This article is a complete guide to restoring a customer’s data from a backup.

Procedure

If the original drive has been replaced or if data is being transferred between two computers and the data is present on the original disk drive, the easiest solution is to use the old disk drive to transfer data to the new computer. If this is not an option, the restore should be handled as detailed below in “Image Restore” or “File Restore”.

Regardless of how data is eventually transferred to the new drive, the original drive must be backed up to the server to prevent data loss.

To ease in the time and bandwidth requirements of restoring backups from the server, it is desirable to first restore the backup to an external drive designated for data restore operations, then use the external drive to restore directly to the computer after a reload is performed. If the restore to the external drive is started as soon as the backup to the server is completed, it is possible to have the data ready before or shortly after the reload is completed on the computer- thus reducing repair turnaround time.

Data transfer to external storage device

It is possible to restore selected files from an Acronis image to external USB drives, or to CD/DVD. To do so, restore the backup to an external drive as detailed below, then connect the newly imaged drive to a shop computer along with the customer’s device to which the data will be restored. Simply drag and drop selected files from the imaged external drive to the customer’s drive or use any CD/DVD burning tool to copy files to disc.

Image Restore

Confirm that the destination drive is empty and formatted.
Insert the destination disk drive into a drive bay connected to a designated backup/recovery shop computer.
Boot into Acronis on the connected shop computer.
Under the “Recover” option, click “My disks”.
Click “Browse”.
Type in the IP address and path for the PC Backup server. (e.g. \192.168.0.234\PC-Backups).
You will be prompted for a username and password. The default username is upcc and the default password is ccpu.
Enter the username and password and hit Enter. A directory listing of the PC-Backups folder will be displayed.
Find the correct backup. Click on it and click “Ok”.
On the “Choose recovery method” screen, choose “Recover whole disks and partitions”. Click “Next”.
Ensure all partitions are marked for recovery.
Select the destination hard drive. This will either be the customer’s hard drive if restoring the original image directly or a designated external drive to aid in a reload+backup.
Restore image.

File Restore

Insert the destination disk drive into a drive bay connected to a designated backup/recovery shop computer.
Follow steps 3-9 of “Image Restore”.
On the “Choose recovery method” screen, choose “Recover chosen files and folders”. Click “Next”.
Choose “New location”. Click “Next”.
Browse to the destination disk and choose the folder you would like to restore to. If necessary, you can create a new folder on a disk from this screen. Click “Next”.
Choose which files/folders you would like to recover. Click “Next”.
Click “Proceed” to start the recovery.

Restore data to computer after reload, or to new computer

Windows Update

Throughout the remaining steps, keep Windows Updates going

When no more Windows updates are available, mark action "Windows Updates" in PCRT

Setup

Transfer the Cleanup folder from \192.168.0.100\data\Cleanup

From the Cleanup folder, run UPCCPowerMenu.exe
Once it opens, press WIN+Z => Run Setup
- This will keep the computer awake until you run Final Cleanup at the end of the repair
- A progress bar will appear to indicate the status of the Setup. It will disappear automatically when setup is complete.
  - If you receive a UAC prompt from the Power Menu during this time, confirm it
Press WIN+C ⇒ Set Credentials and use the work order ID, your integrator ID as set in PCRT settings, and the work order integrator ID (found at the top of the WO in PCRT).
Press WIN+Z ⇒ Hardware Information, then “Update PCRT” to have the hardware information imported directly into PCRT.

Device Drivers

Ensure that all the hardware drivers are installed

Open Device Manager
- Right click Start Menu => Device Manager or
- In UPCCPowerMenu, press WIN+X => Device Manager or
- Open Control Panel => Show All Icons => Device Manager
If device drivers are missing, get drivers from sources in the following order:
- Windows Update
- Device manufacturer
- Snappy Driver Installer (SDI, \192.168.0.100\data\SDI)
  - In the Advanced Options, make sure the only option ticked for getting drivers is "Not Installed".
Mark action "Drivers installed and verified"

Windows Activation

Ensure Windows is activated:

