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Transferring Your Carbonite Safe Subscription to Restore Files

Summary:

You can transfer your Carbonite Safe subscription to restore your files to another computer.

This article applies to:

Carbonite Plans Products Platforms
Basic, Plus, and Prime (Not sure?) Safe (Not sure?) - View the Safe Pro article Windows - View the Mac article

Solution:

The sections below are collapsed. Please click a section title to open / close the appropriate section.

Step 1: Transfer Carbonite Safe to Your Current Computer

  1. Sign into your account at https://account.carbonite.com from the computer you want to restore to.
  2. Select the Backup tab on the left.
  3. From the backup you want to reinstall, click Options > Move my subscription.
    From the Options dropdown menu, click Move my subscription
    Note: Your computer is identified in your account using a "nickname". This nickname is chosen when you first install Carbonite and does not change unless you manually update it. Refer to these instructions if you wish to update your computer's nickname.
  4. Choose Move my subscription and transfer my files and click Next.
    Choose Move my subscription and transfer my files and click Next
  5. Download the Carbonite setup file by clicking Download Now.
    Click Download Now
  6. Depending on your web browser, use the instructions below to open Carbonite.
    • Google Chrome: The downloaded file appears at the bottom left of the browser. Double-click the Carbonite file to open it.
    • Mozilla Firefox: Click Save in the pop-up message that appears to start the download. When the download completes, click the arrow in the top right corner of your browser to view your downloads. Double-click the Carbonite file to open it.
    • Microsoft Edge: The download appears at the bottom of the browser. Click Run to open the Carbonite file.
  7. Within the User Account Control window that appears, click Yes.
  8. Click I agree on the Terms of Service to begin installing Carbonite.

The Carbonite Restore Manager displays.

Step 2: Customize Your Restore Within the Carbonite Application

  1. Click Let’s get started to setup a full restore.
    Click Let's get started to start

Select Drives to Restore

  1. Choose the drives from your backup that you would like to restore and click Continue.
    Select the drives you wish to restore and click Continue
    .
    • If your previous computer only had one drive, you will only see Drive C: as an option to select.
    • If you have multiple drives to restore to, select Change to specify the restore location.
  2. After making your selections, click Continue.

Select User Locations

In this section, you will map Windows users from the backup to the Windows users on the computer.

  1. For users that don’t exist on the current computer or users that are not configured to your preferences, click Choose a location to select an option that best fits your scenario.
    • Username: This is the user account that will receive the restored files from Carbonite.
    • Create a Windows user account: This will create the Windows username with the same name from your previous computer.
    • Choose a different folder: This will restore the files to a folder of your choice on your new computer.
    • Don't get these files back: This will not restore the data from that Windows user account. Files from this user will be removed from Carbonite after 30 days of backup on the current computer.
      Carbonite Windows Client: Choose an account on this computer, create a User account, Choose a different folder, or Don't get these files back
  2. After making your selections, click Continue.

Start the Restore

  1. If needed, review your restore choices by clicking View details.
  2. When you’re ready to restore, click Start getting files back to start restoring your files.
    Click Start Getting Files Back to start the restore
  3. Close out of Carbonite window.

Carbonite will restore your files in the background.

Step 3: Configure Windows Power and Update Settings

Depending on the size of the backup, the restore could take several hours or days to complete. As a result, you will configure Windows so the restore is not interrupted by shutting down, restarting, hibernation, or sleep mode.

Configure Windows Power & Sleep Settings

  1. If applicable, plug in the laptop for the duration of the restore.
  2. Open the Windows Start menu.
  3. From the left sidebar, click Power & sleep.
  4. Under the Sleep section, set When plugged in, turn off after to Never.

For information on other Windows operating systems, please refer to Hibernation and Sleep Mode.

Configure Windows Updates

  1. Open the Windows Start menu.
  2. Click Update & Security.
  3. Click Advanced options.
  4. Under the Pause updates section, use the dropdown menu to select 1 week after*.

*Typically “1 week after” is more than enough time for an average customer to restore their data.

For information on other Windows operating systems, please refer to Configuring Windows Update.

You successfully transferred Carbonite to the computer and started a restore of your files. You can close out of the restore progress window and view the restore status at any time.

After the restore completes, a confirmation window will appear asking if you want to resume backing up, which will exit Recover Mode.

Files that were not restored will be removed from Carbonite after 30 days of backing up on the current computer.

  • If everything seems to be in order, click Continue Backing up to back up the new computer.
  • If you are having trouble finding restored files, importing the restored files with programs, or need to exit Recover Mode to continue backing, check out our Carbonite Post-Restore Checklist.

With the restore complete and your files back, your Carbonite subscription was successfully transferred, and Carbonite will begin backing up your current computer.

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