Research Computing

Information Technology Services at Dartmouth College

DartFS data safety: Snapshots

In DartFS, your data is safe from hardware failure thanks to the redundant nature of the hardware (Isilon) that DartFS relies upon. Multiple disks/nodes may fail simultaneously without any data loss.

SNAPSHOTS: Protecting your data from accidental deletion and human error

Snapshots are automated nightly backups of your data. They allow you to revert to a previous version of a file or recover a deleted file/folder. Snapshots are immediately accessible (self-service) from a MS Windows environment only, for all other platform, please contact research.computing@dartmouth.edu directly.

Snapshots are kept:

  • nightly for a week (8 days)
  • weekly for a month (5 weeks)
  • monthly for 3 months

How do I restore previous versions of a file or folder?

  1. Right-click the file or folder, and then click Restore previous versions.
    You’ll see a list of available previous versions of the file or folder. The list will include files saved on a backup (if you’re using Windows Backup to back up your files) as well as restore points.

    NOTE: To restore a previous version of a file or folder that’s included in a library, right-click the file or folder in the location where it’s saved, rather than in the library. For example, to restore a previous version of a picture that’s included in the Pictures library but is stored in the My Pictures folder, right-click the My Pictures folder, and then click Restore previous versions.

  2. Before restoring a previous version of a file or folder, select the previous version, and then click Open to view it to make sure it’s the version you want.

    NOTE: You can’t open or copy previous versions of files that were created by Windows Backup, but you can restore them.

  3. To restore a previous version, select the previous version, and then click Restore.

    WARNING: The file or folder will replace the current version on your computer, and the replacement cannot be undone.

    NOTE If the Restore button isn’t available, you can’t restore a previous version of the file or folder to its original location. However, you might be able to open it or save it to a different location.

Can I restore a file or folder that was deleted or renamed?

If you accidentally delete or rename a file or folder, you can restore a previous version of that file or folder, but you need to know the location where the file or folder was saved. To restore a file or folder that was deleted or renamed, follow these steps:

  1. Click the Computer icon on your desktop to open it up.
  2. Navigate to the folder that used to contain the file or folder, right-click it, and then click Restore previous versions.

  3. If the folder was at the top level of a drive, for example R:\, right-click the drive and then click Restore previous versions.

  4. Double-click a previous version of the folder that contains the file or folder you want to restore. (For example, if a file was deleted today, choose a version of the folder from yesterday that contains the file.)

  5. Drag the file or folder that you want to restore to another location, such as your desktop or another folder.

    The version of the file or folder is saved to the location that you selected.

    TIP: If you don’t remember the exact file or folder name or its location, you can search for it by typing part of the name in the search box in the Computer folder.