Running a one-time backup from Arctera System Recovery

Last published : Apr 02, 2026
You can use One Time Backup to quickly define and run a backup that creates an independent recovery point. You use the One Time Backup wizard to define the backup. The backup runs when you complete the wizard. The backup definition is not saved for future use. You can use the independent recovery point later.
This feature is useful when you need to back up your computer or a particular drive quickly before a significant event. For example, you can run a one-time backup before you install new software. Or, you can run it when you learn about a new computer security threat.
You can also use Arctera System Recovery Disk to create one-time cold backups.
To run a one-time backup from Arctera System Recovery
  1. On the Tasks page, click One Time Backup.
  2. Click Next.
  3. Select one or more drives to back up, and then click Next.
    Note: Arctera System Recovery 24.1 is able to display the drives from a GPT disk even if one of the GPT headers is corrupted or if there is a disk signature collision.
  4. If the Related Drives dialog box is displayed, set the appropriate option, and then click Next. Otherwise, skip to the next step.
    Add all related drives (recommended) Lets you select and include all related drives in the backup definition.
    Edit the list of selected drives Lets you select or clear the related drives that you want or do not want to include in the backup definition.
    Do not add related drives Lets you deselect (not include) all related drives in the backup definition.
  5. In the Backup Destinations panel, select the appropriate options.
    Folder Indicates the location where you want to store the recovery points.
    You can browse or enter a Microsoft OneDrive location as the primary destination.
    See About support of OneDrive for Business .
    You can specify a hidden drive as a location where you want to store the recovery points in the following format:
    DiskNo-PartitionNo\
    For example, If 2 is the disk number and 3 is the partition number, you must specify 2-3\ as the location.
    Note: By default, this check box is not selected.
    If Arctera System Recovery detects that this location does not have enough available space, it alerts you. You should choose another location that has more space.
    Show only hidden drives Select this check box and click Browse to only see a list of the hidden 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.
    Browse Lets you browse to locate a backup destination that you want to use.
    Browse for OpenStorage Destination Lets you browse to select a cloud storage destination that you want to use for backups.
    See OpenStorage destination options for backups .
    Destination Details Displays the type of destination path. If you add a network path it also displays the user name.
    Recovery points are not automatically encrypted.
    Arctera recommends that you create permissions for the backup destination to prevent unauthorized access to any data contained in the
    recovery points.
    For more information, refer to the following link:
    https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc732880(v=ws.11).aspx
    Note: Arctera recommends that you use AES encryption when defining a backup to prevent unauthorized access to any data contained in the recovery points.
    Edit Lets you enter the user name and password for access to the network that is specified in the Folder field. This option is available only if you selected a backup destination that is on a network and if you want to save the recovery point on a network share.
    See Rules for network credentials .
    Customize recovery point file names Lets you rename the recovery point.
    Default file names include the name of the computer followed by the drive letter.
    You can also save recovery points to a unique subfolder.
    Enable USB Disk Rotation. Backup files to any USB disk inserted at this location Select this check box to enable the USB disk rotation feature for USB disks.
    See USB disk rotation .
    Add Lets you add up to two Offsite Copy destinations.
    Offsite Copy automatically copies your latest recovery points each time a backup completes to either a portable storage device, such as an external drive, or to a remote server either through a local area network connection or to a remote FTP server.
    See How Offsite Copy works .
  6. Click Next.
  7. On the Options panel, select the appropriate options, and then click Next
Recovery Point options
Name Indicates a name for your backup.
Note: This option does not appear if you create a recovery point using theBack Up My Computerfeature in Arctera System Recovery Disk.
Compression Lets you set one of the following compression levels for the recovery point\:
- None
- Standard
- Medium
- High
The results can vary depending on the types of files that are saved in the drive.
Verify recovery point after creation Tests whether a recovery point or set of files is valid or corrupt.
Limit the number of recovery point saved for this backup Limits the number of recovery point that can be saved for this backup. You can limit the number of recovery points to reduce the risk of filling up the hard drive with recovery points. Each new recovery point replaces the oldest set on your backup destination drive.
The backup destination must contain enough free space for the number of recovery points the job is set to retain, plus one. For example, if the maximum number of recovery points to retain is set to 3, the required space in the backup destination should be able to hold 4 recovery point sets. Arctera System Recovery 24.1 removes the oldest recovery point set only after the successful completion of the current backup. This ensures that the number of recovery points meets the recovery point retention setting.
This option appears only if you are creating a recovery point set.
Note: This option does not appear if you create a recovery point using theBack Up My Computerfeature in a Arctera System Recovery Disk.
Include system and temporary files Includes an indexing support for operating system and temporary files when a recovery point is created on the client computer.
