Seagate/Maxtor Manager - Backing Up & Restoring Data

Flash and text tutorials explaining how to use Seagate/Maxtor Manager to backup data to and restore data from a drive.


Note: Maxtor Manager is only compatible with 32bit versions of Windows XP and Vista. If you need a backup utility for your Maxtor drive, please download Seagate Manager here.

The Seagate/Maxtor Manager Backup feature allows you to:

  • Schedule the backup of selected folders
  • Edit backup settings
  • Launch an immediate file backup
  • Restore backed up files
  • View the Backup Log


Creating a Backup Plan
You can create one Backup Plan for each detected, Seagate and/or Seagate drive connected to your computer. You can select either of two Backup Plans:

  • Simple Backup: Pre-configured to back up your XP My Documents/Vista/7 Personal Folder folder daily at 10:00 p.m.
    -OR-
  • Custom Backup: You select the folders to be backed up and set a backup destination and schedule.


Creating a Simple Backup:

  1. Double-click the Seagate/Maxtor Manager icon on your Windows Desktop.
  2. Click Backup. The Backup window opens.
  3. Click Simple Backup. The Simple Backup Confirmation window opens.
  4. Enter a Name for your Backup Plan and click on the OK button. You return the Backup window.
  5. Your Simple Backup is created. To start an immediate backup, click on the Back Up Now button.


Creating a Custom Backup:

  1. Double-click the Seagate/Maxtor Manager icon on your Windows Desktop.
  2. Click Backup. The Backup window opens.
  3. Click Custom Backup. The Folder Selection window for the Backup Plan opens.
  4. Check/Uncheck folders you wish to add or remove from the Backup Plan and click on the Next button. The Select File Types window opens.
  5. Select specific File Types you wish to add/remove from your Backup Plan:
    • All File Types (Default) - when selected, all file types will be included in your Backup Plan
    • Photos, Music,... - when selected, you can chose specific and common file types to add/remove from your Backup Plan
    • Custom - when selected you can chose specific file types by their extension to Add/Exclude from the Backup Plan
    Click on the Next button. The Schedule window opens.
  6. Check/Uncheck Days to run your Backup Plan. Change the Time you want to run the Scheduled Plan.
  7. Click on the Finish button. Your Custom Backup Plan has been Created.


Editing a Backup Plan:

  1. Double-click the Seagate/Maxtor Manager icon on your Windows Desktop. 
  2. Click Backup. The Backup window opens.
  3. Click Edit Backup Plan. The Folder Selection window for the Backup Plan opens.
  4. Check/Uncheck folders you wish to add or remove from the Backup Plan and click on the Next button. The Select File Types window opens.
  5. Select specific File Types you wish to add/remove from your Backup Plan:
    • All File Types (Default) - when selected, all file types will be included in your Backup Plan
    • Photos, Music,... - when selected, you can chose specific and common filetypes to add/remove from your Backup Plan
    • Custom - when selected you can chose specific file types by their extension to Add/Exclude from the Backup Plan
    Click on the Next button. The Schedule window opens.
  6. Check/Uncheck Days to run your Backup Plan. Change the Time you want to run the Scheduled Plan.
  7. Click on the Finish button. Your Backup Plan has been Edited.

 

Deleting a Backup Plan:

  1. Double-click the Seagate/Maxtor Manager icon on your Windows Desktop. The Seagate Manager will open.
  2. Click Backup. The Backup window opens.
  3. Click Delete Backup. The Delete Backup Plan window opens.
  4. Check the Backup Plan you wish to remove and click on the Delete button. The Backup Plan is deleted.
    Note: Though the Backup Plan is deleted, the backed up data still remains on your drive.
  5. Click on the Back button to return to the Backup window.

 

Restoring Files:
When you back up the files stored in selected folders, the Seagate/Maxtor Manager saves ten (10) previous, or historical, versions of each revised file stored on your drive. You can restore a saved historical version of a backed up file based on the date it was last modified or you can restore the most recent version of a backed up file.

The following provides you with the procedure for restoring a historical file version to its original location.

  1. Double-click the Seagate/Maxtor Manager icon on your Windows Desktop. 
  2. Click Backup. The Backup window opens.
  3. Click Restore Files. The Restore a Backup window opens.
  4. Click Restore historical version of a backed up file. The Restore window opens.
  5. In the Select a file window, expand the folders to locate the file you wish to restore. Select a File.
  6. In the Select a version window, select a File Version you wish to restore.
  7. Click on the Original radion button.
    Note: It should be selected by default.
  8. Click Restore. The Confirm File Replace window may open.
  9. To replace the existing version, click on the YES button. The Restoring File window opens.
  10. Click on the Open restore folder arrow to view the restored file. An Explorer window opens showing the folder containing the restored file. Close this Explorer window to return to the Restore window.
  11. Click OK.

 

Restoring a Historical File version to a temporary location is a good practice if you want to restore a file without potentially overwriting the original file located on your local system. The following provides you with the procedure for restoring a historical file version to a temporary location.

  1. Double-click the Seagate/Maxtor Manager icon on your Windows Desktop. 
  2. Click Backup. The Backup window opens.
  3. Click Restore Files. The Restore a Backup window opens.
  4. Click Restore historical version of a backed up file. The Restore window opens.
  5. In the Select a file window, expand the folders to locate the file you wish to restore. Select a File.
  6. In the Select a version window, select a File Version you wish to restore.
  7. Click on the Temporary radion button.
    Note: By default, the historical file version will restore to:
    • For Windows XP - C:\Documents and Settings\username\My Documents\Seagate Restore
    • For Windows Vista - C:\Users\username\Documents\Seagate Restore
    username is the name of the User currently logged into the Windows System.
  8. Click Restore. The Restoring File window opens.
  9. Click on the Open restore folder arrow to view the restored file. An Explorer window opens showing the entire folder structure containing the restored file. Browse this folder structure to locate your restored file. Close this Explorer window to return to the Restore window.
  10. Click OK.


The following provides you with the procedure for restoring the most recent version of backed up files.

  1. Double-click the Seagate/Maxtor Manager icon on your Windows Desktop.
  2. Click Backup. The Backup window opens.
  3. Click Restore Files. The Restore a Backup window opens.
  4. Click Restore most recent version of a backed up file. The Seagate Backup folder window opens for your drive.
  5. Browse to the location of the backed up files. Select files you wish to restore, copy and paste them to your Windows System using Windows copy & paste methods.
    Note: Refer to your Windows documentation for file selection, copy and paste methods.
  6. Files are copied to your system.


The following provides you with the procedure for turning Automatic Backups OFF/ON:

  1. Double-click the Seagate Manager icon on your Windows Desktop.
  2. Click Backup. The Backup window opens.
  3. To turn Automatic Backups off, click OFF. At this point Backups must be manually performed throught the use of:
  4. The Back Up Now button found in the Backup window
  5. The Back Up Now option found in the Seagate Status Icon menu


To Resume Scheduled Backups

  1. Double-click the Seagate Manager icon on your Windows Desktop. The Seagate Manager will open.
  2. Click Backup. The Backup window opens.
  3. To resume Automatic Backups, click ON. At this point Backups can be scheduled to run automatically.

 


The following provides you with the procedure for restoring the most recent version of backed up files.

  1. Double-click the Seagate/Maxtor Manager icon on your Windows Desktop.
  2. Click Backup. The Backup window opens.
  3. Click View Backup Log. A Notepad file opens showing the contents of the Backup Log.