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JSI Tip 6746. Description of the Shadow Copies Feature in Windows Server 2003.
Jerold Schulman
May 22, 2003
2 Min Read
NOTE: The text in the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article is provided so that the site search can find this page. Please click the Knowledge Base link to insure that you are reading the most current information.
Microsoft Knowledge Base article Q304606 contains:
The information in this article applies to:
Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Standard Edition
Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition
This article was previously published under Q304606
SUMMARY
This article provides a description of the Shadow Copiesfeature in Windows Server 2003.
MORE INFORMATION
The Shadow Copies feature provides point-in-time copies offiles on network shares. With shadow copies of shared folders, you can view thecontents of network folders as they existed at points of time in the past. Thisfeature may be very beneficial in the following three scenarios:
You want to recover files that were accidentally deleted.This is the network equivalent of the Recycle Bin functionality. If youaccidentally delete a file, you can open an old version of the file, and thencopy it to a safe location. Shadow copies of shared folders can recover filesthat are deleted by any mechanism, as long as the required history folderexists.
You want to recover a file after you accidentally overwriteit. Shadow copies of shared folders can be very useful in environments whereyou commonly create new files by opening an existing file, makingmodifications, and then saving the file with a new name. For example, you mightopen a financial-modeling spreadsheet, make modifications based upon newscenario assumptions, and then save the spreadsheet with a new name to create anew spreadsheet. The problem arises when you forget to save the file by using anew file name, so that the original work is erased. You can use a shadow copyof the shared folder to recover the previous version of the file.
You want to check different versions of the same file whileyou are working on the file. You could use shadow copies of shared foldersduring the normal work cycle when you want to determine what has changedbetween two versions of the same file. For example, you might want to see whatyour original text looked like before you spent time editing thefile.
Notes
You can access shadow copies of shared folders on the Shadow Copies tab of the Local Disk Properties dialog box. You can also view the same dialog box in the ComputerManagement snap-in. To do so, right-click Shares, point to All Tasks, and then click Configure Shadow Copies.
The Vssadmin.exe tool is the command-line equivalenttool for the Volume Shadow Copy service.
For more information aboutshadow copies, search for "Shadow Copies" in Online Help.
Access Shadow Copies on Windows Server 2003 from Another Operating System
You can use the Shadow Copy Client to access shadow copies on Windows Server 2003 from client computers that are running other operating systems.
NOTE: See Shadow Copy Client: Accessing Shadow Copies on Windows Server 2003.
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