Information included in the article
- Operating systems compatible with IDrive BMR backup agent
- System requirements
- Networking requirements
- Add computers and servers for backup
- Manually initiate a full image or incremental backup
- Troubleshoot: IDrive BMR device report says ‘Server rejected’ for a computer
- Antivirus settings
Operating systems compatible with IDrive BMR backup agent
Operating systems supported by backup agent version 5.0.1 and higher
Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows Server 2008 (x86), Windows Server 2008R2, Windows Server 2011 SBS, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2022
Operating systems supported by backup agent version 5 and higher
Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Windows 11, Windows Server 2012 R2, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2022.
Operating systems supported by backup agent version 4 and older
Windows Vista (with all Windows updates installed), Windows Server 2008 (with all Windows updates installed), Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows 7, Windows 8, Small Business Server 2011
System requirements
- Every volume chosen for backup must have at least 15% free space
- A minimum of 1 GB of RAM is required for installing the agent and performing backups
- The computers and virtual machines must use the NTFS file system
- The volumes chosen for backup must be internally-connected local hard drives and not network-attached storage devices, mapped drives, or removable drives
Note:
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Backup and restore of dynamic (simple, mirrored, spanned, striped), logical, and Microsoft storage space (Raid-5 with resiliency type-parity) is supported for 8.4.0 and above. However, bare-metal recovery of dynamic OS disk with GPT partition is not supported.
(In case you have upgraded to version 8.4.0 or above, make sure to install the latest backup agent that supports the latest backup features and perform at least one image backup. If you attempt restoring exclusively from older versions where the OS disk is dynamic, you may have OS boot issues. Similarly, use the updated WinRE Recovery Media Builder to create and upload a new WinRE recovery media to the BMR device.) - The CBT feature (via backup agent version 4 and older) is not supported for certain older operating systems such as Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, and the 32-bit version of both Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008R2.
Networking requirements
Use the network ports listed below to ensure connectivity between all the active firewalls of your computer/VM and the IDrive BMR device:
- Port 35622 (for UDP broadcasts for discovery)
- Port 35623 (for commands and image backups)
Note: On successful installation, the installer will create an inbound port-allow rule for the IDrive BMR device on the Windows firewall.
Add computers and servers for backup
To start backing up your computer to your IDrive BMR device, install the backup agent on your computer. The IDrive BMR device detects the agent and autostarts the scheduled backups.
To add your computer/server to the IDrive BMR device,
- Click Add Devices.
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Download the backup agent for Windows machines.
Install the backup agent and reboot the computer when prompted to enable the CBT driver. Click *task bar icon* to view the CBT driver installation status on your computer.
Note: For legacy operating systems, you may be prompted to reboot the computer one more time.
- Once the installation is complete, the IDrive BMR device detects the agent and adds your device to the Computers tab. The agent will initiate a full image backup for the first time as per the global backup settings.
Note:
- By default, the backup schedule is set from 6:00 PM to 7:00 AM. You can edit this schedule as required.
- The first image backup that is initiated on the IDrive BMR device is always a full image backup. If you force a full image backup the second time, a synthetic full backup is performed to save time and storage space.
- If the backup agent fails to auto-detect the computer, refer Troubleshoot: backup agent has not detected the computer
Read the article Configure backup settings and schedule for computers to know more.
To add multiple computers in one go, refer Deploy backup agent on multiple Windows computers and servers.
Manually initiate a full image or incremental backup
To manually backup multiple computers,
- Connect to the IDrive BMR device interface.
- Go to Backup > Computers.
- Select the computers you wish to backup and click Backup.
Click View details corresponding to a computer to track the backup progress.
Note: Go to Backups > Computers and click
to open Advanced backup settings and manage the Max simultaneous backups limit.
To force a full image backup for multiple computers,
- Connect to the IDrive BMR device interface.
- Go to Backup > Computers.
- Select the computers you wish to back up and click Force Full Backup.
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Click Force Full Backup again to confirm.
Note: If you try to force a full image backup the second time, although the IDrive BMR device displays full image backup in the UI, a synthetic full backup is performed to save time and storage space.
Troubleshoot: IDrive BMR device report says ‘Server rejected’ for a computer
This issue occurs when there is more than one IDrive BMR device connected to the same Local Area Network (LAN).
For security reasons, the backup agent will allow only one IDrive BMR device to identify it and add the computer for backup. If any other IDrive BMR device tries to identify the backup agent and add the computer, the process will fail and the device will report this message.
Contact the support team if you want to add a computer to another IDrive BMR device within the same LAN.
Antivirus settings
- In case it is not auto-set on installation, set a network-level Inbound port-allow rule for the port used by the computer to connect to the IDrive BMR device:
- Port 35622 (for UDP broadcasts for discovery)
- Port 35623 (for commands and image backups)
- Set a service-level exception for IDriveBMRClientBackend
- Whitelist the application path:
\Program Files\IDriveBMR\IDriveBMRClientBackend.exe
This is the default application path. In case you have installed the backup agent in a different folder, specify the path of that folder.