Note: This option does not appear if you create a recovery point using theBack Up My Computerfeature in Arctera System Recovery Disk.
Advanced Lets you add security options to the recovery point.
Command Files Lets you use command files (.exe, .cmd, .bat) during a backup.
See Running command files during a backup .
Description Indicates a description for the recovery point. The description can be anything that helps you further identify the recovery point's contents.
Advanced options
Divide into smaller files to simplify archiving Splits the recovery point into smaller files and specifies the maximum size (in MB) for each file.
This option is selected by default when you specify a Microsoft OneDrive location as your primary destination. A recovery point that is larger than 10 GB is automatically split into smaller files of less than 10 GB. You can split the size of the recovery point into smaller recovery points.
Disable SmartSector™ Copying Copies that are used and unused hard-disk sectors. This option increases process time and usually results in a larger recovery point.
SmartSector technology speeds up the copying process by copying only the hard-disk sectors that contain data. However, in some cases, you might want to copy all sectors in their original layout, whether or not they contain data.
Ignore bad sectors during copy Runs a backup even if there are bad sectors on the hard disk. Although most drives do not have bad sectors, the potential for problems increases during the lifetime of the hard disk.
Perform full VSS backup Lets you perform a full backup on the VSS storage and send a request for VSS to review its own transaction log. This option is used for Microsoft Exchange Server only.
Exchange VSS determines what transactions are already committed to the database and then truncates those transactions. Among other things, truncated transaction logs help keep the file size manageable and limits the amount of hard drive space that the file uses.
If you do not select this option, backups still occur on the VSS storage. However, VSS does not automatically truncate the transaction logs following a backup.
Note: This option does not appear if you create a recovery point using theBack Up My Computerwizard feature in Arctera System Recovery Disk.
  1. In the Security Optionspanel, set the password, select the level of encryption for the one-time backup, and then clickNext.
    Use password Sets a password and enables AES encryption on the recovery point when it is created.
    This check box is selected by default.
    Password Lets you specify a password for the backup. Passwords can include standard characters. Passwords cannot include extended characters, or symbols. (Use characters with an ASCII value of 128 or lower.)
    You must type this password before you restore a backup or view the contents of the recovery point.
    Confirm password Lets you retype the password for
    confirmation.
    AES encryption Encrypts recovery point data to add another level of protection to your recovery points.
    If
    you upgrade from a previous version to Arctera System Recovery 24.1, for older backup jobs where only
    password protection is defined, you need to edit the jobs to select the AES
    encryption level. If you do not edit the older backup jobs, they continue to run
    without AES Encryption. Arctera recommends that you edit the job and select AES
    encryption level.
    Note: If theUse Passwordcheck box is selected, you must define AES encryption.
    Choose from the following encryption levels:
    - Standard 128-bit (8+ character password)
    - Medium 192-bit (16+ character password)
    - High 256-bit (32+ character password)
  2. If appropriate, in the lists, select the command files that you want to run during a particular stage in the recovery point creation process. Then, specify the amount of time (in seconds) that you want the command to run before it is stopped.
If you added the command file to the Command Files folder, you may need to click Back, and thenNext to see the files in each stage's list.
Command files folder Lets you specify the location of command files. You can also specify a location on a per-job basis, as well as specify a location that can be shared among several computers. If you specify a network location, you are prompted for network credentials.
Browse Lets you browse to locate a folder for any command files that you want to use.
User name Lets you specify the user name to a command file folder that is located in a network path.
Password Lets you specify the password to a command file folder that is located in a network path.
Run before snapshot creation Indicates that you can run a command file after a backup has started and before a recovery point is created. You can run a command during this stage to prepare for the recovery point creation process. For example, you can close any open applications that are using the drive.
Note: If you use this option, be sure that the command file has an error recovery mechanism that is built into it. If the computer has one or more services that must be stopped at this stage, and the command file does not contain any form of error recovery, one or more of the stopped services may not be restarted. For example, stopping a non-VSS aware database or a resource-intensive application. An error in the command file can cause the recovery point creation process to stop immediately. No other command files can run.
See How to use Arctera System Recovery .
Run after snapshot creation Indicates that you can run a command file after a snapshot is created. Running a command during this stage is a safe point to allow services to resume on the drive while continuing the recovery point creation.
Because the snapshot takes only a few seconds to create, the database is in the backup state momentarily. A minimal number of log files are created.
Run after recovery point creation Indicates that you can run a command file after the recovery point file is created. You can run a command during this stage to act on the recovery point itself. For example, you can copy it to an offline location.
Timeout (applies to each stage) Lets you specify the amount of time (in seconds) that a command file is allowed to run.
  1. Click Next.
  2. Click Finish to run the backup.
More Information
Compression levels for recovery points
Related information