Open System Control Panel item
- Right click Start Menu => System or
- In UPCCPowerMenu, press WIN+X => System or
- Open Control Panel => Show All Icons => System
If not, activate Windows.
- Windows 7 and earlier: Key is on a sticker on the machine. For laptops, this may be located in the battery compartment
  - If it is a retail copy of Windows, key can be retrieved from the Windows directory of the original drive (or from the backup) in ProduKey
- Windows 8 and above: Key is built into BIOS or can be retrieved from previous Windows directory in ProduKey
- If retrieving the key with ProduKey, make sure you don't get the generic activation key. If you're not sure, type the first few characters of the product key into Google. If it autocompletes, it's a generic key and won't work. Otherwise, it's the customer's unique key.
Mark action "Windows activated"

Install basic applications

Run Chocolatey to install basic applications

From the Cleanup folder, with elevated permissions, run "chreloadfull - residential.bat" for residential customers or "chreloadfull - basic.bat" for business customers.
- These are in the Ninite-chocolatey folder or Chocolatey folder
- They install the basic programs onto the computer- the residential installer comes with LibreOffice.
Follow standard instructions for setting up Malwarebytes, SUPERAntiSpyware, and CCleaner. Detailed instructions can be found in Procedure - Software Diagnostics in the “Software Diagnostics → Windows → Malware section
- Move those three icons from the desktop into the Security Software folder on the desktop, which can be retrieved from the Cleanup folder
- Mark install "Security software installed"
Install PC Care Kabuto app
- This can be found in the Cleanup folder in the "PC Care App (Kabuto)" folder or in the Remote toolbox in the "d7-Kabuto" folder
- If the customer is getting PC Care 365, run the appropriate PC Care 365 installer
- Fill in as much of the customer's contact information as you have access to
- After installing, put a copy of the PC Care shortcut from the desktop to the Security Software folder
  - The intent is to give the customer as many different contact methods for us as possible
- Mark install "PC Care app" or "PC Care 365 app" as appropriate

Transfer customer data

Ensure that you have access to the customer's data from their previous installation or computer
- Most typically, an external drive will be hooked up to the computer that has their old information on it
Begin by opening two File Explorer windows
- Use the snapping feature to snap one to the right half of the screen and the other to the left half of the screen
- Use the left window for the customer's old data, and the right window for the computer that is receiving the data
- On the left window, open the customer's old data. On the right, open the C drive.
  - Scan the folders from the old data to look for any folders that stick out.
  - You should expect to see folders like PerfLogs, Program Files, Users, and Windows. If there are any nonstandard folders that contain customer data or program data, transfer those to the C drive
- Left: Users folder. Right: Users folder.
  - Start with the Public folder- look for any personal data or program data (specifically, Intuit/Quickbooks) and transfer those to the matching folder on the right
  - Then, look for all users that were previously configured on the old data. Things like Default and QbServices are not actual users and can be ignored.
    - If multiple users exist, contact the customer to ask them a) if they need all the users setup and transferred and b) which wasm the primary user.
  - For each user that will be transferred, create a new user account and do the following (for the primary account, you can transfer to the Owner or User account):
    - Copy all of the folders in the user's directory. If any files exist, copy those but leave things like NTUSER.dat or remote connection files like Citrix or GoTo installers
      - You may receive errors when copying things like OneDrive or Google Drive- you can safely skip those folders as the content is stored online anyways
    - Navigate to the appdata folder in the left and right window. It is hidden so you will have to append \appdata to the end of the current path in the address bars for each window
    - Open the appdata folder. For data that came from a Windows Vista or newer OS, this will be in the Users\appdata\ folder. For XP computers, it’s Users\Local Settings\Application Data for the appdata\local equivalent and Users\Application Data for the appdata\roaming equivalent.
    - In appdata\local:
      - Copy the Apple Computer, Google, and Mozilla folders if they exist
      - Look for any other folders that may contain customer data
      - (like Garmin, or games folders) and transfer those
      - Open the Microsoft folder and look for Office, Outlook, and anything that starts with Windows
        
        Office: Use this for reference to know if they previously had Office installed. 12.0 is Office 2007, 14.0 is 2010, 15 is 2013, and 16 is 2016. Do not transfer this folder otherwise, it's just for reference
        
        Outlook: Look for PST or OST files. If none exist, move on. Otherwise, copy the entire Outlook directory to the matching location in the window on the right.
        
