StorageCraft ShadowProtect
Backup and disaster recovery software overview
What is StorageCraft ShadowProtect software?
StorageCraft ShadowProtect sector-level backup software backs up your organization’s whole Windows IT environment. In addition to reliably backing up everything from systems to data, ShadowProtect software enables swift recovery from disaster as well as headache-free system migration.
(Also a member of the ShadowProtect family of products, StorageCraft ShadowProtect Granular Recovery for Exchange allows for rapid recovery of granular Exchange database data. It doesn’t feature backup functionality. Its purpose is to let you search for and recover emails and mailboxes easily.)
ShadowProtect software is one component of the StorageCraft Recovery Solution, which provides you with all the tools you need to recover your IT systems anytime, anywhere, from any disaster.
How do ShadowProtect software editions differ?
Each ShadowProtect edition features a unique user license that determines the type(s) of operating systems (OS) it installs on. Managed service providers, IT professionals, and business owners each can select the edition or combination of editions that fits their Windows environment. The exceptions are ShadowProtect IT Edition and ShadowProtect Granular Recovery for Exchange.
ShadowProtect IT Edition works on an unlimited number of servers and workstations with any Windows operating system for a specific period of time. As mentioned before, ShadowProtect Granular Recovery for Exchange has a different purpose: this software is made specifically for recovering granular data from an Exchange database.
| Product Features | StorageCraft ShadowProtect | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Server | Small Business | Desktop | Virtual | GRE | IT Edition | |
| Back up your entire disk drive, including systems, applications, services, configurations, settings, and data | - | |||||
| Save backups to any disk device or any optical media | - | |||||
| Back up a non-bootable system before attempting a restore operation | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Test backup images to ensure their integrity | - | - | ||||
| Schedule backups to occur automatically | - | - | ||||
| Schedule regular incremental backups to occur as often as every 15 minutes if desired | - | - | ||||
| Recover individual files and folders in minutes | - | |||||
| Restore a system to different hardware or to virtual environments | - | |||||
| Swiftly boot a backup image as a virtual machine | - | - | ||||
| Perform a bare metal restore | - | |||||
| Detect and repair boot configuration errors or corrupt hard drives | - | |||||
| Use keywords to search mailboxes, email messages, or entire Exchange databases | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Recover Exchange emails, email attachments, address book contacts, mailboxes, and more to your production Exchange server or to a .pst file | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Migrate a backup image from and to physical and virtual environments | - | |||||
Which operating systems does each ShadowProtect edition support?
StorageCraft ShadowProtect: Supported Microsoft Windows Operating Systems
| Supported Operating Systems | ShadowProtect License Types | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
| Server | Small Business | Desktop | Virtual | |
| Windows Server 2016 x64 | - | - | ||
| Windows Server 2012 R2 x64 | - | - | ||
| Windows Server 2012 x64 | - | - | ||
| Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 | - | - | ||
| Windows Server 2008 x86/x64 (Service Pack 2 or higher) |
- | - | ||
| Windows Server 2003 R2 x86/x64 | - | - | ||
| Windows Server 2003 x86/x64 (Service Pack 2 or higher) |
- | - | ||
| Windows 2000 x86 Server, Advanced Server (Service Pack 4 or higher) | Limited | - | - | |
| Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 x64 Essentials | - | - | ||
| Windows Server 2012 R2 x64 Essentials, Foundation | - | - | ||
| Windows Server 2012 x64 Essentials, Foundation | - | - | ||
| Windows Small Business Server 2011 x64 | - | - | ||
| Windows Storage Server 2008 R2 x64 Essentials | - | - | ||
| Windows Server 2008 R2 x64 Foundation | Limited | - | ||
| Windows Server 2008 x86/x64 Foundation (Service Pack 2 or higher) |
Limited | - | ||
| Windows Small Business Server 2008 x86/x64 | - | - | ||
| Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 x86/x64 | - | - | ||
| Windows Small Business Server 2003 x86/x64 | - | - | ||
| Windows 10 x86/x64 | - | - | ||
| Windows 8.1 x86/x64 | - | - | ||
| Windows 8 x86/x64 | - | - | ||
| Windows 7 x86/x64 | - | - | ||
| Windows Vista x86/x64 (Service Pack 2 or higher) |
- | - | ||
| Windows XP x86/x64 (Service Pack 3 or higher) |
- | - | ||
| Windows 2000 x86 Professional (Service Pack 4 or higher) |
- | - | Limited | Limited |
Technical Notes
Limited Support: StorageCraft ShadowProtect supports backup of Windows 2000 environments. However, lack of hardware support and suitable device drivers may make recovery difficult. If you use Windows 2000, make sure you have appropriate hardware and drivers you can use as your recovery target should a disaster happen. (Note: StorageCraft VirtualBoot technology does not support Windows 2000; additionally, Windows 2000 doesn’t have a VSS framework or support, so VSS backups are not available in Windows 2000.) For specific Windows Server 2008 Foundation and R2 Foundation licensing information, please contact your sales representative.
Virtual licenses: ShadowProtect should not be installed directly into the host of a Type 1 hypervisor. The recommended configuration is to back up the guest operating system within each virtual machine.
System admin tools: ShadowProtect IT Edition and ShadowProtect IT Edition PRO support all the same operating systems that the above ShadowProtect license types support.
Hypervisor Support
- Citrix XenServer
- Linux KVM
- Microsoft Hyper-V
- Microsoft Virtual PC
- Microsoft Virtual Server
- Oracle VirtualBox
- Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV)
- VMware ESX/ESXi (including the free version of ESXi)
- VMware Workstation