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How to Restore from an S3-Compatible Storage Device (Wasabi, AWS, etc.) on a New or Different Machine

How to Restore from an S3-Compatible Storage Device (Wasabi, AWS, etc.) on a New or Different Machine

This article explains how to successfully add an existing S3-compatible backup device — such as Wasabi or Amazon S3 — on a new computer and import existing backups from it for restore. The most common cause of import failure in this scenario is a mismatch in the Computer Name and/or Domain/Workgroup values between the original and new machine.

Note: This article applies to NovaBACKUP PC Agent and NovaBACKUP Server Agent, version 21 or newer.

Why Imports Fail on a New Machine

When NovaBACKUP writes backups to an S3-compatible device, it stores the backup catalog (restore index) in a folder path on the cloud storage that includes the Domain or Workgroup name and the Computer Name of the machine that produced the backup. These values are read directly from Windows at the time of backup.

The folder structure on the storage device looks like this:

...\control\Appl <account>\backup\<DOMAIN>\Node <MACHINENAME>\

When you add that same device on a new machine and run an Import, NovaBACKUP looks for catalog data under the new machine's current Domain and Computer Name. If those values differ from the original machine, the import finds nothing and fails — or returns an error.

This is the most common reason imports return no backup records or fail with an error after adding a device on a new machine.

Before You Begin

Gather the following information before starting on the new machine:

  • The exact Computer Name of the original machine (not the full FQDN — just the short name, e.g., DESKTOP-ABC123)
  • The exact Domain or Workgroup name of the original machine (e.g., WORKGROUP or SV — all uppercase, case-sensitive)
  • Your NovaBACKUP license key
  • Your S3 device credentials: Bucket name, Access Key, Secret Key, and endpoint URL (e.g., s3.wasabisys.com)

Important: Both the Computer Name and Domain/Workgroup values are case-sensitive. The value workgroup will not work if the original machine used WORKGROUP.

How to Find the Original Machine's Computer Name and Domain/Workgroup

Option A: The original machine is still available

On the original machine, open an Administrator Command Prompt and run:

systeminfo | findstr /B /C:"Domain" /C:"Host Name"

Record both values exactly as they appear. The Domain field is what NovaBACKUP uses for the Domain/Workgroup entry. Note that this value may be in all uppercase even if Windows Control Panel shows it in mixed case. Use the systeminfo output, not Control Panel, as the authoritative source.

Option B: Check the folder structure on the storage device

If you have access to browse your Wasabi bucket (via the Wasabi console or an S3 browser tool), navigate to the backup storage path and look for the folder structure under control\Appl ...\backup\. The next folder name is your Domain/Workgroup value, and the folder starting with Node contains your Computer Name.

For example:

control\Appl nbk-myaccount\backup\WORKGROUP\Node DESKTOP-ABC123\

In this example: Domain = WORKGROUP, Computer Name = DESKTOP-ABC123.

Steps to Add the Device and Import Backups on the New Machine

Step 1: Install NovaBACKUP on the new machine

Perform a clean install of NovaBACKUP on the new machine. If you have a previous installation, follow the clean uninstall and reinstall guide first.

Step 2: Activate with the original license key

Activate NovaBACKUP using the same license key that was used on the original machine. Go to Help > Registration and enter your license key. The device add and import will not work correctly if the license key does not match the original.

Step 3: Add the S3 device with the original machine's values

  1. Open NovaBACKUP and navigate to the Device tab.
  2. Click Add Device and select Amazon S3 Compatible Storage.
  3. Enter your S3 credentials: endpoint, bucket name, access key, and secret key.
  4. In the Computer Name field, enter the original machine's Computer Name exactly as it appeared in systeminfo (case-sensitive).
  5. In the Domain field, enter the original machine's Domain or Workgroup name exactly (case-sensitive, typically all uppercase).
  6. Complete the device setup and save.

Important: If you leave the Computer Name and Domain fields blank or enter the new machine's values, the import will find no matching backup records from the original machine.

Step 4: Clear any existing catalog data for this device

Before importing, confirm that NovaBACKUP does not have stale catalog data for this device:

  1. Open Windows Explorer and navigate to: 
    C:\ProgramData\NovaStor\NovaStor NovaBACKUP\FPI\
  2. Check whether a folder exists with the same name as your newly added device.
  3. If a folder exists and contains files, rename it by appending _old to the folder name (e.g., NovaBACKUP Cloud Storage_old). If Windows reports the folder is in use, stop the NovaBACKUP Backup/Copy Engine service in services.msc and close the NovaBACKUP client, then rename the folder.
  4. Restart the NovaBACKUP client.

Step 5: Import backup records from the device

  1. Click the Restore tab in NovaBACKUP.
  2. Click the Import button at the bottom of the screen.
  3. Select the S3 device you just added.
  4. Allow the import to complete. A successful import will show a success status in the import log.

Step 6: Verify the imported records

  1. In the Restore tab, expand the S3 device in the device list.
  2. Confirm that the backup sessions from the original machine are listed.
  3. Optionally, test a restore of one backup session to confirm files can be retrieved.

Common Errors

Error Likely Cause
Error e00100008: An invalid device was specified Computer Name or Domain/Workgroup value does not match the original machine
Import completes but no backup records appear Same as above — the catalog path on storage does not match
Error e00100009: Unable to encrypt/decrypt The backup was encrypted and the encryption key needs to be entered manually during import

Important Notes

  • After a successful import, future backups from the new machine will write to a new catalog path based on the new machine's current Computer Name and Domain. This is expected. You may want to re-add the device without the original Computer Name and Domain values once the import and any needed restores are complete.
  • The device cannot be edited after it is created. If the values need to be changed, delete the device and add it again with the corrected values.
  • Encryption key prompt: If the original backups were encrypted, the import may pause and prompt for the encryption key. Enter the key to allow the import to continue. Canceling this prompt will result in only a partial import.