How to Move Veeam Backup & Replication Backup Files

Limitations and Considerations

Customers are strongly encouraged to use the built-in Move Backup function. The legacy method documented in this KB article has the following limitations, which are not present with the built-in Move Backup function (explained in italics for each entry below).

• Backup files manually moved to a Fast Clone capable repository (ReFS or XFS) will not be able to utilize Fast Clone until a new Active Full is created.
  
  The built-in Backup Move function, on the other hand, has technology that is able to migrate backup files allowing Fast Clone to function with migrated backup files.
• If synthetic fulls that were created using Fast Clone are moved using the method documented in this article, they will be inflated to their full size on the destination storage when they are manually moved.
  
  Conversely, the integrated Backup Move function is able to preserve the space savings of fast clone created synthetic fulls when used to move backup files between Fast Clone compatible repositories.
• The manual method documented in this article should not be used to move backup files to or from an Immutable Hardened Linux Repository.
  
  Whereas, the built-in Backup Move function is capable of handling the intricacies of managing the immutable state of the files on the source or destination Immutable Linux Repository, allow it to be used to migrate to or from an Immutable Hardened Linux Repository.

There are two primary situations and respective methods that this KB article documents. Below is a summary of each.

Method A: Same Job, New Backup location
The backup files are being moved to a new repository, but the existing Backup Job will continue to be used. This method will use the automapping function built-in to the software.

Method B: New Job, New Backup location
You are seeding a job or mapping a job to a backup chain in a new location. This method does not require that the job doing the mapping be the same as the job that initially created the restore points, as it requires that you manually use the map backup function.

10. Enable the job that was disabled in Step 1.

To map the existing backup files to a new or different job, follow these steps:

1. Under Backups > Disk, hold Ctrl and right-click the job you are changing the repository for, and select Remove from Configuration.

   
    

2. If you are mapping the backup set from one job to another, but the backup location will stay the same, skip this step.
   If you are moving the backup files to a new location create a new repository for the new location where backup files are located.
   
   
3. Rescan the repository where the backup files are located.

   
    

4. If the backup files are not encrypted, skip this step.
   If the backup files are encrypted, the encrypted backup will appear under the Backups > Disk (encrypted) node in the inventory pane. In the working area, select the imported backup and click Specify Password on the ribbon or right-click the backup and select Specify password. More Information This is also relevant for encrypted Veeam Agent backups.
   
   
5. Edit the Backup\Backup Copy Job. Go to the Storage\Target tab, and from the drop-down menu, select the repository where the backup files you wish to map are located.

   
    

6. Click Map Backup and select the existing backup chain

   
   
   

If you are attempting to seed failover cluster Veeam Agent for Microsoft Windows job’s restore points, please follow the actions below (it has a bit different workflow due to the product design):

1. Clone the source cluster job
2. Remove the source job (it will also remove from configuration its points, not from the disk but from the Veeam config only)
3. Move the source backup folder to a new backup folder;
4. Rescan the new repository to import the moved files
5. Change the cloned backup job to the new repository and map the imported points there

If you have attempted to manually import the backup, before performing the steps outlined in this article, you must first "Remove from configuration" any backups that were manually imported. These will be identifiable in the Backups > Disk (Imported) section. They will be listed with the suffix _imported and will have no repository listed in the Repository column.