Disaster recovery of deduplication disk storage devices

Last published : Apr 02, 2026
A deduplication disk storage device is stored on the Backup Exec server. If your Backup Exec server experiences a disaster, then the data from the deduplication disk storage device is lost. Therefore, you should take steps to prepare for recovery from a system failure. To prepare for a disaster, Backup Exec lets you take a snapshot of a deduplication disk storage device. The snapshot includes the folder and the contents of the folder. You can store the snapshot on tape, which you can then use to recover your deduplication disk storage after you recover the Backup Exec server.
When you restore data from the snapshot, the following processes occur:
  • Backup Exec stops the deduplication services if they are running. The deduplication services are separate from the Backup Exec services, so the Backup Exec services are not affected.
  • Backup Exec deletes any files that are present in the deduplication disk storage.
  • The deduplication disk storage is restored to its original location, along with the contents of the folder.
  • The deduplication services are restarted.
    Note: If you use Backup Exec Simplified Disaster Recovery (SDR) to recover the Backup Exec server, SDR does not recover the deduplication disk storage during the recovery of the Backup Exec server.
Preparing for disaster recovery of a deduplication disk storage device
To prepare for a disaster, Backup Exec lets you take a snapshot of a deduplication disk storage device. The snapshot includes the folder and the contents of the folder. You can store the snapshot on tape, which you can then use to recover your deduplication disk storage after a disaster.
To prepare for disaster recovery of a deduplication disk storage device
  1. On the Backup and Restore tab, right-click the server where the deduplication disk storage device is located.
  2. Select Backup, and then selectBackup to Tape.
  3. In the Selections box, click Edit.
  4. Expand Shadow Copy Components, expand User Data, and then select Backup Exec Deduplication Storage.
  5. Click OK.
  6. Complete any additional options that you want to use.
It is recommended that you schedule this job to run just prior to the 12:20 a.m. and 12:20 p.m. deduplication maintenance times.
  1. Click OK to create the job.
More Information
Restoring a deduplication disk storage device or deduplicated data