Volume Shadow Copies 2008

Volume Shadow Copies is a new feature of Windows Server that allows previous versions of files and folders on a share to be restored in the event of the current version becoming corrupt or deleted.

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Shadow copies are only available on shared folders and are managed by the Volume Shadow Copy service (VSC). Shadow copies are a fast way to recover missing data e.g. A user might accidentally delete important information from a Word document but he/she would be able to restore it to the previous days version. This puts a lot less burden on an Administrator because a backup doesn’t need to restored. It is also a lot quicker.

Right click the volume to be configured. Select Configure Shadow Copies. Select the Volume and click Enable. Click Yes to enable volume shadow copies. The volume has been enabled on the default schedule, select Settings to alter the schedule. The Use limit is 10% of the total volume size by default, this can be adjusted. Select Schedule. The default is set for a daily copy at 7am. And daily at 12.00. Click OK. Click Create Now To create a first copy, then click OK to complete.

Managing Shadow Copies from a Command Prompt

You can manage shadow copies from the command prompt using the VSSAdmin tool. For example, to create a shadow copy of the C:\ volume, run the following command with administrative privileges:
vssadmin create shadow /For=C:

To view the storage currently allocated to shadow copies, run the following command:
vssadmin list shadowstorage
To view available shadow copies and the time they were created, run the following command:
vssadmin list shadows

That command lists shadow copy IDs, which you need to specify when reverting to a shadow copy. For example, if a shadow copy ID is {56036723-cdcc-49ef-98a4-445b1645770e}, you could revert to the shadow copy using the following command:
vssadmin revert shadow /Shadow={56036723-cdcc-49ef-98a4-445b1645770e}
For complete usage information, type VSSAdmin /? at a command prompt.