Restoring Microsoft SharePoint data

Last published : Apr 02, 2026
The Agent for Microsoft SharePoint lets you restore the following types of Microsoft SharePoint data to the original location or you can redirect the restore to a new location:
  • SharePoint individual items such as documents, images, sites, subsites, lists, and list items.
  • SharePoint web applications or portal sites and their associated content.
  • SharePoint farm components such as configuration databases, service applications, shared service providers, or other components.
  • SharePoint individual items such as documents, sites, and list items located through search.
You should keep in mind the following things when you restore SharePoint data:
  • When you restore SharePoint data, individual SharePoint documents are always restored to SharePoint document libraries as checked out.
The documents are checked out using the same credentials as the logon account that you use for the restore. The documents must be checked in or published by that user before other users can use them.
  • If you try to restore over a document that is checked out, the restore may fail. The restore fails if the document is checked out to a user that differs from the logon account credentials that are used for the restore.
See Methods for restoring data in Backup Exec.
Restore individual items with Granular Recovery Technology (GRT)
Backup Exec also lets you restore individual documents, images, sites, subsites, lists, and list items from SharePoint database backups. To restore individual items from SharePoint database backups, ensure that the following Microsoft SharePoint option is selected during the backup job:
Use Backup Exec Granular Recovery Technology (GRT) to enable the restore of individual objects from the database backup
Note: Backup Exec does not support the restore of granular items from compressed databases or encrypted databases.
Redirected restores
Backup Exec lets you redirect the restore of the following:
  • Redirect SharePoint file-based data, such as documents and images that have been uploaded to a document library or are attached to list items, to an NTFS file system for SharePoint Server 2010, and SharePoint Foundation 2010.
Backup Exec can extract and re-insert files directly into a SharePoint 2013 content database. However, the files cannot be selected for file system level redirection. SharePoint 2013 content databases files are stored as BLOBS, but in a shredded format. As a result, Backup Exec cannot redirect the restore of the shredded BLOBS to a file system.
  • Redirect the restore of individual items such as documents, sites, and list items from one site to another site.
When you redirect a restore from one site to another site, the restored items inherit the security permissions of the parent item to which they are restored. If the site is in a different SharePoint farm, the versions of SharePoint must be the same.
Note: You must use the same logon account for the original web server and the server in the site collection when you redirect the restore. You should also ensure that both of the servers use the same NetBIOS name, fully qualified domain name, or IP address.
  • Restore SharePoint databases to an alternate SQL instance.
You can use the database to do the following:
  • Manually harvest data using the SharePoint Central Administration console in SharePoint 2010/2013.
  • Manually attach to a SharePoint web application.
  • Redirect SharePoint web application content databases to an alternate web application.
The destination for the web application must be online and be of the same topology as the web application that was backed up. If the web application is in a different SharePoint farm, the versions of SharePoint must be the same.
Caution: When you restore SharePoint Portal document library data, any documents that exist in the selected destination and that have the same name as the documents being restored may be overwritten. You can select whether they should be overwritten in the properties for the restore job.
For more information about the different types of SharePoint content, see the Microsoft SharePoint documentation.
To restore Microsoft SharePoint data
  1. On the Backup and Restore tab, right-click the server for which you want to restore data, and then click Restore.
  2. Select Microsoft SharePoint, and then clickNext.
  3. Follow the Restore Wizard prompts to restore the data.
More Information
Using the Agent for Microsoft SharePoint with SharePoint Server 2010/2013 and SharePoint Foundation 2010/2013