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NinjaOne Backup — File & Folder Restore: Complete Procedure

Audience: T1 / T2 Use when: A user needs a specific file or folder recovered from a NinjaOne backup.

File/folder restore is non-destructive and doesn't require a maintenance window. It can be done while the machine is in normal operation.

Before Starting — Confirm Restore Scope

Ask the user:

  • What needs to be recovered? (file name, folder, or "I don't know")
  • When was it last known good? (gives you the revision to target)
  • Where should it go? (original location, or somewhere else)

Restore Option 1 — From NinjaOne Console (Cloud or Local)

Step 1: NinjaOne → find the device → Backup tab → Manage

Step 2: Select the backup plan → click the revision timestamp closest to when the file was last known good

Step 3: Browse the file tree within that revision — find the file or folder

Step 4: Select the file/folder → Download (retrieves directly to the technician's browser) or Restore (pushes back to the device)

Restore options:

  • Original location: Overwrites the current file if it exists — confirm with user
  • Alternate location: Restores to a different path — safer for review first

Restore Option 2 — Cross-Device Restore

If the original device is gone (hardware failure, new machine) and you need to restore to a different device:

⚠ Both devices must be in the same NinjaOne organization. If the new device is in a different org: temporarily move it to the same org as the backup source, restore, then move back.

  1. NinjaOne → source device (the one with the backup) → Backup → Manage
  2. Select revision → browse to the file → Restore
  3. Under Restore To: select the destination device from the dropdown
  4. Confirm and restore

Restore Option 3 — From Local NAS (Faster for Large Files)

If the file is large and pulling from cloud would be slow, the local NAS copy may be faster:

# Browse the NAS backup folder structure directly
Get-ChildItem "\\NAS-HOSTNAME\backups\ninjaone\[DeviceName]\" | Sort-Object LastWriteTime -Descending | Select-Object -First 10 Name, LastWriteTime

NinjaOne stores backup data in a proprietary format on the NAS — it cannot be directly copied like a regular file. This option only applies if you're using the NinjaOne console to select the local NAS as the source for the restore, not for direct file browsing.

Restore Verification

After the restore completes:

  1. Confirm the file is present at the restore location
  2. Open the file and confirm it's not corrupt or empty
  3. If restoring a dental application file (e.g., a Dentrix document): verify the application can open it
  4. Document the restore in the Halo ticket: what was restored, from which revision, to which location

Common Issues During File/Folder Restore

Issue Cause Fix
"No data available" on restore page No successful backups exist, or wrong revision selected Check backup job history; try a different revision
Target device not in restore-to dropdown Devices are in different orgs Move device to same org temporarily
File restores but is empty or corrupt File was already corrupt when backed up, or partial backup Try an older revision
Restore is very slow Pulling from cloud on a slow connection Use local NAS source if available; or mount cloud image (see cloud mount page)
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