Faculty and staff who use the Engineering Base Desktop (EBD) have a CAEN Home Directory to store files and settings, which are regularly backed up via snapshots. Snapshots are the place to look to recover a file that you may have deleted accidentally from your online file storage within the last eight weeks. A snapshot is a point-in-time copy of the files and directories at a particular location. Hourly, nightly, and weekly snapshots are available, providing self-service recovery of recently changed or deleted files. You may be able to recover files yourself using snapshots, if your files were deleted or modified less than 18 weeks ago.
Files deleted or modified more than 18 weeks ago cannot be recovered.
How to Recover Files in Windows
Follow these steps to recover a file in your CAEN online file storage from a Windows computer:
- Go to the folder containing the files you wish to recover.
- Right-click on the folder's icon and select Properties.
- Click on the Previous Versions tab.
- Select the appropriate folder to recover the file from using the Date modified, and click Open.
- Copy the files to be recovered to a new location.
- Close the checkpoint window.
Detailed Instructions
1. Go to the folder containing the files you wish to recover.
CAEN online file storage can be accessed from any CAEN lab Windows computer. For assistance with mounting a network share in Windows, refer to the instructions for How to Access Your Files.
2. Right-click on the folder and select Properties.
3. Click on the Previous Versions tab.
A list of folders, corresponding to the dates/times of the checkpoints will appear in your browser. Note that the checkpoints are created on an hourly basis and are retained for four weeks. If a file is created and deleted within 60 minutes, the file may not be in a checkpoint. Files deleted more than 8 weeks ago cannot be recovered.
4. Select the appropriate folder to recover the file from using the Date modified, and click Open.
This opens a read-only view of the files and directories as they appeared at that time. You cannot create or delete files or folders in this view. Some file types cannot be directly opened in the checkpoint, because temporary files cannot be created in this read-only view.
5. Copy the files to be recovered to a new location.
The checkpoint window provides a read-only copy of files that cannot be modified. You also cannot save files to these folders. If you wish to recover files from the checkpoint, you must copy (or drag and drop) them to another location.
6. Close the checkpoint window.
How to Recover Files in Linux
Follow these steps to recover a file in your CAEN online file storage from a Linux computer:
- Connect to smb://engin-storage.m.storage.umich.edu/engin-storage/uniqname.
- Select the desired checkpoint.
- Select the file to be recovered.
- Copy the file to new location.
- Close the checkpoint window.
Detailed Instructions
1. Connect to smb://engin-storage.m.storage.umich.edu/engin-storage/uniqname.
For assistance with mounting a network share in Linux, refer to the instructions for How to Access Your Files.
To access the backup copy of any folder in CAEN online file storage, add ~snapshot to the server path:
A list of folders will appear in your browser.
2. Select the desired checkpoint.
The checkpoint folders are named according to retention (i.e. hourly, nightly, or weekly) followed by the date and time of creation. Double-click the desired checkpoint folder:
3. Select the file to be recovered.
This will open a read-only view of the files and folders as they appeared at that date and time.
4. Copy the file to a new location.
You cannot create or delete files or folders in this read-only view, and some file types cannot be directly opened in the checkpoint since temporary files cannot be created. If you wish to recover files from the checkpoint, you must copy (i.e. drag and drop) them to another location.
5. Close the checkpoint window.
How to Recover Files in macOS
Follow these steps to recover a file in online file storage from a macOS computer:
- Connect to smb://engin-storage.m.storage.umich.edu/engin-storage/uniqname.
- Select the desired checkpoint.
- Select the file to be recovered.
- Copy the file to new location.
- Close the checkpoint window.
Detailed Instructions
1. Connect to smb://engin-storage.m.storage.umich.edu/engin-storage/uniqname.
To access the backup copy of any folder in online file storage, add ~snapshot to the server path:
A list of folders will appear in your browser.
2. Select the desired checkpoint.
The checkpoint folders are named according to retention (i.e. hourly, nightly, or weekly) followed by the date and time of creation. Double-click the desired checkpoint folder:
3. Select the file to be recovered.
This will open a read-only view of the files and folders as they appeared at that date and time.
4. Copy the file to a new location.
You cannot create or delete files or folders in this read-only view, and some file types cannot be directly opened in the checkpoint since temporary files cannot be created. If you wish to recover files from the checkpoint, you must copy (or drag and drop) them to another location.
5. Close the checkpoint window.