Azure Import/Export service: frequently asked questions

Yes. The Azure Import/Export service supports import into Azure Files storage, but it doesn't support data export from Azure Files at this time.

Yes. Azure Import/Export service supports Cloud Solution Providers (CSP) subscriptions.

Yes. For more information, go to Overview of importing your organization's PST files.

Yes. For more information, go to Offline Backup workflow in Azure Backup.

No. You need to ship your own drives for import and export jobs.

No. Any drive used to import data must be prepared using the Azure WAImportExport tool. Use the tool to also copy data to the drive.

No. Some prechecks are recommended. To check the number of disks required, use the WAImportExport tool's PreviewExport command. For more information, see Previewing Drive Usage for an Export Job. The command helps you preview drive usage for the selected blobs, based on the size of the drives you're going to use. Also check that you can read from and write to the hard drive that is shipped for the export job.

Yes. You can cancel a job while it has Creating status. However, after you enter tracking information, a job's status changes to Shipping, and the job can no longer be canceled.

You can view the status for completed jobs for up to 90 days. Completed jobs are deleted after 90 days.

One import or export job can reference only 10 drives in a single job. To ship more than 10 drives, you should create multiple jobs. Drives associated with the same job must be shipped together in the same package. For more information and guidance when data capacity spans multiple disk import jobs, contact Microsoft Support.

No The current versions of the Azure ImportExport tool (version 1.5.0.300 for blobs and version 2.2.0.300 for files) don't support job repair. You'll need to create a new Import/Export job after you resolve the issues. See Create an import job for blobs or Create an import job for files.

You can ignore the Lease Expired field. Import/Export takes lease on the blob during upload to make sure that no other process can update the blob in parallel. Lease Expired implies that the import or export is no longer uploading to the blob, and the blob is available for your use.

There's no limit to the number of hard disk drives (HDDs) in one shipment. If the disks belong to multiple jobs, we recommend that you:

• Label the disks with corresponding job names.
• Update the jobs with a tracking number suffixed with -1, -2, etc.

Ship only your hard drives in the shipping package. Don't include items like power supply cables or USB cables.

You can ship drives to the Azure datacenter using any known carrier. We recommend that you use FedEx, DHL, or UPS. If you use the US Postal Service, be aware that the device is delivered to the nearest US Post Office instead of the datacenter, which can lead to significant delays.

For return shipment of drives to you from the datacenter, you must provide:

• A FedEx account number in the US and EU, or
• A DHL account number in the Asia and Australia regions.

Note that the physical media you're shipping might need to cross international borders. You're responsible for ensuring that your physical media and data are imported and/or exported in accordance with the applicable laws. Before shipping the physical media, check with your advisors to verify that your media and data can legally be shipped to the identified data center. Checking in advance helps ensure that it reaches Microsoft in a timely manner.

After the upload is complete, the process to return drives to an international address can take longer than the typical 2-3 days needed for local shipping. During the stage listed in the Azure portal as Packaging, the Data Box team is ensuring that the correct documentation is provided to ensure the shipment complies with the various international import and export requirements.

The requirements depend on the specific Azure datacenter restrictions.

• There are a few sites, like Australia, Germany, and UK South, that require a Microsoft datacenter Inbound ID number to be written on the parcel for security reasons. Before you ship your drives or disks to the datacenter, contact Azure DataBox Operations (adbops@microsoft.com) to get this number. Without this number, the package is rejected.
• The datacenters in India require the personal details of the driver, such as the Government ID Card or Proof No. (for example, PAN, AADHAR, DL), name, contact, and the car plate number to get a gate entry pass. To avoid delivery delays, inform your carrier about these requirements.

Some storage account locations are mapped to alternate shipping locations. Previously available shipping locations can also be temporarily mapped to alternate locations. Always check the shipping address provided during job creation before shipping your drives.

The phone number and DC address are provided as part of job creation.

After the carrier delivers a physical device, it takes 1 to 3 business days for the delivery to be processed in Azure Import/Export. When processing completes, the order's status changes to Received.

The Azure data center returns the drive that doesn't conform to the supported requirements to you. If only some of the drives in the package meet the support requirements, those drives are processed, and the drives that do not meet the requirements will be returned to you.

Microsoft will not necessarily return the drive in the same custom packaging it was shipped in. If you would like the drive to be returned in the same packaging, please request so by sending an email to adbops@microsoft.com.

No. All drives are encrypted with BitLocker.

Use the Azure portal or Storage Explorer to access the data under your Azure storage account.

When preparing a hard drive for an import job, the destination is specified by the DstBlobPathOrPrefix field in the dataset CSV. That is the destination container in the storage account to which data from the hard drive is copied. Within this destination container, virtual directories are created for folders from the hard drive and blobs are created for files.

Yes. The most recent releases of the Azure ImportExport tool - versions 1.5.0.300 (for blobs) and 2.2.0.300 (for files) - automatically overwrite blobs or files that already exist in your storage if an import includes a file or blob with the same name. Earlier tool versions renamed an incoming file by default if an existing blob or file had the same name. A Disposition field in the dataset CSV file lets you specify whether to rename, not overwrite, or overwrite the destination file or blob. The Disposition field had this format: Disposition:<rename|no-overwrite|overwrite>.

You can still use the old Azure Import/Export tool with your existing jobs. However, we strongly suggest you move to the current tool version for new import/export jobs because the old tool is being phased out. You'll get a notification in the Azure portal when the old tool is no longer supported. Here's where to find the current tool versions. Download WAImportExport version 1.5.0.300, for blobs. Download WAImportExport version 2.2.0.300, for files.

No. The WAImportExport tool is only compatible with 64-bit Windows operating systems. For a complete list of Supported OS, go to Supported Operating Systems.

• Max Block Blob size is approximately 4.768 TB or 5,000,000 MB.
• Max Page Blob size is 8 TB.

Yes. Azure Import/Export service uses AES-256 BitLocker encryption.

Next steps

• What is Azure Import/Export?