Frequently Asked Questions

What are the requirements for a bare-metal restore?

The following are the requirements for performing a bare-metal restore:

1. USB drive with a minimum of 4 GB storage — to create USB recovery media.
2. Ensure the drives on your target computer are healthy (run SMART checks on the drives if necessary).
3. The target computer must be bootable from a USB storage device.
4. The IDrive BMR device and the target computer should be within the same LAN.
5. The target computer should have a wired network connection to the LAN (DHCP is recommended).
6. If the target computer has hardware RAID, it should be configured before initiating the restore process.
7. For optimal performance during bare-metal restore, stop any ongoing backup operation.
Note:
• After restoring a machine, Windows may prompt you to reactivate the license.
• Bare-metal recovery of dynamic (simple, mirrored, spanned, striped), logical, and Microsoft storage space (Raid-5 with resiliency type-parity) is supported by version 8.4.0 and above. However, bare-metal recovery of dynamic OS disk with GPT partition is not supported.
• In the case you have upgraded to version 8.4.0 or above, make sure to install the latest backup agent that supports the aforementioned advanced backup and perform at least one image backup. If you attempt restoring exclusively from older versions where the OS disk is dynamic, you may face OS boot issues. Similarly, use the updated WinRE Recovery Media Builder to create and upload a new WinRE recovery media to the IDrive BMR device.

How do I build a WinRE recovery media for IDrive BMR?

To build WinRE recovery media for future use,

1. Launch the setup.
2. Select Future Use.
   
   
3. Click Browse, select the target destination, and click Next.
   
   
4. Add drivers if required.
   When restoring to a target machine, if the system has storage RAID controllers or a specific network card, the respective drivers must be added to the WinRE ISO. This ensures that the ISO can detect the machine's drives and establish a network connection.
   • Download the required driver files.
   • If the driver is provided as an .exe, right-click and extract the files to access the .inf driver files.
   • Add a single driver file or multiple driver files from a selected folder.
     

   The ISO progress will be displayed.

   
5. You will receive a success message once the ISO build is completed. Enter the IP address and click Next.
   
   
6. You will be directed to the sign in page. Enter your sign in credentials and click Next.
   
   
7. The upload progress will be displayed.
   
   
   You will be notified once the upload is completed.
   
   

To build a WinRE recovery media for immediate use,

1. Launch the setup.
2. Select Immediate Use
   
   
3. Select Create a Bootable ISO file, browse and select a target destination for the ISO file, and click Next.
   
4. Add drivers if required.
   When restoring to a target machine, if the system has storage RAID controllers or a specific network card, the respective drivers must be added to the WinRE ISO. This ensures that the ISO can detect the machine's drives and establish a network connection.
   • Download the required driver files.
   • If the driver is provided as an .exe, right-click and extract the files to access the .inf driver files.
   • Add a single driver file or multiple driver files from a selected folder.
     

   The ISO progress will be displayed.

   
   
   You will receive a success message once the ISO build is completed.
   
   

To create a bootable USB for immediate use,

1. Select Create a bootable USB and select the partition style and the USB device from the respective dropdowns.
   
   
2. Add drivers if required.
   When restoring to a target machine, if the system has storage RAID controllers or a specific network card, the respective drivers must be added to the WinRE ISO. This ensures that the ISO can detect the machine's drives and establish a network connection.
   • Download the required driver files.
   • If the driver is provided as an .exe, right-click and extract the files to access the .inf driver files.
   • Add a single driver file or multiple driver files from a selected folder.
     
3. Click Next.
   The USB creation progress will be displayed.
   
   
4. You will be notified once the USB bootable device is successfully created along with further instruction to use the bootable device.
   
   

Note:

• If the setup is not able to find the .wim file, you will be prompted to download ADK after selecting future use or immediate use option.
  
  
• The new page that appears will ask the user to download ADK from the link given in the instruction. After the ADK setup is completed the next button will be enabled.
  
  
• Click Next to proceed with the aforementioned options.

How do I add hardware-specific boot drivers to the restored machine?

