Restore of Hybrid enabled backups

The prior main "Restores" topic covers the restore of normal non Hybrid enabled backups. However, the restore of Hybrid enabled backups has some special consideration in the documentation to point out, which is covered in this current "Restores of Hybrid enabled backups" topic.

For Restores of Hybrid enabled backups, the backup is stored to a 'Local Backup' device type first, and then after that portion of the backup job is done the at rest completed backup is then uploaded (the job status will show "Archiving" in that case) to the 'Cloud Backup' (Cloud S3 based) device, as a copy of that at rest 'Local Backup' device backup, that was defined in the Hybrid backup job settings (as covered in the related "Hybrid Backup" topic here). In that case both the normal 'Local Backup' device restore index entry, and the 'Cloud S3 based' device restore index entry are stored next to each other on the same 'Local Backup' device type, to make them easier to see and identify, and in the Restore UI dialog in the "Location (Device)" column, for the "Hybrid AR" backup entry, for the restore index record value for that Hybrid enabled backup that had complete, it will state "AR" in the value of that column, as well as it will also append the complete "S3devicename", that will equate to the complete 'Cloud S3' device name (for whatever you named it as at the device level) in plaintext + the additional word "_hybridbackup" right after that, near the end of the "Location (Device)" column value + a .dct file extension at the very end of the restore index record value, in that column. Here is an example of a Restore of a Hybrid enabled backup:

Note: It is important to note that if the "Hybrid AR" restore index record is not accessible even, like due to a machine reboot that corrupted that "Hybrid AR" restore index record. like for instance if the local drive or UNC "Folder or network path" where the backups were storing to the 'Local Backup' device at, for the normal 'Local Backup' non "Hybrid AR" restore index record, if the backup index records cannot be located in the (that would normally be stored as backup index records in the C:\ProgramData\..\NovaBACKUP\FPI\) folder (however that folder location can be custom defined for space contraint reasons, so it doesn't always have to be located on the C: drive under the ProgramData folder you should know), to be able to read from that restore index record information (that folder per device contains .dct and .dlt files, which are backup restore index records not actual backup set data files, which are .dat files in that latter case), then the restore operation will fallback to try the restore again from the 'Cloud Backup' S3 device, that the Hybrid Backup enabled backup job was utilizing in that case, by itself in the same single restore attempt in that case (to make it easier to restore data, and not have to deal with doing it again using the two different restore index records for the single 'Local Backup' device in that case). And in that case there would be no need to additionally select the "Hybrid AR" restore index record to restore from the Cloud S3 device in that case, it is only necessary to perform the restore on the normal non "Hybrid AR" restore index entry, to get the objects restored, per dated backup entry that will create a normal non "Hybrid AR" restore index entry each time the backup job runs, and will in addition to that create a "Hybrid AR" restore index entry each time the backup job runs as well, in the same 'Local Backup' device in the Restore tab in the client UI. And on that topic, it is important to know that even if there are NO backup records (restore index records) for a 'Local Backup' device listed in your Restore tab, as long as you create that 'Local Backup' device again, and you perform an "Import backup records by device" function at that point, that will restore all of the backup records on the entire 'Local Backup' device that is selected or that you need that to be done on, in order to have NovaBACKUP re-create the restore index records for that entire 'Local Backup' device in that case, in one single Import by device action for that matter; and you can read the next topic from this "Import backup records by device" to learn more about how to use that function to do that type of entire device Import (even on a replacement machine in that case, and even if the backup client was clean installed on that new replacement machine). After that you can restore the contents of the now indexed backups inside that 'Local Backup' device, by using the Restore tab in the client UI. On another subject, if for instance I had completed some Hybrid enabled backups already to a 'Local Backup' device, and the backup job was in fact a "Hybrid enabled" backup job that was associated as well to a 'Cloud Backup' (S3) device, and for whatever reason the 'C:\ProgramData\..\NovaBACKUP\FPI\Local Backup C\' folder, where my backup restore index records were being stored to at one time, became corrupt, or if I re-installed the OS from scratch on that same machine, or if I got a replacement machine, that has no prior NovaBACKUP client backup restore index record history on it in that case, in that default folder that I stated above, then I could clean install the NovaBACKUP client and then add a new "Local Backup' device, with the name seen here, and was utilized in the prior examples, as 'Local Backup C', and I set the folder location for where the backups should store to, utilized as the folder for that new device, to be the same folder as the backups are already at rest in, and that have been moved to the 'C:\Local Backup C\' folder in this case, but that could easily be a secondary "E:" data drive, or it could be a network share path as well, for where those at rest backups were in fact located at originally, utilized by that same original 'Local Backup' device that was using the same "Local Backup C" device prior, and the same target folder prior, as long as the at rest backup (.dat files) can be reconnected or copied back in place, in this exact example case they'd need to be copied back to the "C:\Local Backup C\" path that the device in the clean installed NovaBACKUP client now utilizes, and the "C:\" was the folder path value that we did specify on that new 'Local Backup C' device in that case, then even though the restore index records are missing for that device, since it is a brand new device, the Import backup records by device function that we can do next will look at the backup sets .dat files (which are the actual backups data, not the restore index record data) and will re-create the necessary restore index records back into the default 'C:\ProgramData\..\NovaBACKUP\FPI\Local Backup C\ folder in that case for us, all we needed to do was to re-create that device, which will show as a completely empty device when listed in the "Restore" tab in the client UI, like this does for that example: Even with an empty backup restore index folder, you could perform an "Import backup records by device" function in the Restore UI, which will be able to restore all of the restore index records for that entire device, that matches the current locally stored backup .dat files, if those backup .dat files still do exist in place in the target device folder, or that can be copied back in place to the folder that the new device utilizes, in this example we see no backup restore index records under the 'Local Backup' device named 'Local Backup C' in that case, but if we know we have some completed backups that did already complete to that same device we can try to get those backup restore index records back, as long as we still have the actual at rest backups (.dat file extensions) as files somewhere (either on a local drive or a UNC network path in that case) because the backup software can re-create the index records out of those already at rest backups in that case and for that matter:

And next with the empty 'Local Backup' 'Local Backup C' named device still selected we can click the "Import" button at the bottom of the Restore tab in the client UI, and when asked what the "Select Device" item should be we select the newly created 'Local Backup C' device in that list, which has to utilize the same target folder for where the backups are actually at rest at, as .dat files, which we can see that those at rest backups that did store to this device originally are still present on that device now, and in that case the folder that the .dat files in right now must match the folder that the current added 'Local Backup' device utilizes in that case (and those .dat files cannot be corrupt or partial of course) and after clicking the OK button the restore index records on the left side folder, that is currently an empty folder, will start to re-create there!:

And in that case for the 4 total backups that did exist prior on that same device, and that still do exist as the actual at rest backup data files (.dat files) in the target folder utilizes by that device, now the those restore index records have been successfully imported we can next attempt to restore contents from those backups (if needed at this time that is):

Finally since the "Import backup records by device" function was successful, as seen above, and that we have verified after manually refreshing the "Restore tab" in the client UI, now we will be able to restore the contents of those backups, whereby those restore index records did not even exist prior to that Import on this new client install, if we recall earlier in the second screenshot in this topic in that case: