Overview
This article explains how users can attempt to restore previous versions of files stored on their department share drives. This feature is available for all share drives that have been migrated by University Technology Services to the Dell Isilon/PowerScale storage appliance. At the time of creating this documentation, over 75% of university share drives have been migrated to our new storage appliance and have this feature available. We plan to have this feature made available to all university share drives by the end of FY 2026.
The ability to restore to previous versions of files utilizes the built-in Windows feature, Shadow Copy. There is a 30-day retention period for which backups (snapshots) of files are kept and can be restored to. If you notice that you do not have the ability to restore your files following these steps, you can request a file restore from the Technical Support Services (TSS) team if the file restore request is within the 30-day retention period for file backups.
Please note, we cannot guarantee file restoration through Shadow Copy, or a file restoration service request.
Restoring Specific Files
In order to restore a file within a share drive to a certain date in time on Windows, take the following steps:
- Click the Search Bar from the bottom of the screen --> Search for the "File Explorer" application --> Click on "This PC" and open the share drive for which you are trying to restore files from.
- Within the share drive, right-click a specific file you'd like to rollback --> Click "Show more options" --> "Restore Previous Version"
- From the window that opens, you can select a point in-time you'd like to restore from. Choose either the "Open" button to preview the file from that specific date in-time or click the "Restore" button to fully restore the file to that specific date in-time. Once a file has been restored, the change cannot be undone.
Restoring Deleted Files from Shares
If a file has been mistakenly deleted from a share drive and it has not yet been over 30 days, the following steps can be taken to restore the file:
- Click the Search Bar from the bottom of the screen --> Search for the "File Explorer" application --> Click on "This PC" and open the share drive for which you are trying to restore files from.
- Within the share drive, right-click anywhere in the drive where a file isn't selected --> Click "Show more options" followed by "Properties"
Select the "Previous Versions" tab and click on the version of the share where a backup exists before the file was deleted. 
- Click the "Open" button to view the previous version of the folder where the deleted file resided. You can use this version of the folder to copy the file back to the current version of the share drive by dragging and dropping the file.
Close the past version of the share drive once file restoration is complete.
Additional Support
- OU Technology Center
- 44 Oakland Center
- Rochester, MI 48309-4479
- (248) 370-4357
- Office Hours: M-F 8:00am - 5:00pm