Recovering a computer with different hardware

Last published : Apr 02, 2026
The Arctera System Recovery Restore Anyware feature lets administrators restore a system drive of a supported Windows platform computer. You can restore the system even if it has different hardware than was found in the original computer from which the recovery point was made.
Restore Anyware lets you make the necessary changes for the system to be able to start. Depending on your configuration, you may need to make additional changes for the computer to run exactly as it did previously.
Restore Anyware lets you restore a recovery point onto new hardware. For example, Restore Anyware is automatically used for you in the following scenarios:
  • Your computer's motherboard has failed and you replaced it with a new or a different motherboard.
  • You want to upgrade to new hardware from an older computer.
  • You want to restore a virtual disk file back to a physical computer.
This feature is used to recover drives only; it cannot be used to recover at a more granular level such as files and folders.
Note: You can obtain more information about domain controller support. Seehttps://www.veritas.com/content/support/en_US Warning: If you have an OEM license from your hardware vendor or a single-user license, you might be prompted to reactivate your Windows software. You can reactivate by using your Windows license key. Be aware that OEM and single-user licenses might have a limited number of activations. Verify that using Restore Anyware does not violate your operating system or application license agreements.
Keep in mind the following when Restore Anyware is used:
  • Performing a Restore Anyware to hardware that is significantly different might require you to do the following:
    • Add mass storage device drivers.
    • Install hot fixes for the Windows operating system that you restore.
    • Reactivate your Windows operating system when the system restarts.
    • Provide your license key when the system restarts.
    • Provide a local user name and password when the system restarts.
  • When you restore a recovery point with Restore Anyware, you might be prompted for the local administrator name and password. You should have this information ready before you perform the restore. Technical support cannot restore a lost password.
  • Restore Anyware is not used to restore a single recovery point to multiple computers. The product does not generate a unique SID (security identifier) for every computer.
  • When you use Restore Anyware with a computer that uses a static IP address, you must manually reconfigure the computer after the restore is complete.
  • Arctera System Recovery supports one NIC on a system. If you have a dual NIC system, you might need to manually configure the additional NICs to perform a restore through Restore Anyware.
If you restore to identical (or very similar) hardware on which the recovery point was originally made, the Restore Anyware feature is deselected for you.
Before you restore a computer with Restore Anyware, you must save the recovery point or virtual disk file to an accessible location. During the recovery, you might also be prompted to supply disk drivers, service packs, hot fixes, and so forth. You should have your Windows media CD available.
For more information about getting Restore Anyware drivers, go to the Arctera Knowledge Base at the following URL:
https://www.veritas.com/content/support/en_US
Warning: Before you restore a computer through Restore Anyware, test your access to the recovery points or virtual disk in the recovery environment. You should ensure that you have access to SAN volumes and that you can connect to the network.
To recover a computer through Restore Anyware
  1. Start the computer by using the Arctera System Recovery Disk.
See Booting a computer by using the Arctera System Recovery Disk.
  1. On the Home panel, click Recover My Computer.
Your recovery points or virtual disks may be stored on media. In such cases, if you only have one USB drive, you can eject the Arctera System Recovery Disk now. Attach the USB device that contains your recovery points or virtual disks.
  1. On the Welcome panel of the wizard, click Next.
  2. Do one of the following:
    • If Arctera System Recovery Disk located recovery points, proceed to step 7.
    • If Arctera System Recovery Disk does not locate any recovery points, proceed to the next step.
  3. On the Select a Recovery Point to Restore panel, select a recovery point to restore.
Select Recovery Point to Restore options when you view recovery points by Date
View by - Date Displays all of the discovered recovery points in the order in which they were created.
If no recovery points were discovered, the table is empty. In such cases, you can search all local drives on the computer or browse to find a recovery point.
Select source folder Lets you view a list of all available recovery points that may exist on your computer's local drives or on a specific drive.
Map a network drive Specifies a shared network folder path and assign it a drive letter. You can then browse the folder location for the recovery point file you want.
Browse Locates a recovery point on a local drive or a network folder.
Select the Show hidden drives check box to see a
list of the hidden drives along with the list of the other
drives.
You can select a hidden drive as a location where
you want to store the recovery points.
The hidden drives are displayed in the following
format:
DiskNo-PartitionNo\
For example, a hidden drive is displayed as: 2-3\. Where 2 is the disk number and 3 is the partition
number
Note: By default, this check box is not selected.
Select a recovery point Lets you select the recovery point to restore.
Recovery point details Gives you additional information about the recovery point you want to restore.
Select Recovery Point to Restore options when you view recovery points by File name
View by - File name Lets you view recovery points by their file name.
Recovery point folder and file name Specifies a path and a file name of a recovery point.
If the recovery point is located in a hidden drive, you must specify the location of the hidden drive in the following format:
DiskNo-PartitionNo\Filename.v2i or DiskNo-PartitionNo\Filename.iv2i
For example, if the hidden drive location is on Disk 2 and Partition 3, you must enter 2-3\file.v2i. Where 2 is the disk number and 3 is the partition number.
Map a network drive Specifies a shared network folder path and assign it a drive letter. You can then browse the folder location for the recovery point file you want.
Browse Locates a recovery point on a local drive or a network folder.
OpenStorage Destination Lets you select an OpenStorage storage destination that you want to use for restoring the recovery points.
See OpenStorage destination options for recovery .
Recovery point details Gives you additional information about the recovery point you want to restore.
Select Recovery Point to Restore options when you view recovery points by System
View by - System Lets you use the current system index file that is located in the recovery point storage location. The system index file displays a list of all of the drives on your computer and any associated recovery points from which you can select.
