Quick Recovery process

Last published : Aug 04, 2026
The Quick Recovery process can be broken down into the following phases:
  • Creating an initial snapshot set
This has two stages:
  • Preparing the mirror for the snapshot set
This stage takes a while and should be scheduled for a time of low activity.
  • Creating the initial snapshot set by splitting the mirror so that it is no longer synchronized with the original volume and becomes a point-in-time copy
  • Periodically refreshing (resynchronizing) the split-mirror snapshot with the original volume, and then splitting the mirror again, as needed or according to a pre-set schedule
This stage is automated by setting up snapshot schedules using the Quick Recovery wizard or VSS Snapshot Scheduler wizard.
  • Using a snapshot set to recover a corrupted SQL Server instance or single database