If you are restoring the image to the same hardware, no additional drivers are needed for the system to boot. However, if restoring to a different hardware configuration (e.g., different storage controllers, RAID controllers, chipsets, or network adapters), the system may fail to boot and display a BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) error.

A common error in such cases is Stop Code 0x7B (INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE), which occurs when the system cannot locate the correct storage controller due to hardware differences. You may need to manually add the required drivers to the restored image.

Adding Drivers to the WinRE ISO:

1. Download and extract the necessary drivers to an external storage device (e.g., USB drive).
2. Boot into the BMR WinRE ISO or Windows installation media.
   • For BMR WinRE ISO: Navigate to Main App Screen → Repair → Command Prompt.
   • For Windows installation disk: From the welcome screen, press Shift + F10 to open Command Prompt.
3. Use DISM (Deployment Image Servicing and Management) to add drivers to the offline Windows image:
• To add a single driver:
  powershell
  CopyEdit

  Dism /Image:C:\ /Add-Driver /Driver:e:\drivers\drivername.inf /ForceUnsigned

• To add all drivers from a folder recursively:
  powershell
  CopyEdit

  Dism /Image:C:\ /Add-Driver /Driver:e:\drivers /Recurse

• Here:
  • e:\drivers is the folder on the external storage device containing the drivers.
  • C:\ represents the restored system drive (this drive letter may vary, so verify before proceeding).
4. Reboot the system.
   • Once the drivers are added, restart the system.
   • If the BSOD persists, verify that you are using the correct driver version.

For more details on adding drivers using DISM, refer to Microsoft’s official documentation.

How do I perform a system restore from the IDrive BMR device?

To restore a system, you require a target machine that is connected to the same network as your IDrive BMR device. Create a bootable USB or media device using the WinRE builder app. (Refer to this FAQ How do I build a WinRE recovery media for IDrive BMR? for instructions) Then boot your target replacement machine using the USB or media device.

To initiate a system restore,

1. Connect to the IDrive BMR device.
• With the Auto-detect IP Address option (recommended), you can connect automatically to any available IDrive BMR device within the network.
• With the Specific IP Address option, you can connect to a particular IDrive BMR device. This is useful when you want to connect to a specific device in a network having multiple IDrive BMR devices installed.

2. Sign in to the IDrive BMR device with your device credentials.

3. Choose the system and recovery point from the respective dropdown.
4. Choose the appropriate volume option and click Next.
Note: If you click Back, you will be disconnected from the device. You will have to sign in again to the device.

5. Select a destination drive and click Restore.
Note:
• Once the restore process is initiated, any previously existing data on the chosen destination drive will be deleted.
• Select a drive with equal or greater storage than the original machine.

6. You will receive a confirmation message when the restore is completed.

Linux Recovery ISO

System Restore Instructions

Before proceeding with system restore, you need to create a bootable CD or a bootable USB thumb drive using an ISO file and boot your computer.

The required ISO file and related information for creating bootable CD or a bootable USB thumb drive is available on the shipped device.

Booting Instructions

Perform the following steps to boot your computer:

Note: Screenshots used in the following scenario is just an example. Depending on the BIOS manufacturer you would get different menu options.

1. Switch on the computer and press ESC, F1, F2, F8 or F10 during the initial startup screen. Depending on the BIOS manufacturer, a menu would appear.
2. Go to BIOS setup and select 'BOOT' tab.
3. To set a boot sequence priority, perform the following steps:
   • If you are using a restore CD/DVD, then move the 'CD/DVD..' to the first position in the list.
   • If you are using a USB drive instead, then move the 'USB' to the first position in the list.
     
4. Save and exit the BIOS setup.

You can now proceed with the restore process.

System Restore Instructions

1. Boot your computer using IDrive BMR Restore CD or a USB thumb drive which has restore environment.
2. After booting your system, click 'Next' in the welcome page.
3. Select 'BMR Server' and click 'Next'.
4. Enter the BMR device password and click 'Sign in'.
5. Select the system from which you want to restore the data, from 'Choose your system' dropdown.

