The Windows operating system includes data that requires special handling so that you can backup and restore it properly. This data, referred to as System Information in CPS, contains different information depending on the version of Windows that is installed on the computer.
CPS can protect system information (System State and Shadow Copy Components) as you would protect other data sets. This is accomplished by creating a CPS backup job and selecting the System State or Shadow Copy Components for backup.
CPS treats the System State and Shadow Copy Components as separate, but related, data sets. If you need to back up or restore either of them, all of the data contained in each set will be backed up or restored.
If a continuous job is created to back up system information, it is captured by default once every four hours at 3:05 A.M., 7:05 A.M., 11:05 A.M., 3:05 P.M., 7:05 P.M., and 11:05 P.M. Do not attempt to restore System State data around these same times. The restore may fail because a System State restore does not interrupt a System State data capture that is in progress.
When System State or Shadow Copy components and unrelated files are backed up in the same backup job and the System State or Shadow Copy backup job fails, the unrelated files are not backed up. System State or Shadow Copy backups should be configured separately from regular file backups to better control scheduling conflicts and possible lapses in protection.
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