# Recovering multiple projects

**Restoring multiple Azure DevOps projects enables organizations to quickly recover projects, repositories, and source code at scale, ensuring consistent and reliable restoration across the development environment.**

***

## Recovery process

The below steps demonstrate how to restore multiple **Azure DevOps** projects at once using **GitProtect Management Service**.

{% hint style="danger" %}
**Deleted artifacts cannot be restored&#x20;**<mark style="color:red;">**while they remain in the recycle bin**</mark>**&#x20;— they can be restored, but you must remove them from the recycle bin first.**
{% endhint %}

{% hint style="danger" %}
**Azure does not allow restoring deleted packages to the same feed.** Once a package is deleted, it must remain deleted. Restoring to a new feed does not have this limitation, so all packages should be restored there.
{% endhint %}

{% stepper %}
{% step %}
Get into the restore view using the following method:

1. Open the **Azure DevOps** tab (**DevOps** > **Azure DevOps**), then click the **Explore** button next to the organization whose backup you want to restore (explore <img src="https://696332517-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FtsE6XtJyUIEKVdSxPlS3%2Fuploads%2FlznOQewoKxgR6fVymPw3%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=ae42e612-0146-41f9-a50f-6977b4a70609" alt="" data-size="original"> icon in list view).
2. In the **Projects & repositories** tab, select all projects you want to restore, and then click **Restore** in the top menu.

<figure><img src="https://696332517-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FtsE6XtJyUIEKVdSxPlS3%2Fuploads%2F1YHwZzJFJzV7mAnSUKUw%2Fazurerecovery7.png?alt=media&#x26;token=de2de677-9be9-4a64-a5eb-dccaedb4cc30" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>
{% endstep %}

{% step %}
Click every chosen project to select the backup plan and copy from which you want to restore data, then click **Next**.

{% hint style="info" %}
By default, the latest backup is always selected, regardless of the plan.
{% endhint %}
{% endstep %}

{% step %}
Select the destination for the recovery and click **Next**.

{% hint style="info" %}
You can choose any device or organization registered in **GitProtect** (you can find more information about cross-recovery in **Useful links and items section**).
{% endhint %}

<figure><img src="https://696332517-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FtsE6XtJyUIEKVdSxPlS3%2Fuploads%2FC8vjZYJ03h81oNFyIEiB%2Fazurerecovery8.png?alt=media&#x26;token=3fa053ee-c029-447e-97a8-c6f642461503" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>
{% endstep %}

{% step %}
In **Data to restore section** at the top, click **Edit** and select data you want to restore.

{% hint style="success" %}
By default, all items are selected for restoration. However, **GitProtect** allows you to choose which metadata to restore. You can include or exclude each element by toggling the switch next to it.
{% endhint %}

<figure><img src="https://696332517-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FtsE6XtJyUIEKVdSxPlS3%2Fuploads%2F9kDObiWl8CaUmogBIQq9%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=ef45a546-69ae-4f94-95a9-7eac39f3b463" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>
{% endstep %}

{% step %}
In the **Throttling prevention** section, you can add additional **DevOps** accounts to avoid throttling.

{% hint style="warning" %}
To use additional organization accounts, you must first add them in the organization settings (organization view > **Edit**).
{% endhint %}

<figure><img src="https://696332517-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FtsE6XtJyUIEKVdSxPlS3%2Fuploads%2F8D2XFyP1Xqi13HSh2f1I%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=6e497bd6-5da1-4160-ba6b-dcfc66b23f6e" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>
{% endstep %}

{% step %}
Configure the recovery destination settings, depending on where the backup will be restored.

#### Restore to a Git organization:

1. Select the target organization (where applicable).
2. In **Restore settings**, you can set custom names for all projects and repositories in the project, or add a suffix to their original names.

