I thought it just copies old revisions of files into that shadow area
It just copies the deltas…
Backups can use vss to get a static image of the volume (deltas are written to the shadow area, which isn’t backed up, whilst the backup is running) it’s a little different for vhdx files on VMs but basically the same.
It’s magic… And often means that I don’t have to restore lost files from backup, just view the old versions and grab a copy from there.
Nope, not even close.
It just copies the deltas…
Backups can use vss to get a static image of the volume (deltas are written to the shadow area, which isn’t backed up, whilst the backup is running) it’s a little different for vhdx files on VMs but basically the same.
It’s magic… And often means that I don’t have to restore lost files from backup, just view the old versions and grab a copy from there.