Problem Restoring Data When Duplicate Media Names Exist

If you use Windows 2000 Backup with a stand-alone tape unit and a single scheduled backup job, when you attempt to restore your data you may experience difficulty selecting the correct media name.

Even though you have selected the correct media name and you are sure that the media you are using has that media name, after you click the Start Restore button, you may receive the following messages: Then you receive the following message: After short a period of time, Ntbackup replaces the blue progress bar with the following message and the only option is to Cancel:

All media that is used for a backup or restore, or that is prepared for use, is entered into the Removable Storage database. Duplicate media names are permitted because each medium has a Global Unique Identifier (GUID).

Delete all of the duplicate media names, so that you can restore from a specific tape.

To delete duplicate media names from the Removable Storage database, follow these steps:

1. Remove any media from the tape unit.
2. From within the Backup utility, click the Restore tab.
3. In the left pane, expand the Media Pool that represents where particular media is stored (such as Travan, 4mm DDS, or miniQIC).
4. In the right pane, select all duplicate media names by holding down the CTRL key, and then clicking each duplicate media name.
5. On the Tools menu, point to Media Tools, and then click Delete from system.
6. In the Warning dialog box, click Yes to confirm the action.
7. While the Backup program is running, insert the backup media from which you want to restore your data. The media name will be restored to the default backup media pool and the Removable Storage database.

After you complete these steps, you will be able to restore your data from the specific tape that you put in the tape unit.

To avoid this problem, use a separate backup job, and separate media, for each backup. For example, a Monday through Friday backup scheme would require you to schedule a backup job for each day, with a corresponding unique name for the media used for each backup job.

This behavior is by design.

Removable Storage provides the infrastructure necessary to share media among various applications; it also ensures that all media are used in such a way as to preserve the data they contain. Removable Storage accomplishes this by identifying and verifying the identity of each medium.

For more information about how Removable Storage verifies the identity of media, see "Media Identification and Naming" in Chapter 2 of the Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit Operations Guide.