{% hint style="danger" %}
If the custom name—or the original project and repository names—already exists within the selected **Git** organization, **the restoration will fail**. To ensure successful recovery, choose unique names or select the **Add suffix to repo/project name** option, so the restored items to retain their original names with an automatically generated suffix.
{% endhint %}

3. If you are restoring your project to the **Azure DevOps** or **DevOps Server** organization:
   1. Choose whether to restore repositories from the project's copy:
      1. When the **Restore repositories from this project's copy** switch is turned off during the restore process, along with the project, all of its protected repositories are restored, **regardless of whether the repositories were protected by the same plan or by different plans**. The latest available backups are used.
      2. When the switch is turned on, a different restore mechanism is applied. In this case, **only repositories backed up by the same plan as the project are restored**.

{% hint style="danger" %}
Due to required changes, the latter mechanism is not available for backups created with **GitProtect** versions earlier than 2.0.5 or for workers running versions lower than 2.0.5.
{% endhint %}

<figure><img src="https://696332517-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FtsE6XtJyUIEKVdSxPlS3%2Fuploads%2FiHuMzFuygQ9Xl1g2P4Yy%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=ec3ecd35-25b8-43df-83a8-163a8f10cdf0" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

4. Adjust the bandwidth and other available settings, depending on the recovery destination.
5. Check which worker is set as the default for recovery and change it if necessary.

<figure><img src="https://696332517-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FtsE6XtJyUIEKVdSxPlS3%2Fuploads%2FfD8k3qqr2Cb40ohgpwPR%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=d6b88b1c-6f3d-481c-8e12-f065423013a9" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

#### Restore to a device:

{% hint style="warning" %}
To restore a repository to a local device, you must have a **Git** client and the **GitProtect** worker installed on that device (you can find more information about workers in **Useful links and items** section).
{% endhint %}

{% hint style="danger" %}
You can restore **only the repository** (without metadata) when restoring data to local resources.
{% endhint %}

1. Select the destination device (a registered device).
2. Make sure the device where you want to restore data has the **Git** client added to the PATH environment variable. The PATH variable is usually configured automatically after **Git** installation (a system restart may be required) — if it isn’t, you will have to configure it manually.

{% hint style="info" %}
To configure the PATH variable in **Windows**, open the environment variables, select the PATH variable, and click the **Edit** button. Copy the path to the git.exe file and add it to the PATH variable.
{% endhint %}

3. Specify the restoration directory and configure other options (for example, whether to overwrite existing data or reduce bandwidth). If needed, you can create a new restoration folder on the selected drive from the **Management Service** level.

<figure><img src="https://696332517-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FtsE6XtJyUIEKVdSxPlS3%2Fuploads%2F55kEh1o7H2VLw7k7blxf%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=5e4594f1-a3bd-4f9a-b9a9-f51776807f0e" alt=""><figcaption></figcaption></figure>
{% endstep %}

{% step %}
After defining all parameters, click the **Restore** button to begin the recovery process. When the process is complete, a new project/repository/folder will be created in your organization/on your device. You can monitor the restoration process in the **Tasks** tab.
{% endstep %}
{% endstepper %}

***

## Useful links and items

{% content-ref url="../../../../deployment-and-configuration/gitprotect-worker" %}
[gitprotect-worker](https://helpcenter.gitprotect.io/deployment-and-configuration/gitprotect-worker)
{% endcontent-ref %}

{% content-ref url="../../general/cross-recovery-for-devops-organizations" %}
[cross-recovery-for-devops-organizations](https://helpcenter.gitprotect.io/backup-and-recovery/devops/general/cross-recovery-for-devops-organizations)
{% endcontent-ref %}

{% content-ref url="../../general/lfs-recovery-for-devops-organizations" %}
[lfs-recovery-for-devops-organizations](https://helpcenter.gitprotect.io/backup-and-recovery/devops/general/lfs-recovery-for-devops-organizations)
{% endcontent-ref %}

{% content-ref url="../../general/wiki-recovery-for-devops-organizations" %}
[wiki-recovery-for-devops-organizations](https://helpcenter.gitprotect.io/backup-and-recovery/devops/general/wiki-recovery-for-devops-organizations)
{% endcontent-ref %}

{% content-ref url="../../../../compliance-and-risk-management/throttling-prevention" %}
[throttling-prevention](https://helpcenter.gitprotect.io/compliance-and-risk-management/throttling-prevention)
{% endcontent-ref %}