6. Select the required volumes and their recovery points to restore, from 'Choose Volume(s) and recovery point(s)' section and click 'Next'.

7. Select the drive to which you want to restore data, from 'Choose target drive to restore' dropdown.

8. Click Restore and select Continue in the confirmation window to start the restore process.

System Restore Instructions for older versions of restore application

1. After exiting from BIOS setup, click 'OK' in the confirmation window.
2. Provide your username and password.
3. Select the particular computer from the list of computers and click 'OK'.
   The list of drives with date and time of the last backup is displayed.

4. Select the particular drive you want to restore.

5. Select the target drive to which you want to restore data.
6. Click 'OK' in the confirmation window.

Note:

• The 'restore computer' should at least have the same hard drive space as 'backup computer'. Also, if the 'backup computer' has multiple drives, ensure that the 'restore computer' also has the same number of drives.
• It is recommended that 'restore computer' have the same hardware configuration as 'backup computer'. However, you may have to install the required additional drivers if there is any change in the hardware configuration of the 'restore computer'.

Can I stop the WinRE restore after initiating it?

Yes, you can cancel the restore after it has been initiated, but it is not recommended. If you cancel the restore, you will lose all the progress and your system might become unbootable. Furthermore, you cannot cancel any ongoing restore for individual volumes or disks during the restore process.

You will be prompted to confirm with the following notification:

How do I restore the VMs to my ESXi host or vCenter server?

To restore a VM running on an ESXi host,

1. Connect to the IDrive BMR device interface.
2. Go to Backup > VMware Servers.
3. click corresponding to the required ESXi VM. You will be directed to VM restore, for the latest recovery point.
   
   
   Alternatively, go to Restore > VMware restore > ESXi and select VM restore. Select the required source ESXi host, VM, and recovery point.
4. Select VM restore.
   Note: Include the OS disk during backup to avoid any potential boot issues.
5. Select the required ESXi host you want to restore.
6. Select a VM and choose the required recovery point.
7. Select Same VM if you wish to restore data to the same VM.
   
   
   To restore data to another VM, select New VM, choose an ESXi host for the new VM, enter a VM name, and select a datastore.
   
   Note: IDrive BMR follows VMware's naming conventions and restrictions for virtual machines. Hence names with the special characters colon, quotation marks, and slash (:, ", \, and /) are not supported.
8. Click Create New VM to initiate the restore process. View restore progress in the Activities section below.

To restore a VM running on a vCenter server,

1. Connect to the IDrive BMR device interface.
2. Go to Backup > VMware Servers.
3. Click corresponding to the required vCenter VM. You will be directed to VM restore, for the latest recovery point.
   
   
   Alternatively, go to Restore > VMware restore > vCenter and select VM restore. Select the required source ESXi host, VM, and recovery point.
4. Select VM restore.
   Note: Include the OS disk during backup to avoid any potential boot issues.
5. Select the required vCenter server you want to restore.
6. Select an ESXi host.
7. Choose a VM and the required recovery point.
8. Select Same VM if you wish to restore data to the same VM.
   
9. To restore data to another VM, select New VM.
   
   
   Choose a vCenter server for the new VM, enter a VM name, and select a datastore.
   Note: IDrive BMR follows VMware's naming conventions and restrictions for virtual machines. Hence names with the special characters colon, quotation marks, and slash (:, ", \, and /) are not supported.
10. Click Create New VM to initiate the restore process. View restore progress in the Activities section below.

How do I perform a file-level restore using Samba from a computer image backup?

Access and restore the backed-up files and folders of your computers via Samba restore paths available over the LAN.

To create a file-level restore path using Samba,

1. Under Computers, click corresponding to the required computer. You will be directed to file restore, for the latest recovery point of the computer.
   
   
   Alternatively, go to Restore > File restore and select the required computer and recovery point.
2. Select Samba under Select restore type.
   
