Restore Azure file shares

This article describes how to use the Azure portal to restore an entire file share or specific files from a restore point created by Azure Backup.

Select the file share to restore

To select the file share, follow these steps:

1. In the Azure portal, go to Backup center and click Restore.

   

2. Select Azure Files (Azure Storage) as the datasource type, select the file share that you wish to restore, and then click Continue.

   

Restore the Azure file shares

This section describes how to restore:

• A full Azure file share
• Individual files or folders

Choose a restore option

Full share recovery

You can use this restore option to restore the complete file share in the original location or an alternate location.

1. After you select Continue in the previous step, the Restore pane opens. To select the restore point you want to use for performing the restore operation, choose the Select link text below the Restore Point text box.

   

2. The Select Restore Point context pane opens on the right, listing the restore points available for the selected file share. Select the restore point you want to use to perform the restore operation, and select OK.

   

   Note

   By default, the Select Restore Point pane lists restore points from the last 30 days. If you want to look at the restore points created during a specific duration, specify the range by selecting the appropriate Start Time and End Time and select the Refresh button.

3. The next step is to choose the Restore Location. In the Recovery Destination section, specify where or how to restore the data. Select one of the following two options by using the toggle button:

   • Original Location: Restore the complete file share to the same location as the original source.
   • Alternate Location: Restore the complete file share to an alternate location and keep the original file share as is.

Restore to the original location (full share recovery)

1. Select Original Location as the Recovery Destination, and select whether to skip or overwrite if there are conflicts, by choosing the appropriate option from the In case of Conflicts drop-down list.

2. Select Restore to start the restore operation.

   

Restore to an alternate location (full share recovery)

1. Select Alternate Location as the Recovery Destination.

2. Select the destination storage account where you want to restore the backed-up content from the Storage Account drop-down list.

3. The Select File Share drop-down list displays the file shares present in the storage account you selected in step 2. Select the file share where you want to restore the backed-up contents.

4. In the Folder Name box, specify a folder name you want to create in the destination file share with the restored contents.

5. Select whether to skip or overwrite if there are conflicts.

6. After you enter the appropriate values in all boxes, select Restore to start the restore operation.

   

Item-level recovery

You can use this restore option to restore individual files or folders in the original location or an alternate location.

1. Go to Backup center and select Backup Instances from the menu, with the datasource type selected as Azure Storage (Azure Files).

2. Select the file share you wish to do an item level recovery for.

   The backup item menu appears with a File Recovery option.

   

3. After you select File Recovery, the Restore pane opens. To select the restore point you want to use for performing the restore operation, select the Select link text below the Restore Point text box.

   

4. The Select Restore Point context pane opens on the right, listing the restore points available for the selected file share. Select the restore point you want to use to perform the restore operation, and select OK.

   

5. The next step is to choose the Restore Location. In the Recovery Destination section, specify where or how to restore the data. Select one of the following two options by using the toggle button:

   • Original Location: Restore selected files or folders to the same file share as the original source.
   • Alternate Location: Restore selected files or folders to an alternate location and keep the original file share contents as is.

Restore to the original location (item-level recovery)

1. Select Original Location as the Recovery Destination, and select whether to skip or overwrite if there are conflicts by choosing the appropriate option from the In case of conflicts drop-down list.

   

2. To select the files or folders you want to restore, select the Add File button. This will open a context pane on the right, displaying the contents of the file share recovery point you selected for restore.

   

3. Select the check box that corresponds to the file or folder you want to restore, and choose Select.

   

4. Repeat steps 2 through 4 to select multiple files or folders for restore.

5. After you select all the items you want to restore, select Restore to start the restore operation.

   

Restore to an alternate location (item-level recovery)

1. Select Alternate Location as the Recovery Destination.

2. Select the destination storage account where you want to restore the backed-up content from the Storage Account drop-down list.

3. The Select File Share drop-down list displays the file shares present in the storage account you selected in step 2. Select the file share where you want to restore the backed-up contents.

4. In the Folder Name box, specify a folder name you want to create in the destination file share with the restored contents.

5. Select whether to skip or overwrite if there are conflicts.

6. To select the files or folders you want to restore, select the Add File button. This will open a context pane on the right displaying the contents of the file share recovery point you selected for restore.

   

7. Select the check box that corresponds to the file or folder you want to restore, and choose Select.

   

8. Repeat steps 6 through 8 to select multiple files or folders for restore.

9. After you select all the items you want to restore, select Restore to start the restore operation.

   

Track a restore operation

After you trigger the restore operation, the backup service creates a job for tracking. Azure Backup displays notifications about the job in the portal. To view operations for the job, select the notifications hyperlink.

You can also monitor restore progress from the Recovery Services vault:

1. Go to Backup center and click Backup Jobs from the menu.

2. Filter for jobs for the required datasource type and job status.

   

3. Select the workload name that corresponds to your file share to view more details about the restore operation, like Data Transferred and Number of Restored Files.

   

Note

• Folders will be restored with original permissions if there is atleast one file present in them.
• Trailing dots in any directory path can lead to failures in the restore.

Next steps

• Learn how to Manage Azure file share backups.