ShadowProtect - How to perform a system recovery using DVD or USB media

This how-to guide provides instructions for performing a system and factory recovery on your BDR for ShadowProtect using DVD or USB recovery media. 

System recovery restores the BDR’s C: drive back to the factory settings from the recovery media to the BDR. A factory Recovery restores the BDR’s C: drive back to factory and also the hidden recovery partition.
Optionally both a system and factory recovery can restore the X: drive back to the factory settings after the restore.

Note: if the X: drive has been lost or does not exist, both the system and factory recovery will automatically recreate the X: drive and restore the factory files and folders on to it. If it does exist, you will be given the option to restore the X: drive back to factory after the system or factory restore.

Important! If you choose to restore the X: drive back to the factory settings after performing the system restore, all data and backups will be lost!

Booting to the Recovery Media
If you find that the system volume (C: drive) needs to be recovered back to factory default or you have a need to restore the BDR back to factory, follow the steps in this how-to guide to recover the system volume or perform a factory restore from recovery media.
1. Insert the recovery media, either DVD or USB into the BDR and reboot the BDR. As the BDR is rebooting and you are seeing the BIOS post screens press and hold F11 to start the boot selection menu (see Figure 1.1). If you are booting with the DVD recovery media select the option that is close to “P5 HL-DT-DVDRAM” and press enter on the keyboard. Note: do not select the option that starts with “UEFI”.

If you are booting with a USB removable disk, choose the option that resembles the removable disk you have inserted. Choose “KingstonDataTraveler G3 PMAP” as that is the USB removable disk that is inserted and press enter on the keyboard, again excluding the one starting with “UEFI”.

The recovery media will boot into the PC Angel Recovery environment. Click the start button in the PC Angel interface.

Now select Restore from the top menu.

Next, click the System Recovery button to launch the system recovery process.

Performing the System Recovery
You are now ready to perform the steps needed to restore the system volume (C: drive) or a full recovery which will restore both the C: drive and the hidden recovery partition back to the BDR.

Choose which restore option you need to perform, a Windows Recovery or Full Recovery and click the OK button in the PC Angel interface.

If you chose to perform a Windows Recovery you will be given the option of choosing which recovery media you would like to restore from. The hidden recovery partition on the BDR is shown if it is available. If the hidden recovery partition is not present, you will only see the option for the DVD or USB recovery.

Note: in this example, all three recovery drives are shown, E: is the hidden recovery partition on the BDR, H: is the USB removable disk, and I: is the DVD recovery media. Drive letters may differ from the example.

Select which recovery drive you would like to use to perform the system recovery and click the Continue button.

If you choose to do a Full Recovery, the option of restoring form the hidden recovery partition is removed and you will be given the option to only restore from DVD or USB media. Note: Both the DVD and USB recovery drives are shown in this example. Drive letters may differ from the example.

Select the Recovery drive listed and click the Continue button.

Next, select the point in time to which you would like to restore the system to and click Continue. Typically, there should only be one selection. Note that the date and time of the restore point might differ from the one shown in the example.

 The PC Angel software now performs the system recovery of the C: volume.

First it prepares the system disk :

Then it restores the point in time back to the disk.

If you are performing the recovery with DVD media, PC Angel will prompt you to insert disc two when needed. Insert disc two and close the DVD tray, PC Angel will automatically continue the restore once it detects that disc two has been inserted. If you are restoring with USB recovery media, PC Angel will complete the restore process and prompt you to close the recovery wizard when it is done.

After the PC Angel software has completed the restore, you are prompted to close the program and reboot back to the restored volume (C: drive). Click the Close button and wait for the system to reboot.

After the BDR reboots, you are prompted to enter the Windows Server 2012 serial number, which is located on the side or top of the BDR case. Enter the Windows Server 2012 key, or skip this step if you do not want to enter the key at this time. If you do not enter the key at this time, Windows will prompt you to enter it in at a later time, or you can enter it in manually when you are ready by going into the Control Panel and searching for “Activate Windows”. Now click Next or Skip.

Next, you are asked to agree to the “Microsoft Software License Terms.” Click the checkbox labeled “I accept these license terms for Windows and this computer” and then click the Accept button.

On the next screen, you are prompted to enter a new Administrator password. Enter a new Administrator password and verify it, then click Finish. The BDR will now show the default Windows Login screen. Press CTRL + ALT + DEL to login as the Administrator using the new password you just set.

At this point PC Angel is going to run some post restore scripts to finish the recovery process. 

After the scripts have completed, the system will automatically reboot.

After the system has completely rebooted, log back in to the server. Within the first few moments of the second reboot, you are asked if you want to restore the X: drive back to the factory settings. If this is a full system recovery and the X: drive was recreated, the system will automatically label the X: drive and copy the factory file and folder structure.

If you choose to restore the X: drive back to the factory settings, you are prompted a second time.

Caution! If you choose “Yes” on the second prompt, the PC Angel software reformats the X: drive, wiping out all files and folders including any and all ShadowProtect backups. Then the script puts the factory X: drive configuration back in place. This is a destructive process. You will lose all data on the X: drive.

If you choose “No” at the second prompt, then the system recovery is complete and the data on the X: drive stays intact.

If you chose to restore the X: drive, the system sets the X: drive back to the factory settings. After the PC Angel script completes, the X: drive is reset (if you chose to perform it) and the system recovery is complete.

If at any time you run into problems with the system recovery you are welcome to open a support ticket.