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Recovery Methods

5 ways to recover. Pick the fastest.

Five paths from a lost file to a lost machine — ranked fastest-first by the Recovery Shield.

  • Browse Files — pull a single file instantly, no full restore
  • Always-Ready — a whole machine back in ~5 minutes, warm standby
  • Instant Recovery & Cloud Desktop — ~30–60 min cold (→ ~5 min with Always-Ready)
  • USB bare-metal — ~2–3 hours, even onto different hardware
  • Recovery Shield ranks all five fastest-first for your disaster
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The backup image history — every image is a recovery point for all five pathsClick to enlarge
0
Recovery paths
all available at once
instant
Browse a single file
no full restore
~0 min
Whole machine
with Always-Ready
~2–3 hrs
USB bare-metal
cross-hardware

The Five Paths

A file instantly. A whole machine in ~5 min with Always-Ready, or ~30–60 min cold.

Every path is available simultaneously — no method to choose up-front. Recovery Shield ranks them fastest-first for the machine you're recovering.

~5 min · warm standby

Always-Ready VM

A pre-launched AWS VM that mirrors your last backup. Click recover, RDP in. The fast full-machine path.

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~30–60 min cold (→ ~5 min with Always-Ready)

Instant Recovery

Cold-boot any image as a raw EBS volume in AWS. Add Always-Ready to turn the cold rebuild into ~5 minutes.

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~30–60 min cold · $0.20–$0.40/hr

Cloud Desktop

Boot any backup as a metered Windows VM — pay only while it runs. First 60 min free, daily cap. (→ ~5 min with Always-Ready.)

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~2–3 hours · bare-metal

USB / Full System Restore

Cross-hardware bare-metal restore from a USB. No cloud required, air-gap-compatible.

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instant · file-level

Browse Files

Drill into any image and pull a single file in seconds. No full restore needed.

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Speed at a glance

How long until you're back?

The honest spread across the four recovery shapes. Browse pulls a file instantly; Always-Ready brings a whole machine back warm; a cold rebuild takes ~30–60 min; USB bare-metal to different hardware is ~2–3 hours.

Browse Files (single file)instant
Always-Ready VM (warm standby)~0 min
Instant Recovery / Cloud Desktop (cold)~30–60 min
USB / Full System Restore (bare-metal)~2–3 hours

Time to a working machine — shorter is better. Always-Ready is the upgrade that turns a cold rebuild into ~5 minutes.

Which Path When?

The Recovery Shield picks for you. Here's the logic.

ScenarioUse thisWhy
Server crashed at 9amAlways-Ready VMAlready warm, RDP in ~5 min
Mission-critical machine, no Always-ReadyInstant RecoveryCold-boot, ~30–60 min (add Always-Ready for ~5 min)
Test recovery before disasterCloud DesktopPay-per-hour, no commitment
Replacement server, different hardwareUSB RecoveryCross-hardware, no cloud
One deleted fileBrowse FilesInstant, no restore needed

In Practice

How customers use them.

Ransomware Friday

Hospital admin, 6pm. Canary alert fires. Backup chain freezes. Pre-tamper image is the top item in Recovery Shield. He spins up Cloud Desktop with the pre-tamper image for forensics — confirms it's clean — then runs Instant Recovery to a fresh EC2. Cold-boot, so it lands in roughly 30–60 minutes; with Always-Ready already warm it would have been ~5 minutes. Production back up the same evening.

The dead motherboard

Marketing director's laptop won't power on. The replacement is shipping; in the meantime she needs the deck for tomorrow's all-hands. Browse Files: 30 seconds. Deck downloaded. Replacement laptop arrives Friday. USB Recovery, ~2–3 hours bare-metal — fully restored to an identical environment.

Quarterly recovery drill

IT compliance officer needs evidence that recovery actually works. Boot Verification logs aren't enough; auditor wants a live demo. Cloud Desktop is metered at $0.20–$0.40/hr with the first 60 minutes free and a daily cap. Boots a SQL server backup, runs queries, generates the audit screenshot, shuts down. A few dollars spent. Audit cleared.

Orchestration — Coming Q3 2026 to Resilience Pro

Restore 25+ machines in the right order.

Recovery Plans handle the orchestration when 25+ machines need to come back — identity → databases → applications → files → endpoints. Verification gates between each group. Drill Mode for quarterly testing.

Pricing

All five paths are included. Some are metered.

Included with every paid tier: USB Recovery, Browse Files, App-Consistent VSS, Cross-Hardware drivers, Boot Verification.

Metered or add-on: Always-Ready VM (from $8/device/mo, priced by disk size), Cloud Desktop ($0.20–$0.40/hr metered, first 60 min free, capped $3–$6/day), Instant Recovery (credits-based on Standard+).

See full pricing

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to choose a recovery method up-front?+

No. All five paths are available simultaneously. The Recovery Shield ranks them fastest-first based on what's available right now. Pick the top one.

Can I run Cloud Desktop and Instant Recovery in parallel for the same machine?+

Yes — useful for ransomware response. One Cloud Desktop to investigate the suspect backup, Instant Recovery to a fresh EC2 for production.

What's the cost difference between Always-Ready and Cloud Desktop?+

Always-Ready: a per-device add-on ($8–$65/mo by disk size), warm and ready to RDP in ~5 minutes. Cloud Desktop: metered at $0.20–$0.40/hr only when running, first 60 minutes free, capped at $3–$6/day — but a cold boot takes ~30–60 min. Always-Ready is the upsell when you can't wait around.

Does USB Recovery work without the cloud?+

Yes — that's the point. The USB has the recovery agent, the chunks come from your local DR cache or NAS. Cross-hardware drivers are bundled or harvested via DISM. Air-gap-compatible.

Recovery shouldn't be a guessing game.

Start in 5 minutes. 14-day free trial. Or download BigMind DR Free and get USB Recovery + Browse Files at $0.

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