Restoring Files to a Smaller Drive

Problem

I try to perform a Bare-Metal Restore to a new drive and I receive an error message similar to:

How do I restore my files?

Solution

Before restoring files to a new drive, you need to make sure it has equal or greater amount of free space than the original drive.

If your disk was divided into several partitions, then you can restore some of them to a smaller disk. For example, if your old disk contained C:, D: and E: partitions, then only C: and D: can be restored to the new smaller disk.

To restore to a smaller disk, follow the instructions below.

1. Using a partition manager software, create necessary partitions (for example, C: and D: ) on your new disk. The new partitions must be of the same or greater size as the device with backup.

2. Then go back to R1Soft CDP and restore C: and D: to these newly and externally created partitions. Make sure you select the target device of equal or greater size then the replicated device on your Recovery Point from which you restore.

Notice You cannot restore files to an empty disk - it needs to have a partition table. Partition table can be restored using the Bare-Metal Restore (See Restoring Partition Tables) or created manually with a partition manager software.

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