Data catalog

Data catalog lets you easily find the required version of data and select it for recovery. On a managed machine, the data catalog functionality is available through the Data view tab for any vault accessible from this machine. On the management server, the catalog functionality is available through both Data view and the centralized Data catalog. The centralized data catalog displays in a single place all the data stored in the centralized managed vaults.

Acronis Backup may upload data catalog files from a vault to a local cache folder. By default, this folder is located on the disk where the operating system is installed. For information about changing the default cache folder, refer to the "Changing the default cache folder for catalog files" section.

Selecting the backed-up data for recovery

1. Do any of the following:
   • To access the Data view tab, connect the console to a machine or to the management server, navigate to Vaults view, and click the required vault.
   • To access the Data catalog, connect the console to the management server and select Data catalog in the Navigation tree.
2. In the Show field, select the type of data to display:
   • Select Machines/disks/volumes to browse and search for entire disks and volumes in disk-level backups.
   • Select Folders/files to browse and search for files and folders in both file-level and disk-level backups.
   • Select Microsoft Exchange Information Store to browse and search for information stores, individual storage groups or databases in the database-level backups.

     Select Microsoft Exchange Mailboxes to browse and search for entire mailboxes, public folders, individual folders, e-mails, calendar events, tasks, contacts, notes both in the database-level and mailbox-level backups.

     For information about selecting Microsoft Exchange data, refer to the "Selecting the Exchange data by using the Data view or Data catalog" section of the "Backing up Microsoft Exchange Server data" documentation.

   • Select Microsoft SQL databases to browse and search for Microsoft SQL databases in single-pass disk and application backups.
   • Select Microsoft Active Directory to find Microsoft Active Directory data in single-pass disk and application backups.
3. In the Display data backed up for field, specify the time period for which the backed-up data will be displayed.
4. Do any of the following:
   • Select the data to recover in the catalog tree, or in the table to the right of the catalog tree.
   • In the search string, type the information that helps to identify the required data items (this can be a machine name, a file or folder name, or a disk label) and then click Search. You can use the asterisks (*) and question marks (?) wildcards.

     As a result, in the Search window, you will see the list of backed up data items whose names fully or partially coincide with the entered value. Select the required data and click OK to return to the Data catalog/Data view.

5. Use the Versions list to select the point of time to revert the data to. By default, the data will be reverted to latest point of time available for the time period selected in step 3.

   [Optionally, applicable to the Data catalog only] If the backed-up data has multiple replicas stored on more than one location, you can select the location to recover the data from. To access information about locations of the selected data, right-click its version and then click Change the vault to recover from. By default, the location that provides the fastest access to the data is selected. Local hard disk drives are the fastest, tapes - the slowest.

6. Having selected the required data, click Recover and configure the parameters of the recovery operation.

What if the data does not appear in the catalog or the data view

The probable reasons of the issue are as follows.

Wrong time period is set

The required data was not backed up during the time period set by the Display data backed up for control.

Solution: Try to increase the time period.

Cataloging is disabled or fast cataloging is turned on

If the data is displayed partially or is not displayed at all, most likely cataloging was disabled or the fast cataloging was turned on during backup.

Solutions:

• If cataloging is disabled
  • On a managed machine: Enable cataloging in the Backup cataloging option (Options > Machine options).
  • On the management server: Enable cataloging by modifying the Windows registry.
  • On the storage node(s): Enable cataloging by modifying the Windows registry.
• Run the full cataloging manually by clicking Catalog now. For the Data catalog, all backups stored in the managed vaults will be cataloged. For the Data view tab, only the backups stored on the selected vault will be cataloged. The backups that have already been cataloged, will not be cataloged again.
• Since cataloging a large number of backed up data may take a long time, you may prefer to use the Archive view of the respective vault. For more information about using the Archive view, see "Browsing the vault contents and data selection" in the "Working with vaults" section.

The data is not supported by the catalog

The following data cannot be displayed in the catalog or data view:

• Data from the encrypted and password-protected archives.
• Data from encrypted managed vaults.
• Data backed up to removable media, such as CD, DVD, BD, Iomega REV, RDX or USB devices.
• Data backed up to Acronis Cloud Storage.
• Data backed up using Acronis True Image Echo or earlier product versions.
• Data backed up using the simplified backup naming.

Solution: To be able to browse such data, use the Archive view tab of the respective vault.

The data is not included in the centralized catalog

The centralized catalog does not display data from centralized unmanaged vaults or from personal vaults.

Solution for centralized unmanaged vaults: Select the vault in the Navigation tree, and then select Data view.

Solution for personal vaults: Connect directly to the machine, select the vault and then select Data view.