Considerations before using SnapRestore

You must take into account certain considerations before deciding whether to use SnapRestore to revert a file or volume.

If the volume that you need to restore is a root volume, it is easier to copy the files from a Snapshot copy or restore the files from tape than to use SnapRestore because you can avoid rebooting. If you need to restore a corrupted file on a root volume, however, a reboot is not necessary.
If you revert the entire root volume, the system reboots with configuration files that were in effect when the Snapshot copy was taken.
If the amount of data to be recovered is large, SnapRestore is the preferred method, because it takes a long time to copy large amounts of data from a Snapshot copy or to restore from tape.
If a file to be recovered needs more space than the amount of free space in the active file system, you cannot restore the file by copying from the Snapshot copy to the active file system. For example, if a 10-GB file is corrupted and only 5 GB of free space exists in the active file system, you cannot copy the file from a Snapshot copy to recover the file. However, SnapRestore can quickly recover the file in these conditions. You do not have to spend time making the additional space available in the active file system.

Attention: SnapRestore lets you revert to a Snapshot copy from a previous release of Data ONTAP. However, doing so can cause problems because of potential version incompatibilities and can prevent the system from booting completely.

Parent topic: When to use SnapRestore