How to replace an existing device of a user?

Overview

This article explains how to replace an existing device of a user.

The device name can change for various reasons, such as the user may receive a new device, or the device is restored to factory settings, and so on.

If the older device is activated in inSync, the old device name is visible under the user’s information. If the old device does not exist, you must replace the device name.

Procedure

Install inSync Client on the new device.
Activate inSync Client with the user’s credentials.
The following screen is shown, there are 2 options -
1. Add as a New Device (in this case, one more device will appear under the user)
2. Replace an Existing Device (when this option is selected, any of the existing devices present for the user can be selected in the next screen)
Select Replace an Existing Device.

Select the appropriate device from the list of devices and click on Replace.

Once the device is selected -
1. Restore Now - You can select if you want to restore from the existing backup snapshots.
2. Maybe Later - You can select this option if you do not want to restore from the existing backup snapshots. The inSync client will be activated and the first backup will initiate.

📝 Note

If the inSync client activation is done on the same device, then the following prompt will appear -

You can click on Replace so that the previous device will be replaced and the previous backups will continue to appear under the same device.

📝 Note

When you replace a device, the device will map all the snapshots from the older device to the new device. This means the user will be able to restore data from the old device.

Restoring all backup data will also overwrite the existing files with the data available from the last snapshot if the same file names are found at the restore location.

FAQs on Replace Device

For All backup data, inSync restores the backup from the latest snapshot to the new device. System and application settings can be restored provided they were backed up for the older device. If System and application settings are restored to the new device, the inSync user will get the same environment and experience as it was on the earlier device.

Thus, you can restore the data as well as system settings from your previous device to the new device. The supported and unsupported OS and application restores are listed in the Restore system settings section of inSync documentation.

Can the device name be edited from the inSync Admin Console?
No. This is not possible as the device name is printed based on the user activation details.
Adding the same device again renames the device with number 1 and this is incrementing.
This is an expected behavior. inSync will never have the same name for two devices and therefore, it keeps appending the number.
While replacing an old device, what data will be installed and restored on the new device?
Whenever you replace a device, inSync associates all the old backups to the new device. While activating inSync Client on the new device running on Windows or Mac you can choose to restore:
- All backup data
- System and application settings
  
  For All backup data, inSync restores the backup from the latest snapshot to the new device. System and application settings can be restored provided they were backed up for the older device. If System and application settings are restored to the new device, the inSync user will get the same environment and experience as it was on the earlier device. Thus, you can restore the data as well as system settings from your previous device to the new device. The supported and unsupported OS and application restores are listed in the Restore system settings section of inSync documentation.
How long will it take for the old device to be removed from the cloud/console?
When a user replaces a device through inSync Client, the old device gets disabled. On inSync Management Console, the old device name is immediately replaced with the new device name when the user activates inSync Client on the new device. inSync administrator does not need to delete or disable the old device on inSync Management Console.