Windows Filesystem Backup/Restore at SLAC

Windows File Servers::

This schedule applies to the SCCS centrally maintained Windows file servers (e.g., all data presented via DFS which includes the Z drive user home directories, the V drive groups directories).

Backup
Full backups are done once a month, usually on the last weekend of the month.  A full backup set from the month before is kept off-site (vaulting).

Incremental backups are done during weekends between Full backups, and Daily Differentials are done during the weekdays.

Each Monthly Full Backup is retained for one year.  The Daily Differential and Mid-Month Incremental backups are retained for one month.

Backups are performed on a daily basis and should be viewed primarily as a disaster recovery mechanism, not as an archival system. This means that the backups are not retained forever. See below for the backup retention times.

How long does a file have to exist before it is sure to be on a backup?
A file has to be on the server overnight for it to be picked up by nightly backup.

How long after a file has been backed up do I have to request it be restored?
Since only Full backup is kept for one year, a file has to have existed across the monthly Full backup cycle for it to be available for restore for up to one year.  If a file (or a particular version of a file) existed shorter than this monthly cycle, then it will only be available for restore for one month.

Please read the instructions for deleted accounts.

Restore
Users can restore files on their own by following the instructions outlined here.

If the above instructions do not contain the needed file, users may request restore of their files or directories through the Windows Files Restore Request.  The SCCS system administrator has to carry out the restore for you (since higher privilege accounts are needed for this operation), there is no user-initiated restore available.  

We will try to restore your files within a day, depending on other backup/restore jobs that we are running.  Sometime due to incomplete information, we may need to ask more questions in order to restore the correct version of the file.