Versioning and Retention
A snapshot of everything on the NAS servers is taken multiple times a day. These snapshots are then retained for 28 days before the media used for the snapshots is wiped and reused. A file must have been existed on the NAS across at least one full snapshot for it to be restorable. Therefore, any file or folder that is created and then deleted between snapshots cannot be restored.
Snapshots are taken daily every other hour between 7:00am and 9:00pm, for a total of eight snapshots at 7:00am, 9:00am, 11:00am, 1:00pm, 3:00pm, 5:00pm, 7:00pm, 9:00pm each day. After two weeks, six of the eight retained snapshots are automatically eliminated to free up space. After 28 days, snapshots are eliminated and data cannot be restored past that point.
How to Restore a File or Folder (Windows)
If you need a file or folder restored on your NAS share, and the item meets the criteria for versioning and retention as described above, use the following steps to restore the data in Windows:
- Open File Explorer and navigate to the NAS-shared folder that contains the file or folder you want to restore.
- Right-click the file or folder you want to restore, and then select Restore previous versions.
- Click on a previous version you'd like to view or restore.
- Select one of the following two options:
- Open: This will open the file or folder, allowing you to make your preferred changes. For example, after opening the previous version of a file, you can save the version in a location of your choosing. Likewise, after opening the previous version of a folder, you can open documents within that folder version and save where needed, such as in the folder's current version.
- Restore: This will overwrite the current version with the previous version of the file or folder
If you are unable to restore your data, or have any questions about snapshots or restoration procedures for the University Network Storage system, please submit a
NAS Restore Assistance request.