Importing backup records (otherwise known as "restore index records") from an entire 'Local Backup' or 'Cloud Backup' device, which has to be a non-Legacy backup device in that case, may be necessary, if your machine crashes or you wish to restore a backup created on one computer to another computer (for instance if you want to clean install the backup client on a replacement computer but that replacement machine with the client that you installed on it has no index records in the "Restore" dialog, which will require an import to get those restore index records back. The process is simple. To get the backup restore index records contents into the current selected device in the Restore UI dialog, after clicking on the correct device type that already does exist in the "Media View" list, to select that device, which either can have no restore index records in it, under that device name, or it can have restore index records in it, but which may not be complete (or that could be corrupt due to a machine crash), back into the local NovaBACKUP client app database (and therefore be able to select files, folders and drives for restoration), follow these steps: From the Restore tab, first click on the "Import" button located near the bottom of the "Restore" dialog. Note: In order for a device import to work, you would have to first re-create the either 'Local Backup' device type, or the 'Cloud Backup' S3 device type first, and for a 'Cloud Backup' S3 device type you would have to be sure in the "Optional Settings" tab for that device that you will create, to specify the "Domain:" and "Computer:" name values correctly, otherwise the restore won't be able to associate from the correct original computer name in that case, for instance if this Import of Backup records by device is being done on a replacement computer, that does utilize a different computer name than the original computer name that had produced the backups in the first place, and note that this requirement to do that is not present for a 'Local Backup' device type at all (for the computer name/domain name values to be already specified at the device level in that case).
If you run the import from the Restore Tab, you will receive an Import Source selection screen, that asks you to select the correct "Device" (that would match the 'Local Backup' or 'Cloud Backup' device that already does exist in the "Device" tab list, which you would have to create in the Device tab if it does not already exist, but which may not have any restore index records in it in that case, in this example we do have 3 total restore index records in the device but that may not always be the case, and certainly if this were a clean install of the backup client you would have no restore index entries listed under the correct device that is already selected in the main Restore dialog, before you clicked on the "Import" button in that case, so be sure that you have clicked on the correct already existing device before you click the "Import" button to then select that same device in the list that will present to you):
Browse to the entire either 'Local Backup' (this replacement local drive or UNC network location device type was first added in NovaBACKUP 21.0) or 'Cloud Backup' (S3) device that you would like to import, and select it, as the entire device to import the backup (restore index) records from. Click OK to switch to the job status view and start the import process.
After importing the media, it may be necessary to press the "Refresh" button on the Restore tab. All imported backups will appear under an "Imported Backups" heading in the Media View.
For a good example of why you may need to perform an Import backup records by device, described here, see the Hybrid enabled Import example in the other "Restore of Hybrid enabled backups" topic, starting at the paragraph in that topic that begins with "On another subject,". That is a good use case example of why that may be needed in the future. You can also read the KB article that we have on the subject of Import backup records on a Cloud S3 device here.
Importing vs. Restoring
It is important to know the difference between importing and restoring. The import process does NOT restore your data to your hard drive. What it simply does is import a "listing" of available data on the imported media. This information is imported into the database and enables NovaBACKUP to create a tree listing of the data in the Restore view. From there, you will be able to select the data you would like to restore from the media and complete a restoration just like you would any other restoration.