How to Restore a File from the Backup

DO NOT PANIC

General Principles

• As a general principle, almost all files that are amenable to be tracked with version control on GitHub are tracked with version control through GitHub. So let's say you accidentally deleted a file like 01_06_sparse_code.cha. Since cha files are literally text files (as in you can open and edit them with a regular text editor type software) they are excellent candidates for tracking with version control, and hence you can find a backed up version of this file in this GitHub repo.

• Such repos are backed up weekly.

How to Restore a File from the Backup

Note: This is generally only possible if you finished a file one day and messed it up one or more days later. It is not always possible to restore a file from backup, but following these steps gives you the best chance of it working.

General File History Steps

1. Let a staff person know you accidentally overwrote a good file as soon as possible.

2. Rename the bad copy, immediately. Otherwise, the good copy gets overwritten by the new one when the backup happens (usually overnight).

3. Get on a PC computer in the lab. Log in to the BLab drive.

4. Navigate to the folder that holds the file you want to restore. Right click and find "Properties" on the pop up menu.

5. In the new window that appears, find the Previous Versions tab. There are a few different backups to select from. Most likely, if the problem just occurred, you want the Yesterday backup. Double click the folder to open it up in a new window, and explore through the files to see if that's the version you want.

6. If that is the correct version, drag the file over to the folder you have open on the drive. This will copy the backup version onto the drive.

7. Open the file to check again that it is the version you want. If it is, you can delete the renamed bad file and begin work again on the one you just copied from backup!

Restoring files/folders on BLab share

1. File history is also available on shared drives, from a PC.

2. Follow the steps above under General File History Steps. Restoring previous versions should work up to a couple of weeks.

3. Be aware of the policies here. The maximum amount any given backup of a file is kept is 6 months. So if you delete a file, don't notice that, and try to retrieve it at month 7, that is not great.

4. If you need more extensive help and/or need to retrieve something that was deleted more than a few weeks ago, contact the lab tech or department IT.

5. Lastly, read Appendix 1, which contains more detailed information on backup policies for these drives.

Restoring files/folders in IRIS 3

If you can boot in:

1. File history is enabled on IRIS 3. If you want to restore a previous version/find something deleted, follow the steps above (directly under the heading "How to Restore a File from the Backup").

2. Backups go back up to 1 year, and all the files are backed up once every 24 hours.

If you can't boot in, and need the files:

1. If, for some reason, IRIS 3 is not bootable, and you need to access specific files immediately, no worries! IRIS 3 File History is backed up onto psych drive.

2. The root of the backup files is at /Volumes/psych/BergelsonLab/iris_3_backup_files_only

3. For instance, to access files on the Desktop, go to: /Volumes/psych/BergelsonLab/iris_3_backup_files_only/Display/IRIS-3/Data/C/Users/Display/Desktop

4. Note that it is not possible to retrieve different versions of the files this way. This will only give you the most recent backup, whereas using File History itself will let you choose different versions in the backup history. So unless something bad has happened, use File History.

If IRIS 3 is not booting

1. Don't panic.

2. Let the lab tech know. We are making bootable backups of Iris 3 every Friday, so if IRIS 3 is not booting/working, we can restore the system to a previous state.

3. The bootable backup is on a SeaGate BUP Slim external HD. Boot Iris 3 using a Windows 10 installation medium or recovery drive. Lab tech has a recovery drive created. If you can't find one, find any other Windows 10 machine, and create a System Repair Disc (searching for System Repair Disc in startup will guide you through the instructions). Make sure the External HD is also plugged in.

4. Click Troubleshoot -> Advanced options -> System Image Recovery -> Windows 10

Appendix 1

This info is still not on an accessible page on P&N website, hence I am putting it here.

In P&N we rely on OIT's network shares. There are two types of network shares: shares that have sensitive data (protected data) and those that are considered "public."

For example, files at location win.duke.edu\trinity\psych are "public" data shares.

Shares at \\secure-nas-tel11.oit.duke.edu\ are considered "sensitive" and can only be accessed through the protected vpn.

In both cases, TSM backups are used, as well as "snapshots" that go back a couple of weeks. On the protected shares, the TSM backups are also encrypted.

If you delete a file accidentally, first check to see if you can recover from a "snapshot." You can do this if the share is mounted on a PC. Do the following:

1. Right-click the file or folder, and then click Restore previous versions. ...

2. Before restoring a previous version of a file or folder, select the previous version, and then click Open to view it to make sure it's the version you want. ...

3. To restore a previous version, select the previous version, and then click Restore.

If the file was deleted more than a couple of weeks ago, then you will need to contact [e-mail] who can contact the group "Systems-Vmware Storage and Backups-OIT" through a ticket. The OIT group will then restore the lost files from a TSM backup.

Please note that TSM backups only go back 6 months. This is something people need to be aware of. If you delete a file and discover it has been deleted more than 6 months later, you will be out of luck.

The TSM backup keeps 7 revisions of a file for 90 days. After 90 days, it only keeps the last known revision.

Some labs have backed up important files to other Duke systems, such as Box. Although Box isn't designed for storing massive data sets, it is an acceptable place to backup a sensitive file. This page outlines which Duke services are appropriate for storing Sensitive, Restricted and Public data.

Appendix 2

How to mount vhd or vhdx files:

If you have the manual backup of the eye-tracker (iris-3), than there are two ways you can access the files on it. One is by following the instructions under Iris-3 not booting section above. The other is by mounting the vhdx (which is a virtual hard drive) file yourself.

1) Plug in the manual backup drive into a PC.

2) Under Windows Image Backup inside the drive you plugged in, find the largest vhdx file. That is the hard disk file that contains the backups!

3) Press the windows key and the R key simultaneously (windows key + R). In the window that appears (which is called a command prompt), type diskmgmt.msc, and hit enter.

4) You are in the disk management utility of windows now. In the actions menu at the top, find the attach vhd action, and click it. In the popup that appears, click browse, and select the hard disk file you found in step 2. Make sure to check the read-only option, and click OK.

5) Now, in the disk management utility, right click the name of the vhd that you attached (which will be added to the list of disks, so you can tell which one it is), and select change drive letter and paths.

6) Choose any drive letter from the menu, and voila, the hard disk file is now mounted. You can browse and copy the files as you wish.

Page Status: archived

Status details: This is generally specific to our setup at Duke but some things might be relevant so I moved it to Archive instead of deleting.

Last updated by Zhenya on 3/19/2024.