous versions.
• If there are no previous versions listed, the file has not changed since the oldest copy was created—Previous Versions shows only the unique versions of the file.
• When you restore a previous version of a folder, files in the current folder that were not contained in the previous version of the folder will not be deleted.
• When you restore a file, the file permissions will not be changed—permissions will remain the same as they were before the restore operation. When you copy a previous version of a file, the permissions will be set to the default permissions for the directory (or folder) where the copy of the file is placed.
• Restoring a large directory (or folder) puts a heavy load on the file server and can result in previous versions being deleted. Try to restore individual files instead of entire directories whenever possible.
• Your server might function differently based on the version and edition of the operating system that is installed, your account permissions, and your menu settings.