Importing archives

Archives created with archive jobs in CodeTwo Backup can be imported back to the program. A short, four-step wizard will guide you through the import archive job configuration.

Warning

It is not possible to import data from PST archive files to CodeTwo Backup.

There are two ways to open the import wizard:

  • on the Jobs tab, click New > Import archived storage on the top menu (Fig. 1.); or

Backup create import archive job from Jobs tab
Fig. 1. Creating an import archive job wizard from the Jobs tab.

  • on the Storages tab, click the Import archive button or right-click on the storages list and select Import archive (Fig. 2.).

Backup create import archive job from Storages tab
Fig. 2. Creating an import archive job wizard from the Storages tab.

In either case, the New archive import job wizard will appear (Fig. 3.). It will guide you through the following steps of creating an import job:

  • Job name, where you define the name of your archive import job.
  • Archive, where you select the archive and data type (Exchange/SharePoint) you want to import. 
  • Target storage, where you create a new storage for the archived data.
  • Job summary, where you can review your archive import job settings.

Backup import archive job wizard
Fig. 3. The import archive job wizard.

Job name

Enter a unique name for the archive import job in the Job name field (see Fig. 3. above). By default, the program suggests the same job name every time you create a new archive import job. However, you will not be able to finish the wizard if the entered name has already been used.

Archive

Click Browse to open the Select archived storage window, and then click Select and navigate to the folder where the archived storage is kept. In the Archives in the selected folder box, select the exact version of the archive that you want to import (Fig. 4.). Here you can also check the number of mailboxes as well as SharePoint and OneDrive for Business sites stored in the selected archive.

Backup import archive job selecting archive
Fig. 4. Selecting archives to be imported back to the program.

Important

If the archive is password protected, you will now be asked to provide the password (Fig. 5.).

Backup import archive job providing password
Fig. 5. Providing a password in order to import the archive back to the program.

Next, mark the checkbox next to the data type you want to import: Exchange and/or SharePoint (Fig. 6.). You can only choose the data type that exists in the selected archive.

Selecting data type to be imported to CodeTwo Backup from an archive
Fig. 6. Selecting the type of data to be imported.

Target storage

Click New to open a storage creation wizard (Fig. 7.). Learn more about how to create a new storage in this article

Backup import archive job Target storage
Fig. 7. Creating a new storage location.

Important

For safety reasons and in order to keep your backed-up data intact, it is not possible to import the archived data to an existing storage. This will avoid potential problems with item versions that may result in overwriting or duplicating items. Archives are always imported to new storages and stamped with the current date and time.

Job summary

Here you can verify if you have configured the archive import job according to your requirements (Fig. 8.).

Backup import archive job summary
Fig. 8. The summary of the archive import job.

Since importing is a one-time operation, there is no scheduler available for it. That means as soon as you finish the wizard, a pop-up window will appear, allowing you to start the job immediately (Fig. 9.). Click Yes to do so.

Backup import archive job pop-up
Fig. 9. A pop-up asking to start the archive import job automatically.

Otherwise, use the Start button on the Jobs tab to start the selected job.

Once the archive is successfully imported, you can restore the items to the selected Exchange server by using an Exchange restore job.

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