Bare-Metal Restore

This guide shows how to restore an entire server — operating system, applications, and data — from an Acronis backup to new or empty disks after a complete failure. The restore runs in the Acronis rescue environment, which you start in the PowerPanel and operate via VNC.

Warning: This process will completely overwrite all data on the target drives. It is a last resort for disaster recovery — only proceed if you intend to fully replace the existing system.

Step 1: Start the Bare-Metal Restore Environment

The entire process runs through a special recovery environment launched from the PowerPanel:

1.Navigate to Hardware → Server Management and choose Actions → Start rescue mode next to your server

2.From the Recovery Type dropdown, select Acronis Bare-Metal Restore

3.Enter a secure password for the recovery session and click Next

The restore environment takes approximately 10 minutes to start. Once ready, connect to your server's IP address on port 5900 using a VNC client.

Step 2: Connect and Select Your Backup

After connecting with your VNC client, locate and open your backup archive:

1.In the Bootable Backup Agent window, select Manage this machine locally

2.Click Recover on the next screen

3.Click Select data... then Browse...

4.In the location browser, select Cloud storage and click Log in

5.Enter your Acronis Backup credentials — not your PowerPanel login

6.Browse and select the specific backup archive you want to restore from

If your backup is encrypted, you will be prompted to enter your encryption password before you can proceed.

Step 3: Configure the Restore & Map Disks

This is the most critical step — you map the backed-up data to the target physical disks.

Select what to restore

At the bottom of the screen, select the checkboxes for MBRs and Basic drives. The Master Boot Record (MBR) must be included for the server to be bootable after the restore.

Software RAID: If you are restoring a software RAID configuration, you must also select the Dynamic volumes (e.g. md0, md1).

Map data to destination disks

Go through each line marked as "Required" and map the backed-up partitions (e.g. sda1, sda2) to their corresponding new physical disks (e.g. Disk 1, Disk 2). Once all mappings are complete and no "Required" labels remain, click OK at the bottom of the page to start the restore.

Step 4: Finalize & Reboot

A progress bar shows the status of the data recovery. Once the restore is complete, the server must be rebooted into its newly restored operating system.

Critical final step: Do not reboot from within the Acronis VNC interface. Instead, go to your PowerPanel and cancel rescue mode via Hardware → Server Management → Actions → Abort Rescue. This will reboot the server from its hard drives and boot into the restored system.

Further Documentation

For detailed information on bare-metal restore options and advanced recovery scenarios, refer to the official Acronis documentation.

Acronis Documentation