Backing up and reverting files using FlashCopy images

When you use standard backup tools available in your environment to back up your data from a client machine, you can specify the path to the FlashCopy® image instead of the path to the actual files and continue working with the files while the backup occurs. This procedure produces a consistent backup of the files in the fileset.

Although creating FlashCopy images is not a replacement for creating backups of your files to protect your data, in some cases, a user can choose to use a FlashCopy image to revert a file or a set of files to a specific point in time. For example, if a user accidentally deletes a file, restoring it by copying it from a FlashCopy image to another directory instead of restoring it from a backup copy can be faster.

When you restore files from a backup taken from a FlashCopy image, you cannot restore the files to the same location as the FlashCopy image because all FlashCopy image directories are read-only directories. You must restore the files to the directory where the original files resided or to another directory.

When you revert a fileset to a specific FlashCopy image, the target FlashCopy image and all FlashCopy images created between the current fileset and the target FlashCopy image are deleted. The target FlashCopy image then becomes the image for the current fileset. For example, if you have a current fileset and three FlashCopy images, FCimage1 created in January, FCimage2 created in February, and FCimage3 created in March,


This figure illustrates the fileset image before it is reverted to FlashCopy image FCimage2.

and you revert the current fileset back to FlashCopy images FCimage2, FCimage2 becomes the current fileset, and FlashCopy images FCimage2 and FCimage3 are deleted.


This figure illustrates the fileset image after it is reverted to FlashCopy image FCimage2.
Tip: For ease of management, create FlashCopy images of all filesets at the same point in time, and use a common naming convention to indicate that they represent a set.

Parent topic: FlashCopy images

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