        You can SHIFT+Right Click an empty space in the Outlook folder and open a Command Prompt window from the context menu, run the dir command, then copy/paste the output into a private note in order to have an easy reference to what files were in this folder. It may help to have this while you are setting up the customer's email in Outlook later.
        
        Windows folders: Look for things pertaining to Windows Contacts or Windows Mail/Live Mail. If found, transfer to the window on the right.
    - In the appdata\roaming folder:
      - Copy the Apple Computer, Google, Mozilla, and Thunderbird folder if it exist.
      - Look for any other folders that may contain customer data and transfer those
If any Office installations were found in the previous step, install Office.
- Office 2010 and older: Retrieve the product key using ProduKey. In the Advanced options, choose "from an external Windows installation" and select the external Windows folder from the dropdown. Copy and paste the product information into PCRT.
  - Find the Office 2010 and older installation files in "\192.168.0.100\Data\SOFTWARE\Microsoft - Office" folder.
  - Copy the appropriate installer to the desktop.
  - Run the installer from the desktop and activate with the retrieved product key.
- Office 2013 and newer: Get customer account information for Office or ask the customer to do it on their own, whichever they prefer.
  - Login to the customer's account at https://office.com/myaccount.
  - Download the Office installer and run it. Activation is handled automatically.
- After installing, launch Office at least once to run the initial setup (confirm default settings) and to ensure it is appropriately activated.
- If Outlook was configured previously as determined by the steps during data migration, proceed to configure Outlook. Outlook setup is outside the scope of this documentation.
At this time, install any other programs the customer has requested or provided information for.
Open each internet browser that's installed and verify that no malicious or unwanted settings transferred over from the previous installation of Windows.
- Chrome and Firefox may ask to be reset- do this.
- Check for and remove hijacked homepage and search engine, and installed extensions or add-ons.
On the desktop, delete any invalid shortcuts to programs that are no longer installed.
Make sure file associations for Word/Excel documents are set to Office (if installed) or LibreOffice.
After files are transferred, mark “Personal Files RESTORED” action.

Wrap it up

Make sure all Windows updates are installed
- Mark “Windows Updates” action
Double check Windows activation, device driver installation
- If this is a new computer and you didn’t have to activate Windows or install drivers, don’t mark either relevant action (“Windows activated” and “Drivers installed”)
Make sure no security programs are running in system tray (MBAM, SAS, CCleaner)
Run Final Cleanup
- Win+Z ⇒ Final Cleanup
  - Confirm any UAC security prompts that may appear
- Delete Cleanup folder from desktop
- Look for any straggler files like sfcverifyonly.txt or rkill.txt (log files that may have ended up on the desktop during the repair). Delete them.
- Empty Recycle Bin
- Restart computer until it no longer prompts to install Windows update during restart
Make sure all your actions are marked appropriately
Mark “Ready for final inspection”
If no more hardware procedures need to be performed (like reassembling the computer), call the customer.
- Briefly explain the repair process to the customer and let them know we are finished with the computer.
- Ask if they have any additional questions.
- Inform them the computer will be ready for pickup after a specific time. Usually, allowing 20-30 minutes to wrap up the computer and physically move it to the Completed shelf in the shop is sufficient. Adjust this time accordingly if necessary.
- If it’s close to closing time for the day, tell them it will be ready in the morning.
Set the call status appropriately.
- If the customer answered the phone, set the status as “Called”.
- If the customer did not answer the phone but you were able to leave a voicemail, set the status to “Called” and add a call note “Left VM”.
- If the customer did not answer and you are unable to leave a VM, set the status to “Called - No Answer”.
- If instead you texted or emailed the customer, set the call status appropriately.
Assign the work order to a technician that is currently clocked in at the store where the device is located.
Done.

Additional Information

It is also possible to clone disk drives using Acronis. The option to do so is in the “Tools and Utilities” tab. Doing this may allow you to then backup or access a failing drive.

If an external drive was used in the restoration process, it should be wiped after the restore is completed.

References

Procedure - New Computer Setup

PC Restore from Backup