Restoring backups made on another PC
Open GBM AI backups this PC has never seen, in a folder or an S3 bucket, from an old PC or another user, and restore from them in any edition.
On this page
GBM AI reads its own backups wherever they were made, on a drive, a share or in an S3 bucket, in any edition. A backup made by Pro on a PC that no longer exists restores on a Free install here.
From a folder or a drive#
- Connect the backup drive, or make sure the share is reachable.
- Open Restore, click Open backups… at the top and choose A folder or drive…. On a PC with no backups yet, the button is on the page itself.
- 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 |
From an S3 bucket#
When the PC that backed up to a bucket is gone, a new install opens the bucket, in any edition.
- Open Restore, click Open backups… and choose An S3 bucket….
- Choose the Account with the bucket's keys, or click New keys… to add them. On Free and Home, an account added here is listed under Settings ▸ Network & credentials as For restore only: backing up to S3 is part of Pro, restoring from it is not.
- Type the Bucket, and the Folder in the bucket if the jobs are not at its top. Leave the folder empty to look through the whole bucket.
- Click Look for backups. Each job found is listed with the PC that made it, its last backup and how many backup points it has.
- Untick any you do not need and click Open. Reading backup lists: 12 of 31 counts up while the list of what each backup holds comes down; your files do not. A large backup takes a few minutes, and if the connection drops, Open again carries on where it stopped.
- The jobs appear under Backups by job with the bucket as their place, and their files join Find. Restore as usual: files come down from the bucket as they are restored.
An encrypted backup made by GBM AI 10.1 or later checks its password before anything is downloaded. One made by an earlier version is checked by restoring its two smallest files.
No GBM AI backups here means the bucket, or the folder you typed, holds no job folder. Each job keeps its backups in a folder of its own, named after the job unless it was changed when the job was made. If the bucket has more than 64 folders at the level you typed, type the job's folder to go straight to it.
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.