1553 - How to do incremental recovery using InstantData Temporary

It is possible to use InstantData Temporary together with Microsoft's robocopy command to perform incremental restores based on file change dates. Note that this technique will require familiarity with the Windows Command Prompt.

To do this:

1. Mount a backup using InstantData Temporary.

2. Run robocopy from an elevated command prompt, with the InstantData Temporary drive as the data source and a local disk as the target. Add either the /maxlad or /minlad flag (LAD = last access date).

Example:

robocopy "Z:\2024-08-23 @ 00-24-12" "D:\Temp" . /s /maxlad:1

This will copy all files from the backup on 23 August at 00:24 that were accessed or modified within the last day (system time), as indicated by /maxlad:1.

The command can be adjusted as needed. As another example, if you are restoring from a backup that is 21 days old and you only need the files that have changed since the last backup, you can set /maxlad:22.

Microsoft's documentation on robocopy is available here.