3. Select a computer from the Choose system dropdown.
4. Select a recovery point from the Choose recovery point dropdown.
5. Select the drive from the Choose drive dropdown.
   Note: Samba does not support file restore functionality for drives with the ReFS file system.
6. By default Enable user authentication will be selected as 'No'. This will create an open share that is accessible on the network.
   To create a secure share,
   1. Select 'Yes' to enable user authentication.
   2. Select the username from the Mount username dropdown.
   3. Enter the mount password.
   
7. Click Create Restore Path. A summary for the selected computer will be created in the Mount summary section. You can use the path displayed under the Mount path/iSCSI target field to access your backed-up data.

How do I perform a file-level restore using iSCSI from a computer image backup?

File restore via iSCSI protocol allows you to create a virtual disk (referred to as an iSCSI target) from your backup. Once the iSCSI target is mounted on your system, it behaves like a local disk, allowing you to browse and restore files directly from it.

To create and mount an iSCSI target for file recovery,

1. Under Computers, click corresponding to the required computer. You will be directed to file restore, for the latest recovery point of the computer.
   
   
   Alternatively, go to Restore > File restore and select the required computer and recovery point.
2. Select iSCSI under Select restore type.
   
3. Select a computer from the Choose system dropdown.
4. Select a recovery point from the Choose recovery point dropdown.
5. Select the drive from the Choose drive dropdown.
   Note: iSCSI supports file restore functionality for drives with both ReFS and NTFS file systems.
6. By default Enable user authentication will be selected as 'No'. This will create an open share that is accessible on the network.
   To create a secure share,
   1. Select 'Yes' to enable user authentication.
   2. Configure CHAP and Mutual CHAP authentication.
      Note: CHAP authentication needs to be enabled for configuring Mutual CHAP Authentication.
   3. Enter the username and password.
7. Click Create iSCSI Target. A summary for the selected computer will be created in the Mount summary section. You can use the path displayed under the Mount path/iSCSI target field to access your backed-up data.
   

How do I access an iSCSI share/restore on my Windows system?

To access an iSCSI share on your Windows system,

1. Launch the iSCSI Initiator on your Windows machine.
   Note: Ensure the iSCSI Initiator is enabled if it is not already active.
2. In the iSCSI Initiator, enter the IP address of your IDrive BMR device in the Target field and click Quick Connect…
3. If the iSCSI target uses custom Mutual CHAP credentials, follow these steps to configure or update the CHAP settings:
   • Click Change... and enter the mutual CHAP username (the initiator's username).
     
   • Then, click CHAP... and enter the mutual CHAP password (the initiator's password).
     
4. From the list of discovered targets, select the required iSCSI target and click Connect to access the iSCSI volume.
5. If CHAP authentication is enabled, you may see an authentication failure message.
   To resolve this:
   1. Go to Connect > Advanced.
   2. Enter the pre-defined CHAP username and password and click OK.
   3. Click OK in the Advanced Settings window to access the iSCSI target.
      
6. Once connected, the target status should display as Connected.
7. Right-click This PC and select Manage > Disk Management.
8. If the new iSCSI disk is offline, ensure you set it to online.
   
9. A new volume with an assigned drive letter will appear in Windows Explorer, allowing you to access the data on the iSCSI disk.
   

Is it possible to restore individual files/folders from VMware backup on an IDrive BMR device?

Yes, you can restore individual files/folders from VMware backup on an IDrive BMR device, irrespective of the operating system used on the VM. All major file systems on the VM are also supported.

To restore individual files/folders from a backed-up ESXi VM,

1. Connect to the IDrive BMR device interface.
2. Go to Restore > VMware restore > ESXi.
3. Select File restore.
   
4. Select the required ESXi host you want to restore.
5. Select a VM and the required recovery point.
6. Choose the mount username and enter the password.
7. Click Create Restore Path to initiate the restore process. A restore path will be created and added to the Mount summary section below.

To restore individual files/folders from a backed-up vCenter VM,

1. Connect to the IDrive BMR device interface.
2. Go to Restore > VMware restore > vCenter.
3. Select File restore.
   
4. Select the required vCenter server you want to restore.
5. Select an ESXi host.
6. Select a VM and the required recovery point.
7. Choose the mount username and enter the password.
8. Click Create Restore Path to initiate the restore process. A restore path will be created and added to the Mount summary section below.

