Preparing to recover from a disaster by using Simplified Disaster Recovery

Last published : Apr 02, 2026
When a disaster occurs, you can use Simplified Disaster Recovery (SDR) to return the computer to its pre-disaster state.
To prepare to recover a computer, use the following steps:

Table: Preparing to recover from a disaster by using Simplified Disaster Recovery

Step Description
Step 1 Disconnect any storage area network or cluster that is attached to the computer being recovered. Otherwise, the hard drives on those computers may also be repartitioned and reformatted.
Step 2 Plan any hardware changes to the computer to be recovered.
See Hardware replacement during disaster recovery .
Step 3 Review additional requirements for IBM computers if the computer to be recovered is an IBM computer.
See Prepare to recover IBM computers with Simplified Disaster Recovery .
Step 4 Review recovery notes if you are recovering a SQL server, Exchange server, SharePoint server, or an environment in which the Central Admin Server feature is installed.
See Recovery notes for using Simplified Disaster Recovery with Exchange, SQL, SharePoint, CAS, Hyper-V hosts, and the Deduplication feature .
Review recovery notes if you are recovering Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2, or Windows 2016 storage pools and storage spaces.
See Recovery notes for using Simplified Disaster Recovery with storage pools and storage spaces .
When you complete these steps, you can start the recovery process.
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