Validating archives and backups

Validation is an operation that checks the possibility of data recovery from a backup.

Validation of a file backup imitates recovery of all files from the backup to a dummy destination. Validation of a disk or volume backup calculates a checksum for every data block saved in the backup. Both procedures are resource-intensive.

Validation of an archive will validate all the archive's backups. A vault (or a location) validation will validate all the archives stored in this vault (location).

While successful validation means high probability of successful recovery, it does not check all factors that influence the recovery process. If you back up the operating system, only a test recovery in a bootable environment to a spare hard drive can guarantee success of the recovery. At least ensure that the backup can be successfully validated using the bootable media.

Using the Validation page is the most general way to create a validation task. Here you can validate immediately or set up a validation schedule for any backup, archive, or vault you have permission to access.

Validation of an archive or of the latest backup in the archive can be scheduled as part of the backup plan. For more information, see Creating a backup plan.

To access the Validation page, first select a validation object: a vault, an archive, or a backup.

To select a vault, click the Vaults icon in the Navigation pane and select the vault by expanding the vaults tree in the Vaults view or directly in the Navigation pane.
To select an archive, select a vault, and then in the Vault view select the Archive view tab and click the archive name.
To select a backup, select an archive in the Archive view, expand the archive by clicking the expand button to the left of the archive name, and then click the backup.

After selecting the validation object, select Validate from the context menu. The Validation page will be opened with the pre-selected object as a source. All you need to do is to select when to validate and (optionally) provide a name for the task.

Backup - specify the archive first. Then, select the desired backup in this archive.

[Optional] Provide credentials for accessing the source if the task account does not have enough privileges to access it.

[Optional] Enter a unique name for the validation task. A conscious name lets you quickly identify the task among the others.

[Optional] The validation task will run on behalf of the user who is creating the task. You can change the task credentials if necessary.

After you configure all the required settings, click OK to create the validation task.