How many restore paths can I create on an IDrive BMR device?

You can create a maximum of 5 simultaneous restore paths collectively for computers and VMware servers, irrespective of the authentication type selected.

Why is an iSCSI target appearing as RAW format on a Windows client machine?

A newly connected iSCSI target disk may appear as RAW format if it lacks a recognizable filesystem, such as exFAT, Ext4, or HPFS, or if it is a 4K dynamic disk. In such cases, the system is unable to interpret the volume’s structure, resulting in it showing as RAW format.
This issue may also arise with ReFS volumes when the operating system does not support the version of ReFS used. Older OS versions are often incompatible with newer ReFS versions, leading to the RAW format display.
To resolve this, ensure the volume is formatted with a supported filesystem before use. Files from RAW volumes can still be restored using the Samba file restore for computers feature.

I received a warning message while trying to delete the iSCSI target on my IDrive BMR device. What should I do?

If you receive a warning message while attempting to delete an iSCSI target on your IDrive BMR device, ensure all client machines are disconnected from the target before proceeding:

1. On each client machine, navigate to iSCSI Initiator >Targets.
2. Select the connected target and click Disconnect.
3. After the clients have disconnected, retry deleting the iSCSI target on the IDrive BMR device.

Alternatively, if you wish to delete the iSCSI target immediately, you can choose to force delete the target. This will terminate all active connections on the IDrive BMR device and delete the target directly.

I received an error message while accessing file restore points that use SMB (Server Message Block) protocol. What should I do?

If you are using a Windows operating system to connect to a network share, there may be instances when the connection is declined. This happens because Windows retains network credentials in its cache, for a previously authenticated or connected network share.

In such scenarios, the accessibility of the newly created shares may be denied as Windows will attempt to authenticate them using the cached credentials from previous connections.

To resolve this issue, follow any of the methods detailed below:

Method 1

1. Navigate to the Services console and locate the Workstation service.
2. Restart the Workstation service.
   

Method 2

On the machine where you are attempting to access the shares, open the Command Prompt (CMD) and follow the below steps:

1. Execute the command 'net use'.
   This will display the list of network connections.
2. Execute the command 'net use /delete <share_identifier>' where 'share_identifier' refers to the name/path of the previously cached share that you want to remove.
   This command will delete the cached credentials and enable you to access newer shares.
   

Method 3

If none of the above methods help resolve the issue, as the last option consider restarting the machine from which you are trying to access the shares.

What is PE Network?

When users are not able to receive the IP in IDrive BMR WinRE through DHCP, they can set up a static IP using the PE Network. This PE Network is included in the Tools section of the IDrive BMR application.

Can I access a Windows Server 2016 ReFS iSCSI target on a Windows 11 machine?

No, doing so may cause system crashes because the ReFS driver in Windows 11 is not fully compatible with the version used in Windows Server 2016. Avoid mounting the iSCSI target on Windows 11 to prevent instability.

Can I perform snapshot restore?

Yes, you can perform snapshot-based image restore for point-in-time recovery. During the restore process, you need to select the particular drive along with the required date on which the data was backed up, to perform bare-metal restore.

How can I perform system restore to multiple computers?

You can perform system restore to multiple computers in one go. All you have to do is boot the computers with the restore CDs/USBs and perform the restore operation. Data can be accessed directly from the IDrive BMR device during restore.

How can I access my backed up data if bare-metal restore fails or the computer does not boot up after performing the restore?

The bare-metal restore operation may fail or the computer may not boot up if the restored computer does not have the same hardware configuration as the backup computer. There may be new hardware devices present on the restore computer and the necessary drivers may not be installed. We recommend you to have identical hardware configurations on both computers.

However, you still can access all the backed up data by creating a recovery point. For steps to create recovery points, refer FAQ.

Can I perform bare-metal restore with IDrive BMR to any computer with a different hardware configuration?