The use of a system index file reduces the time it takes to convert multiple recovery points. When a recovery point is created, a system index file is saved with it. The system index file contains a list of the most recent recovery points, which includes the original drive location of each recovery point.
System index folder and filename Specifies a path and a file name of a system index file that you want to use for recovery.
If the recovery point is located in a hidden drive, you must specify the location of the hidden drive in the following format:
DiskNo-PartitionNo\Filename.sv2i
For example, if the hidden drive location is on Disk 2 and Partition 3, you must enter 2-3\file.sv2i. Where 2 is the disk number and 3 is the partition number.
Map a network drive Specifies a shared network folder path and assign it a drive letter. You can then browse the folder location for the system index file (.sv2i) you want.
Browse Lets you browse to a path that contains a system index file.
For example, you can browse to an external (USB) drive, a network location, or to removable media to select a system index file.
OpenStorage Destination Lets you select an OpenStorage storage destination that you want to use for restoring the recovery points.
See OpenStorage destination options for recovery .
If disks with no layout structures are detected, you are prompted to initialize the disk layout. A list of disks without layout structures is displayed. The list shows the default disk layout type, either GPT, or MBR. If required, you can change the layout type for the disks, and then click OK to initialize layouts on them.
Note: If you are recovering a UEFI-based computer, you must restore its system partitions to a GPT disk.
  1. Click Next.
  2. On the Drives to Recover panel, select each drive that you want to recover and set the options that you want, and then click Next.
    Select drives to recover Lets you select the drives that you want to recover.
    Add Adds the additional drives that you want to recover.
    Remove Removes the selected drives from the list of drives to recover.
    Edit Lets you edit the recovery options for a selected drive.
    Ignore recovery point corruption during restore (potential data loss) Automatically excludes the corrupted data and continues to restore the recovery point.
    The restored data does not contain the corrupted portion of data.
    Note: There may be potential data loss as corrupted data is excluded from restore.
    Verify recovery point before restore Verifies whether a recovery point is valid or corrupt before it is restored. If the recovery point is invalid, the recovery is discontinued.
    This option can significantly increase the time that is required for the recovery to complete.
    Do not verify recovery point before restore Does not verify whether a recovery point is valid or corrupt before it is restored. During restore, if there is corrupted data on the recovery point, an error message is displayed and you cannot restore the recovery point.
    Use Restore Anyware to recover to different hardware Selected automatically if any of the following are true\:
    - You recover a non-operating system drive to new or to different computer hardware. Or, you can recover both an operating system drive and one or more data drives to new or to different computer hardware.
    - You upgrade to new or to different computer hardware from an older computer.
    - The motherboard on the computer has failed.
    If you recover a data drive only to new or to different computer hardware, this option is not selected for you.
When you recover your computer, select the drive on which Windows is installed. On most computer systems, this drive is the C drive. In the recovery environment, the drive letters and labels might not match what appears in Windows. You might need to identify the correct drive based on its label. Or, you can identify the drive based on the name that is assigned to it. Or, you can browse the files and folders in the recovery point.
See Recovering files and folders by using Arctera System Recovery Disk.
  1. Optionally, select a drive that you want to recover, and then click Edit.
Select the options that you want to perform during the recovery process, and then click OK to return to the Drives to Recover panel.
Delete Drive Deletes a selected drive in the list to make space available to restore your recovery point.
When you use this option, the drive is only marked for deletion. The actual deletion of the drive takes place after you click Finish in the wizard.
Undo Delete Returns a deleted drive to the list of drives.
Resize drive after recover (unallocated space only) Resizes a disk after the recovery point is restored. After you select this option, you can specify the new size in megabytes. The size must be greater than the identified size of the disk that you selected in the list.
Primary partition Because hard disks are limited to four primary partitions, this option is appropriate if the drive has four or fewer partitions.
Logical partition This option is appropriate if you need more than four partitions. You can have up to three primary partitions, plus any number of logical partitions, up to the maximum size of your hard disk.
Check for file system errors after recovery Checks the restored drive for errors after the recovery point is restored.
Set drive active (for booting OS) Makes the restored drive the active partition (for example, the drive from which the computer starts).
You should select this option if you restore the drive on which your operating system is installed.
Note: Do not select this option if you are restoring system partition or boot partition of a UEFI-based computer. This option is applicable only for MBR-style disks.
Restore original disk signature Restores the original, physical disk signature of the hard drive.
Disk signatures are part of all Windows operating systems that Arctera System Recovery supports. Disk signatures are required to use the hard drive.
Select this option if either of the following situations are true:
- Your computer's drive letters are atypical (for example, assigned letters other than C, D, E, and so forth).
- You restore a recovery point to a new, empty hard disk.
Restore master boot record Restores the master boot record. The master boot record is contained in the first sector of a physical hard disk. The master boot record consists of a master boot program and a partition table that describes the disk partitions. The master boot program analyzes the partition table of the first hard disk to see which primary partition is active. It then starts the boot program from the boot sector of the active partition.
This option is recommended only for advanced users and is available only if you restore a whole drive in the recovery environment.
Select this option if any of the following situations are true:
- You restore a recovery point to a new, empty hard disk.
- You restore a recovery point to the original drive, but the drive's partitions were modified since the recovery point was created.
- You suspect that a virus or some other problem has corrupted your drive's master boot record.
Note: Do not select this option if you are restoring system partition or boot partition of a UEFI-based computer. This option is applicable only for MBR-style disks.
  1. Click Next to review the recovery options you have selected.
  2. Select Reboot when finished if you want the computer to restart automatically when the recovery process finishes.
  3. Click Finish.
  4. Click Yes to begin the recovery process.
See Recovering a computer.
See Recovering a computer from a virtual disk file.
Related information