Restoring backups made on another PC
Open a folder of GBM AI backups this PC has never seen, from an old PC or another user, and restore from them in any edition.
GBM AI reads any folder of its own backups, wherever they were made, in any edition. A backup made by Pro on a PC that no longer exists restores on a Free install here.
Steps#
- Connect the backup drive, or make sure the share is reachable.
- Open Restore and click Open a backup folder… at the top.
- Pick the job's own folder, the one that holds folders named like
Documents & Desktop_20260918-020000(for exampleH:\Backups\Documents & Desktop), or the folder above it (H:\Backups) to list every job folder inside it at once, up to 64 of them. - The app says, for example, Found 14 sets in that folder. They appear under Backups by job with the name the job had on the other PC, and their files join Find.
- Restore as usual. An encrypted backup asks for the password it was made with.
No GBM AI backup sets in that folder. means neither that folder nor the folders directly inside it hold a backup. Pick the job's folder, or the folder that holds the jobs' folders; not a folder with a date in its name.
These backups show Not verified in Status: this PC has no record of the check the other PC ran.
What comes across#
| What | On this PC |
|---|---|
| The backups: every file, every version | yes: browse, search, preview and restore |
| The job that made them | no. Import the job file if you exported it, or make the job again |
| Passwords and share credentials | no. Type the password when you restore; add credentials here if a job will use the share |
| Retention | not applied to backups you opened this way, unless a job on this PC with the same name backs up into that same folder: its retention then counts them as its own |
Backups in an S3 bucket#
Important
Backups in an S3 bucket are listed from an index kept on the PC that made them. This version cannot open a bucket's backups on a different PC.
If the PC itself might be lost, keep a local, USB or NAS copy of what matters as well.
Two PCs, one destination#
Two PCs backing up different jobs into the same destination is fine: each job has its own folder. Two PCs running jobs with the same name into the same folder is not, because each job treats the other's backups as its own. Give the jobs different names.