> Documentation > Backup and Restore Agents > Snapshot Management > Supported Agents > VMware > Restores > Guest Files and Folders

File Restore Methods

Guest files and folders can be restored to a physical client or to a virtual machine (VM) in the following ways:

Note

  • For the fastest recovery time and the least space required for extent caching, use Live File Recovery with a restore-only file system agent in the guest.

  • You can use agentless file recovery when the total restore size is less than 10 GB and you are restoring fewer than 10,000 files.

  • To restore virtual machine files and folders when the total restore size is larger than 10 GB or has more than 10,000 files, use a restore-only file system agent installed in the destination client or virtual machine.

General Requirements

  • To recover larger files or in other cases where you cannot restore a file, restore the complete virtual machine or the disk that contains the file.

  • If a backup set contains some subclients configured for regular backup and other subclients configured for IntelliSnap backup, initiate browse and restore operations from each subclient rather than from the backup set.

  • If a virtual machine has a GPT partition, you can restore files from a streaming backup, IntelliSnap backup, or backup copy.

  • When you restore folders from a backup that was performed using the Collect File Details option, folder permissions are not restored.

  • For Windows guest VMs:

    • Restores of symbolic link files and hard link files are not supported.

    • For files stored on Windows Storage Spaces, you can perform a live browse to view and restore guest files and folders, with the following considerations:

      • The VSA proxy or MediaAgent that is used for the live browse must be running on Windows Server 2012 or later.

      • The MediaAgent that is used for the live browse cannot be part of a clustered environment.

      • You cannot simultaneously browse two cloned VMs that use the same storage space information.

    • You can restore files from NTFS file systems with the following limitations:

      • The formatted cluster size (allocation unit) must be 1024 or greater.

      • You cannot restore any archived (stubbed) files and folders.

      • Use Live File Recovery to restore files that have been dehydrated by Windows deduplication.

  • For Linux guest VMs:

    • From a backup that was performed using the Collect File Details option, you cannot restore any file that has zero bytes, hard links, or symbolic links.

      To restore these files, deploy a File Recovery Enabler for Linux (FREL) and use Live File Recovery.

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