Mount File Backup

The "Mount" function allows mounting a file backup to be able to utilize Windows Explorer to browse the files in that mounted backup set, and view and copy files from the mounted at path that way (which you can use to verify the backup set, and as opposed to restoring the backup). The ability to Mount the file backups (for the modern backup devices, for the local drive paths in the backup set), which was added as a client function first in version 21.2.404, via the client GUI, in the "Restore" tab, and in that case the backup set will mount virtually in a folder on the local client machine, and a new Windows Explorer session will open to that mounted folder automatically for you (the default, original folder to Mount to is '%SystemRoot%\Temp\NovaBACKUP\mount\'. The mount to path can be changed in the "Restore" Settings dialog, to use either the "Restore to original location" (which is always the above path) or the "Restore to alternate location" (an empty local drive path that you manually specify). Once the backup is mounted with success the "Status:" field in the "Status" tab will inform you of the mounted to path. Once the file backup is mounted you can choose to browse the files and folders via Windows Explorer and view or copy from inside the backup to wherever you need to copy to after that, and when you are done with the mounted backup set you can utilize the "UnMount" function via the "Restore" tab in the client GUI, to unmount that mounted backup set (only one backup set can be mounted at a time). In that case the folder is a virtual mount, so it takes no actual or additional disk space on that local drive that the file backup is mounted to in that case. This feature at this point only works for purely file backups, and the backup itself cannot contain any plugins data in it, as that is a current limitation of the new "Mount" feature. Note: For the alternate folder mount location that you specify, that always has to be an empty folder otherwise the mount operation will fail, and the error will state that as the reason.

You can Mount a completed 'Local Backup' or 'Cloud Backup' device file backup set (which contains only local drive paths and no plugins in it in 21.2.404), using these visual steps:

1. In the client GUI click on the "Restore" tab.

2. Once in the "Restore" tab dialog, in the either 'Local Storage' (for the 'Local Backup' device type) category, or the 'Cloud Storage' (for the 'Cloud Backup' device type) category select a category first and then select a dated file backup set under the category to Mount, by left clicking on the backup set under one of those two categories in the list. Note: The "Mount" function does not support mounting a file backup set if it contains any level of UNC network paths in it, or if it contains any level of Plugins in it, in that case no files will be able to mount at all if attempted:

3. After you Select a file backup set in the list, you can then select the top level root object, such as the "C:" object, or the "D:" object in the bottom half selection section of the backup set that lists the folder and file structure in the backup set.

4. If you want to Mount to the default folder path location, which is '%SystemDrive%\Temp\NovaBACKUP\mount\' which is the "original" location, you can start the Mount function step, without going to the "Settings" of the Restore Job. The default, original folder to Mount to is '%SystemRoot%\Temp\NovaBACKUP\mount\'. The mount to path can be changed in the "Restore" Settings dialog, to use either the "Restore to original location" (which is always the above path) or the "Restore to alternate location" (an empty local drive path that you manually specify). The folder that you do select as the alternate folder to mount to must be a completely empty local drive based folder however, so no other files or sub-folders can be in it. Note: Mounting the backup to either the default location or whatever local drive path that you do specify as the "Restore to alternate location" value will not take any additional disk space on that drive, as it is a completely virtual mount.

5. Then at the bottom of the "Restore" tab dialog click on the "Mount" button and it will attempt to mount that either 'Local Storage' (for the 'Local Backup' device type) category, or the 'Cloud Storage' (for the 'Cloud Backup' device type) category file backup, as long as you had chose at least one file or local drive letter in the selection set:

6. Once the selected file backup set is mounted it will state in the "Status" tab in the "Status:" field, "Backup is successfully mounted at"C:/windows/temp/NovaBACKUP/mount" type of message that will always state the status of the mount, including the exact path that the backup set was mounted at, and it should automatically open that mounted at local drive path via Windows Explorer as well at the end, like this:

7. You can then use Windows Explorer to navigate to the stated folder in the "Status" tab in the "Status:" field if that folder does not automatically open for you via Windows Explorer (as it is supposed to do). And once you have navigated to that mount folder you can refresh the folder and it should list the local drive and folder structure there in that mount folder, and then you can utilize Win Explorer to either view or copy files from it to another path. It is a read-only mounted path, so you can't write anything new to that folder structure just keep in mind.

8. When you are done with the currently Mounted backup set, which will be a running job until you tell the mounted backup to "UnMount", go to the "Restore" tab and click on the "UnMount" button function at the bottom of that dialog, and just know that there is no need to first navigate to the same backup that you had last mounted to do that. The Mounted backup set should unmount and it should stop the running Mount job (operation) in the "Status" tab dialog at that time:

Known Issues or limitations with the Mount function in 21.2.404:

• The Mount function (which in this first iteration of the Mount feature can only support mounting files in a backup set) does not support mounting either a 'Local Backup' or a 'Cloud Backup' device backup if the backup itself that you want to mount contains any UNC network paths in it, or contains any plugins objects in it, including System State, Hyper-V, and MS SQL plugin data objects. The Mount operation will still attempt to mount a backup that does contain UNC network paths or plugins in it, but after it mounts it with the "Backup is successfully mounted at .." "Status:" field value in the client GUI "Status" tab dialog, it will automatically open the folder where that backup was mounted to and no files or otherwise objects will be listed at all in that mounted to folder (the mount to folder will be empty). This occurs due to a limitation that the Mount function does not currently support mounting a backup that contains any UNC network paths or plugins data in it; and this will be improved on later.

• The Mount function "Stop" button in the "Status" tab dialog may not work if the actively running Mount job is already in the "Backup is successfully mounted at .." state. In that case you should first try to "UnMount" the backup set, by going to the "Restore" tab and click the "UnMount" button there to end it the normal way, or if the "UnMount" button does not work for you then you can end the running Mount job as a task, via the Windows Task Manager > Details tab, to end the actively running task named "engine.exe", then verify via the "Status" tab dialog that the Mount job is not running anymore, and if you must end the task that way you will also need to manually click the "UnMount" button in the "Restore" tab after that (as ending the task that way won't do that part for you, and you won't be able to mount anymore backups, as the "Mount" button won't be usable until then).