We do not recommend performing bare-metal restore to a computer with a different hardware configuration, as the restored computer may not boot after restore due to hardware dissimilarity. For the bare-metal restore to be successful, a computer with same or similar hardware configuration as the backup computer is preferred.

Ensure the following conditions are met, if the restore computer has different hardware configuration:

• The restore issue due to hardware dissimilarity is lesser in modern Windows operating systems such as Windows 8.1 and Windows 10.
• The motherboard chipset type (AMD/Intel) should be the same in both the backup and restore computer.
• The hard drive storage controller (IDE/SATA) should be the same in both the backup and restore computer.

Bare-metal restore to a disk with hardware RAID is slow. How do I increase the restore speed?

For faster bare-metal restore to a disk with hardware RAID, enable Disk Cache Policy for virtual disks through your RAID management utility.

1. Here are sample screens for enabling disk cache in Dell PowerEdge servers, with IDRAC9 enabled.

   Sign in to the IDRAC9 interface, navigate to Storage > Virtual Disks > Action > Edit Cache Policy > Disk Cache Policy and select Enabled. Click Add to Pending Operations.

   
   

   Once the disk cache policy is enabled, boot into the BMR WinRE ISO and start the restore process again for faster bare-metal restore.

Alternatively, you can enable disk cache policy for virtual disks from your system BIOS/UEFI utility if your computer does not have a remote management utility such as Dell IDRAC.

I have backed up my computer with RAID-based storage to the IDrive BMR device. However, I am not able to perform a bare-metal restore. Why?

Bare-metal restore for the computer with RAID-based storage (hardware or software RAID) is not supported by IDrive BMR. However, you can still perform file-level restore of the backed-up data to the computer.

Why do I get a blue screen error with the error code 'Stop x0000007B INACCESSABLE_BOOT_DEVICE' when I try to perform a bare-metal restore to a computer with a different hardware configuration?

When the OS restarts after a bare-metal restore, it automatically disables unused storage drivers to speed up the Windows startup process. You may get a blue screen with an error code “Stop 0x0000007B INACCESSABLE_BOOT_DEVICE” as shown in the image below:

To fix this issue temporarily, you can reset the SATA mode from AHCI or RAID to IDE in BIOS. However, you will get the same error when you reboot the computer.

To fix this issue permanently,

1. Sign in to Windows and navigate to the following path in Registry Editor:
   1. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\msahci
   2. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\pciide
2. Double-click Start, set Value data to zero, and click OK.
3. Close Registry Editor and restart the system.
4. Go to BIOS settings and change the SATA configuration settings as per your requirements.

After Windows starts booting up, it will automatically detect the change and install the appropriate drivers. Once the drivers are installed, Windows will boot without any problem.

I am unable to connect to the IDrive BMR device when trying to perform a restore operation. What should I do?

You are unable to connect to the IDrive BMR device due to a network connectivity issue and your machine has not availed the IP address from the router. The connection status will be displayed as Connection failure in the IP field.

Ensure the following requirements are met and reboot your machine:

• The ethernet cable is properly connected to the primary NIC in your machine.
• DHCP is enabled in the router to which the machine is connected.

Why am I being prompted to activate my Windows license after a physical / virtual machine system restore?

Windows licensing links your purchased product key to the hardware configuration of the machine. Therefore, in case of a hardware change, Windows may prompt you to re-activate your license.

The solution depends on the type of your Windows license.

Solution for retail license: Windows allows retail licenses to be transferred to another machine. You can simply enter the product key on the new machine and reactivate the Windows license.

Solution for OEM license: OEM license is non-transferrable and links your purchased product key to the motherboard. To secure license activation for a restored machine, you will need to contact your OEM-license provider. IDrive BMR cannot assist you with third-party licensing issues.

Can I retain the static IP configurations on a restored machine?

Your machine's static IP address is set on your ethernet network adapter. When you perform system restore on a new machine, the NIC hardware will be different from the original and will reset the IP to DHCP. If your work environment is static-IP dependent, you will need to manually configure the network settings after restore.